2011 Vancouver municipal election explained

Election Name:	2011 Vancouver municipal election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Party Colour:	no
Party Name:	no
Previous Election:	2008 Vancouver municipal election
Previous Year:	2008
Next Election:	2014 Vancouver municipal election
Next Year:	2014
Seats For Election:	11 seats in Vancouver City Council
Turnout:	35.0%^[1] 4.2 pp
Leader1:	Gregor Robertson
Alliance1:	Vision-COPE
Leaders Seat1:	Mayor
Last Election1:	8 seats, 54.39%
Seats1:	8
Popular Vote1:	77,005
Percentage1:	53.17%
Swing1:	1.21%
Leader2:	Suzanne Anton
Leaders Seat2:	Ran for Mayor (lost)
Last Election2:	1 seat, 39.26%
Seats2:	2
Seat Change2:	1
Popular Vote2:	58,152
Percentage2:	40.15%
Swing2:	0.89%
Leader3:	Adriane Carr (de facto)
Leaders Seat3:	Councillor
Last Election3:	0 seats, N/A
Seats3:	1
Seat Change3:	1
Popular Vote3:	N/A
Percentage3:	N/A
Swing3:	N/A
Leader4:	Ellen Woodsworth (de facto)
Alliance4:	Vision-COPE
Leaders Seat4:	Ran for Councillor (lost)
Last Election4:	2 seats, N/A
Seats4:	0
Seat Change4:	2
Popular Vote4:	N/A
Percentage4:	N/A
Swing4:	N/A
Leader5:	Randy Helten
Leaders Seat5:	Ran for Mayor (lost)
Last Election5:	N/A
Seats5:	0
Popular Vote5:	4,077
Percentage5:	2.77%
Swing5:	N/A
Mayor
Before Election:	Gregor Robertson
After Election:	Gregor Robertson

The City of Vancouver held a municipal election on November 19, 2011, along with other municipalities and regional districts in British Columbia. All local government elections were for a three-year period. The ballot elected one mayor, 10 councillors, nine school board trustees and seven park board commissioners. A $180 million capital borrowing plan^[2] was also put to a vote.

Incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson and the Vision Vancouver Party sought and won their second term in office following their victory in the 2008 election. All Vision Vancouver candidates won seats in their respective categories.^[3]

Suzanne Anton lost her bid as mayor but the NPA team gained seats in council, park board and school board. COPE was nearly wiped out this election, losing both seats in city council. Its only elected official was school board trustee incumbent Allan Wong.^[4] On December 8, 2013, Wong resigned from the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) and joined Vision as a sitting trustee.

The Green Party of Vancouver had its first elected city councillor with Adriane Carr, but lost its incumbent seat on the park board.^[5] New party Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver (NSV) did not win any seats in council. NSV leader Randy Helten placed a distant third in the mayoral race.

Candidates and results

The nomination period officially opened on October 4, 2011, and closed on October 14, 2011. This was the second election where Vision Vancouver and COPE signed an electoral agreement to support each other's candidates for election.^[6] ^[7]

(I) denotes incumbents.

Mayor

Twelve candidates sought election to the position of mayor. Four were affiliated with a political party and eight were independents. Incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver was re-elected.^[8]

Candidate name		Party affiliation	Votes	% of votes	Elected
data-sort-value="Robertson, Gregor"	(I) Gregor Robertson		Vision Vancouver	77,005	53.17	X
data-sort-value="Anton, Suzanne"	Suzanne Anton		Non-Partisan Association	58,152	40.15
data-sort-value="Helten, Randy"	Randy Helten		Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver	4,007	2.77
data-sort-value="McGuire, Gerry"	Gerry McGuire		Vancouver Citizen's Voice	1,195	0.83
data-sort-value="Pelletier, Sam"	Sam Pelletier		Independent	443	0.31
data-sort-value="Zimmerman, Darrell"	Darrell Zimmerman		Independent	426	0.29
Dubgee		Independent	419	0.29
data-sort-value="Lawrance, Robin"	Robin Lawrance		Independent	353	0.24
data-sort-value="Paquette, Victor B."	Victor B. Paquette		Independent	333	0.23
data-sort-value="Cooke, Lloyd Alan"	Lloyd Alan Cooke		Independent	310	0.21
data-sort-value="Caissy, Menard"	Menard Caissy		Independent	288	0.20
data-sort-value="Buday, Gölök Zoltán"	Gölök Zoltán Buday		Independent	268	0.19

City councillors

Ten councillors were elected out of 41 candidates. Of the candidates, 28 were affiliated with a political party, and 13 were independent. Seven incumbent councillors sought re-election: six from Vision Vancouver and one from COPE. Of those subsequently elected, Vision Vancouver held seven seats, the NPA two and the Green Party of Vancouver one.

