---
title: "Three Vancouver parties support bringing back ward elections"
description: "Kareem Allam, Colleen Hardwick and COPE all say Vancouver should elect councillors by neighbourhood rather than city-wide, according to the Vancouver Sun."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/vancouver-ward-system-parties-october-7"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:01:11.103Z"
---

Three parties running in Vancouver's October 17 election have called for the city to switch from its current council election model to a ward system, the Vancouver Sun reported on October 6, 2026.

Vancouver Liberals mayoral candidate [Kareem Allam](/candidates/kareem-allam), TEAM for a Livable Vancouver mayoral candidate [Colleen Hardwick](/candidates/colleen-hardwick), and COPE all stated support for the change, according to the Vancouver Sun.

## What each party says

The Vancouver Liberals say a ward system would reduce the number of candidates a voter must evaluate. Allam said in a news release, as reported by the Vancouver Sun, that this would make it easier for candidates and voters to connect and could result in more people feeling ready to make an informed decision and vote.

Hardwick said in a news release, also reported by the Vancouver Sun, that many neighbourhood concerns are ignored under the current city-wide model. The Vancouver Sun quoted her statement: "We need a ward system so councillors are directly accountable to the residents that elected them."

COPE also supports a ward system, the Vancouver Sun reported, without publishing a separate statement.

## How the current system works

Vancouver uses an at-large system. Every voter across the whole city sees the same list of council candidates and chooses up to 10. Whoever gets the most votes city-wide fills the 10 available seats, regardless of where in the city candidates or voters live.

Most other large Canadian cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Regina, divide the city into wards and elect one or more councillors per ward, the Vancouver Sun reported.

## The history of ward votes

Vancouver removed ward elections in 1935, the Vancouver Sun reported. Voters were asked to restore them in 2004 and declined, with 54 per cent voting to keep the at-large system and 46 per cent supporting a return to wards, according to the Vancouver Sun.

In Vancouver's 2022 election, 36.3 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, the Vancouver Sun reported.

## What a change would take

Any shift away from the at-large system would require provincial action, as British Columbia law governs how municipal elections run. The Vancouver Sun described the path to change as potentially slow. None of the parties supporting the ward system have published a detailed plan for how they would bring it about.

If you want to compare where the parties running in 2026 stand on this and other questions, their platforms are on the [/parties](/parties) page. Voting is on October 17, 2026.

## Sitemap

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