---
title: "Vancouver Liberals say they will cancel a planned second city hall to fund parks"
description: "The Vancouver Liberals published a press release on October 5 saying mayoral candidate Kareem Allam will cancel a second city hall project and redirect the savings to a $1.35B parks funding commitment."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/vancouver-liberals-parks-plan-second-city-hall-october-5"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:01:13.497Z"
---

The Vancouver Liberals published a press release on October 5, 2026 saying mayoral candidate [Kareem Allam](/candidates/kareem-allam) plans to cancel what the party calls Ken Sim's second city hall project and redirect the savings to a $1.35B parks and community centre funding commitment.

"Ken Sim and his ABC City Council are planning to build a second city hall should they be re-elected," Allam said in the release. "We're going to cancel those plans."

The party says the current council enacted a policy allowing a new civic office building of up to 452,000 square feet. The party puts the cost at $800M or more, a figure it derives from the City of Burnaby's 2023 plans for a 355,000 square foot city hall that the party says would have cost $838M. The party says inflation since then would raise the figure further. These cost estimates are the Vancouver Liberals' own projections and have not been independently verified.

The party says it would redirect those savings to a parks plan it announced earlier in the campaign. In the 2027-2030 Park Board budget, the party says the board received $739M despite a request for $1.35B. The party attributes the $1.35B request to Vancouver Liberal Park Board Commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky. Both figures come from the party's own press release.

"We will make sure that funds aren't diverted for an unnecessary office space expansion while our community centres are closing and our Parks renewal strategy is being underfunded," Allam said. "We will spend taxpayer dollars where they're needed, on parks, ice rinks, and community centres."

The party says its $1.35B parks plan targets the 2031-2034 Park Board budget cycle and would prioritize renovations to Hastings, Kensington, and Renfrew Community Centres, among other priorities. The Vancouver Liberals describe this as addressing what they call the Park Board funding gap.

The party's press release does not include a response from [Ken Sim](/candidates/ken-sim) or ABC Vancouver. This site found no published response before this article was written.

Voters can compare party platforms at [/parties](/parties) and find Kareem Allam's full profile at [/candidates/kareem-allam](/candidates/kareem-allam). Election day is October 17, 2026. Advance voting is available on October 7, 10, and 13 at locations across the city, listed at [/where-to-vote](/where-to-vote).

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