Candidate name		Party affiliation	Votes	% of votes	Elected
data-sort-value="Louie, Raymond"	(I) Raymond Louie		Vision Vancouver	63,273	43.69	X
data-sort-value="Jang, Kerry"	(I) Kerry Jang		Vision Vancouver	61,931	42.76	X
data-sort-value="Deal, Heather"	(I) Heather Deal		Vision Vancouver	61,368	42.37	X
data-sort-value="Reimer, Andrea"	(I) Andrea Reimer		Vision Vancouver	60,593	41.84	X
data-sort-value="Stevenson, Tim"	(I) Tim Stevenson		Vision Vancouver	56,638	39.11	X
data-sort-value="Meggs, Geoff"	(I) Geoff Meggs		Vision Vancouver	56,184	38.79	X
data-sort-value="Tang, Tony"	Tony Tang		Vision Vancouver	53,873	37.20	X
data-sort-value="Ball, Elizabeth"	Elizabeth Ball		Non-Partisan Association	51,607	35.63	X
data-sort-value="Affleck, George"	George Affleck		Non-Partisan Association	51,145	35.32	X
data-sort-value="Carr, Adriane"	Adriane Carr		Green Party of Vancouver	48,648	33.59	X
data-sort-value="Woodsworth, Ellen"	(I) Ellen Woodsworth		Coalition of Progressive Electors	48,557	33.53
data-sort-value="Yuen, Bill"	Bill Yuen		Non-Partisan Association	48,407	33.42
data-sort-value="Klassen, Mike"	Mike Klassen		Non-Partisan Association	47,868	33.05
data-sort-value="Charko, Ken"	Ken Charko		Non-Partisan Association	45,373	31.33
data-sort-value="McCreery, Bill"	Bill McCreery		Non-Partisan Association	45,114	31.15
data-sort-value="Wong, Francis"	Francis Wong		Non-Partisan Association	44,707	30.87
data-sort-value="Louis, Tim"	Tim Louis		Coalition of Progressive Electors	43,926	30.33
data-sort-value="Bickerton, Sean"	Sean Bickerton		Non-Partisan Association	43,289	29.89
data-sort-value="Carangi, Joe"	Joe Carangi		Non-Partisan Association	41,460	28.63
data-sort-value="Aquino, RJ"	RJ Aquino		Coalition of Progressive Electors	39,054	26.97
data-sort-value="Lamarche, Jason"	Jason Lamarche		Non-Partisan Association	37,286	25.75
data-sort-value="Garossino, Sandy"	Sandy Garossino		Independent	20,866	14.41
data-sort-value="Murphy, Elizabeth"	Elizabeth Murphy		Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver	19,644	13.56
data-sort-value="Benson, Nicole"	Nicole Benson		Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver	17,983	12.42
data-sort-value="Martin, Terry"	Terry Martin		Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver	13,025	8.99
data-sort-value="Kerchum, Marie"	Marie Kerchum		Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver	12,614	8.71
data-sort-value="Shaw, Chris"	Chris Shaw		De-Growth Vancouver	8,219	5.68
data-sort-value="Gregson, Ian"	Ian Gregson		De-Growth Vancouver	7,872	5.44
data-sort-value="Fox, Amy"	Amy Fox		Independent	6,499	4.49
data-sort-value="Alm, Kelly"	Kelly Alm		Independent	5,525	3.82
data-sort-value="Fraser, Grant"	Grant Fraser		Independent	4,758	3.29
data-sort-value="Masson, Chris"	Chris Masson		De-Growth Vancouver	4,690	3.24
data-sort-value="Gill, Lauren R.I.C.H."	Lauren R.I.C.H. Gill		Independent	4,682	3.23
data-sort-value="Dharni, Michael Singh"	Michael Singh Dharni		Independent	4,167	2.88
data-sort-value="Nguyen, Marc Tan"	Marc Tan Nguyen		Independent	4,118	2.84
data-sort-value="Orser, Rick"	Rick Orser		Independent	3,996	2.76
Wendythirteen		Independent	3,926	2.71
data-sort-value="Nguyen, Bang"	Bang Nguyen		Independent	3,826	2.64
data-sort-value="Copeland, Cord (Ted)"	Cord (Ted) Copeland		Independent	3,587	2.48
data-sort-value="Spires, Aaron R.I.C.H."	Aaron R.I.C.H. Spires		Independent	2,200	1.52
data-sort-value="Maxwell N Bur, R H"	R H Maxwell N Bur		Independent	1,955	1.35

