---
title: "Five mayoral candidates outline positions on safety, housing and business at GVBOT forum"
description: "Ken Sim, Colleen Hardwick, Rebecca Bligh, Kareem Allam and Pete Fry took questions from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on October 2, 2026, with two weeks left before election day."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/gvbot-mayoral-forum-october-2"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:01:14.384Z"
---

Five mayoral candidates took questions from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Friday, October 2, 2026, two weeks before election day. CTV News reported that Ken Sim, Colleen Hardwick, Rebecca Bligh, Kareem Allam and Pete Fry each outlined positions on public safety, housing and how city hall should operate.

## Ken Sim

Sim, the incumbent mayor running with ABC Vancouver, defended his administration's record. He said his council funded 100 new police officers and more than 50 mental-health workers, reduced business-licence categories from nearly 600 to fewer than 100, and cut the time to approve a business licence from 16 weeks in 2022 to two days. "My focus as mayor is simple: Safer streets, a stronger economy, and a city that works," Sim said. He supports a plebiscite to strengthen city bylaws against hard drug use in public spaces.

## Colleen Hardwick

Hardwick, running with TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, said she would repeal the official development plan that council passed in March within her first 90 days. She said the plan takes a centralized approach and that neighbourhood planning should have a greater role. She also said she would simplify building and business-permitting processes and set service standards. "Permitting should not be an endurance sport," Hardwick said.

## Rebecca Bligh

Bligh, running with Vote Vancouver, said a zero-per-cent property tax increase does not mean the overall financial burden on residents has fallen, and pointed to projected user fee increases and the use of money from the city's property endowment fund. She proposed property taxes indexed to inflation and a small-business concierge giving business owners one point of contact for city hall departments and timelines.

## Kareem Allam

Allam, running for the Vancouver Liberals, said 12 city departments currently have what he described as a veto on any project, and proposed consolidating approvals into a single department. He said he would replace Vancouver's building code with the provincial one to reduce complexity. "There are now 12 departments in the City of Vancouver that have a veto on your project," Allam said.

## Pete Fry

Fry, the Green Party of Vancouver candidate and a two-term city councillor, said he would create a 24-7 non-police outreach team for non-emergency situations involving people in crisis. He proposed returning to a more detailed city budget and a business navigator giving businesses one point of contact at city hall, and said he would repeal the ban on supportive housing and on overdose prevention sites.

## What voters can do

The election takes place on October 17, 2026. Advance voting runs October 3, 7, 10 and 13 at 59 locations, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The [where-to-vote page](/where-to-vote) has all locations. Candidate profiles for [Ken Sim](/candidates/ken-sim), [Colleen Hardwick](/candidates/colleen-hardwick), [Rebecca Bligh](/candidates/rebecca-bligh), [Kareem Allam](/candidates/kareem-allam) and [Pete Fry](/candidates/pete-fry) are on this site.

## Sitemap

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