--- title: "COPE on The People's Audit: 20 commitments | Vancouver 2026 | voche.me" canonical_url: "https://voche.me/parties/cope/2026-platform/the-peoples-audit" last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:00:25.491Z" meta: description: "The People's Audit is COPE's plan to review and reverse the ABC council's decisions. It proposes an emergency transitional budget, a worker-led audit, a 9%..." "og:description": "The People's Audit is COPE's plan to review and reverse the ABC council's decisions. It proposes an emergency transitional budget, a worker-led audit, a 9%..." "og:title": "COPE on The People's Audit: 20 commitments | Vancouver 2026" "twitter:description": "The People's Audit is COPE's plan to review and reverse the ABC council's decisions. It proposes an emergency transitional budget, a worker-led audit, a 9%..." "twitter:title": "COPE on The People's Audit: 20 commitments | Vancouver 2026" --- ** COPE · Vancouver 2026 # COPE's People's Audit: undoing ABC's changes and reviewing City Hall The People's Audit is COPE's plan to review and reverse the ABC council's decisions. It proposes an emergency transitional budget, a worker-led audit, a 9% Empty Homes Tax, the Auditor General's land sale fixes, a lobbying registry and cooling-off periods. See the 3 chapters [The whole Fight for Vancouver](https://voche.me/parties/cope/2026-platform) [**12**Candidates](https://voche.me/parties/cope/candidates) [**9/10**Issues with published policy](https://voche.me/parties/cope/platform) [**7**Sources on file](https://voche.me/parties/cope/money) **9**Questions answered CITY COUNCIL · PAGES 10 TO 11 ## The aim of The People's Audit, in the party's words > Identify and report on what happened and why under Ken Sim’s tenure, and who bore the consequences for the decisions made. The People's Audit, on pages 10 and 11 of COPE's platform, is about the city government itself. COPE says it would find out what happened under Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority, who bore the consequences, and how to undo the decisions it opposes. The section has three parts: immediate steps to reverse course, a review of how decisions were made, and limits on the influence of the wealthiest people and of lobbyists at City Hall. The first steps include an emergency transitional budget, a worker-led audit in which city workers are interviewed about waste, the return of the Renters Office and of cut climate programs, and an Empty Homes Tax rising to 9%. The review would look at staff layoffs, the replacement of the city manager, the use of city data by AI companies, and the Auditor General's 2026 Land Sales Audit. COPE would also add a lobbying registry and cooling-off periods for people moving between city jobs and industry. Almost all of this is Council's to decide, because Council directs the city's administration, approves the budget and sets city bylaws, including those for the Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner. Campaign finance is the exception: contribution rules for BC local elections are set by provincial law, so COPE could only press for that reform. A lobbying registry is a mixed case: COPE says the city can start one alone and would seek more authority from senior governments. **3**Chapters **20**Commitments **1**Need another government or a regional body 3 CHAPTERS ## Every chapter in The People's Audit [

Reverse Course on Ken Sim and ABC Immediately

COPE's first steps: a worker-led audit, an emergency budget, a 9% Empty Homes Tax - Report on what happened under Ken Sim - A worker-led audit of City Hall - Fix the ways the bureaucracy is broken9 commitmentsPage 10Read the chapter](https://voche.me/parties/cope/2026-platform/the-peoples-audit/reverse-course-on-ken-sim-and-abc-immediately) [

Expose the Damage, Clean up the Mess

COPE's review of City Hall: layoffs, land deals, AI data use and the Auditor General - Find out how major decisions were made - Fight waste from Ken Sim's management - Find out why progress on city goals stalled7 commitmentsPage 11Read the chapter](https://voche.me/parties/cope/2026-platform/the-peoples-audit/expose-the-damage-clean-up-the-mess) [

End the Influence of Billionaires and Lobbyists at City Hall

COPE on lobbying: a lobbyist registry, cooling-off periods and campaign finance reform - Empower the Integrity Commissioner - Campaign finance reform - Ban the revolving door between industry and government4 commitmentsPage 11Read the chapter](https://voche.me/parties/cope/2026-platform/the-peoples-audit/end-the-influence-of-billionaires-and-lobbyists-at-city-hall) WHO WOULD HAVE TO ACT ## Who holds the power for these 20 commitments Each chapter page names the body for every commitment and gives the reason in one sentence. City Council17 City, with others2 Province1 ON THE BALLOT ## The COPE candidates behind this ### City Council [111**Sean Orr**Ballot 111 · Vancouver city councillor](https://voche.me/candidates/sean-orr) [121**Devyani Singh**Ballot 121](https://voche.me/candidates/devyani-singh) [124**Chloe Leslie**Ballot 124](https://voche.me/candidates/chloe-leslie) [155**Solomon Yi-Kieran**Ballot 155](https://voche.me/candidates/solomon-yi-kieran) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ## Questions about The People's Audit
What is COPE's People's Audit? The People's Audit is COPE's plan to review and reverse decisions made under Ken Sim and ABC. It includes an emergency transitional budget, a worker-led audit of City Hall, a review of major decisions, and new limits on lobbying (platform, pages 10 and 11).
What would COPE change at Vancouver City Hall? COPE would give the Auditor General more independence, carry out the Auditor General's 2026 land sale recommendations, give the Integrity Commissioner more power, bring in a lobbying registry and set cooling-off periods between city jobs and lobbying industries (platform, page 11).
What does COPE say about Ken Sim's record? The platform says Ken Sim and ABC froze supportive housing, cut climate programs and the sustainability department, stopped a planned rise in the Empty Homes Tax and did not act on a land sales audit that found $60 million+ in lost revenue. These are COPE's statements (platform, pages 10 and 11).
Would COPE raise the Empty Homes Tax in its first term? Yes. In its list of immediate steps, COPE says it would reverse the cut to the Empty Homes Tax and phase in increases to 9% (platform, page 10).
Who would carry out COPE's People's Audit? Council directs the city's administration and approves the budget, so a council majority could order the audit and the reviews. The Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner work under city bylaws. Campaign finance rules are provincial, so that part would need the Province (platform, pages 10 and 11).
## Sources Every commitment on this page comes from the party's own material, marked SAYS SO ITSELF. It proves what the party says it would do. Who holds each power is our own addition, from the sources listed after it. 1. [Fight for Vancouver: COPE 2026 Platform (PDF) ](https://www.votecope.ca/s/Fight-For-Vancouver-COPE-2026-Platform-t7yf.pdf#page=10)SAYS SO ITSELFCOPE · pages 10 to 11 · checked September 30, 2026 2. [Auditor General of the City of Vancouver ](https://vancouver.ca/your-government/auditor-general.aspx)City of Vancouver · checked September 30, 2026 3. [Integrity Commissioner and the Code of Conduct By-law ](https://vancouver.ca/your-government/integrity-commissioner.aspx)City of Vancouver · checked September 30, 2026 4. [Making a campaign contribution in BC local elections ](https://elections.bc.ca/local-elections/making-a-campaign-contribution/)Elections BC · checked September 30, 2026 ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.