---
title: "Vancouver Liberals say Ken Sim stalled SkyTrain to UBC and promise to restart it"
description: "Kareem Allam backed former mayor Kennedy Stewart's criticism of Ken Sim on October 13, saying Sim inherited a funded planning process and did not move it forward."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/allam-ubc-skytrain-kennedy-stewart-october-13"
last_updated: "2026-10-18T23:12:57.260Z"
---

The Vancouver Liberals said on October 13 that mayoral candidate [Kareem Allam](/candidates/kareem-allam) is backing former mayor Kennedy Stewart's criticism of Ken Sim for not advancing the SkyTrain extension to the University of British Columbia. The party published a press release saying Allam received transition briefings when Sim took office that confirmed the project had real momentum, with federal and provincial funding already committed to the planning stage.

"I can attest that what Kennedy Stewart asserts is true. I received those briefings during the transition between governments," Allam said in the release. "This is the biggest missed opportunity of Ken Sim's administration. He inherited a project with real momentum, senior level commitments to help fund planning, and a regional consensus that SkyTrain to UBC needed to happen. Four years later, we're still waiting."

The party is publishing the statement four days before voting day on October 17.

## What the Vancouver Liberals say happened to the project

The press release says a series of commitments were in place before Sim became mayor. In 2019, the City of Vancouver, UBC and the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Development Corporation signed an agreement to jointly pursue the extension. In 2021, the federal and provincial governments committed to helping fund the next stage of planning and the business case. In 2022, TransLink's Mayors' Council identified SkyTrain to UBC as a regional priority. These facts come from the Vancouver Liberals' press release; voche.me has not independently verified each one.

Allam also said in the release that Sim attended a quarter of Metro Vancouver meetings in 2024 and then announced he would stop attending. The Vancouver Liberals published this figure; voche.me has not independently verified it. Allam said this approach makes building regional partnerships impossible.

"Ken Sim promised to make SkyTrain to UBC a priority when he ran for mayor in 2022. Vancouverites deserve to know what happened to that promise," Allam said. [Ken Sim](/candidates/ken-sim)'s campaign did not respond to the claims. No response was found reported at the time of writing.

## What Allam is proposing

The press release says Allam would pursue a new regional rapid transit agreement with Surrey. The party's position is that SkyTrain to UBC and improved rapid transit on King George Boulevard in Surrey should be advanced together in order to build the provincial and federal political support needed for investment. The press release gives no cost figure for either project.

"We should be working with Surrey, not competing with Surrey. I want to work with Surrey's mayor and council on an agreement that advances both cities' rapid transit priorities," Allam said.

The release also says Allam would bring together the federal and provincial governments, TransLink, other municipalities, First Nations and UBC to rebuild the partnership the Vancouver Liberals say Sim let go.

## What this means for voters

Voters comparing mayoral candidates on transit policy can read each party's position at [/parties/vancouver-liberals](/parties/vancouver-liberals) and [/parties/abc-vancouver](/parties/abc-vancouver). Voting day is October 17, 2026. Advance voting ended October 12.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.