Park board commissioners

Seven commissioners were elected out of 21 candidates. Of the candidates, 15 were affiliated with a political party, and six were independent. Four incumbent commissioners sought re-election: three from Vision Vancouver and one from the Green Party of Vancouver. Of the elected commissioners, Vision held five seats and the NPA two.

Candidate name		Votes	% of votes	Elected
data-sort-value="Barnes, Constance"	(I) Constance Barnes	Vision Vancouver	63,952	44.16	X
data-sort-value="Blyth, Sarah"	(I) Sarah Blyth	Vision Vancouver	62,198	42.95	X
data-sort-value="Jasper, Aaron"	(I) Aaron Jasper	Vision Vancouver	58,343	40.29	X
data-sort-value="Sharma, Niki"	Niki Sharma	Vision Vancouver	58,330	40.28	X
data-sort-value="De Genova, Melissa"	Melissa De Genova	Non-Partisan Association	56,501	39.01	X
data-sort-value="Coupar, John"	John Coupar	Non-Partisan Association	50,375	34.78	X
data-sort-value="Loke, Trevor"	Trevor Loke	Vision Vancouver	49,878	34.44	X
data-sort-value="Crawford, Casey"	Casey Crawford	Non-Partisan Association	49,020	33.85
data-sort-value="Kalaw, Gabby"	Gabby Kalaw	Non-Partisan Association	48,600	33.56
data-sort-value="Upton, Jason"	Jason Upton	Non-Partisan Association	46,261	31.94
data-sort-value="Pasin, Dave"	Dave Pasin	Non-Partisan Association	46,005	31.77
data-sort-value="Mackinnon, Stuart"	(I) Stuart Mackinnon	Green Party of Vancouver	44,761	30.91
data-sort-value="Granby, Brent"	Brent Granby	Coalition of Progressive Electors	42,769	29.53
data-sort-value="Greenwell-Baker, Donalda"	Donalda Greenwell-Baker	Coalition of Progressive Electors	39,033	26.95
data-sort-value="Hamilton, Jamie Lee"	Jamie Lee Hamilton	Independent Democratic Electoral Alliance	19,495	13.46
data-sort-value="Andalis, Juliet Victoria"	Juliet Victoria Andalis	Independent	12,693	8.76
data-sort-value="Hadley, Eleanor"	Eleanor Hadley	Independent	10,754	9.37
data-sort-value="Murray, Andrew"	Andrew Murray	Independent	9,819	6.78
data-sort-value="Truong, Tammy"	Tammy Truong	Independent	8,917	6.16
data-sort-value="Haskell, Peter Raymond"	Peter Raymond Haskell	Independent	5,540	3.83
data-sort-value="Pri Toor, Freyja"	Freyja Pri Toor	Independent	5,062	3.50

School board trustees

Nine school board trustees were elected out of 20 candidates. Of the candidates, 15 were affiliated with a political party, and five were independent. Seven incumbent trustees were seeking re-election: three from Vision Vancouver, three from COPE, and one from the NPA. Of the elected trustees, five were from Vision Vancouver, three from the NPA and one from COPE.

Candidate name		Votes	% of votes	Elected
data-sort-value="Bacchus, Patti"	(I) Patti Bacchus	Vision Vancouver	72,025	49.73	X
data-sort-value="Lombardi, Mike"	(I) Mike Lombardi	Vision Vancouver	65,411	45.17	X
data-sort-value="Clement, Ken"	(I) Ken Clement	Vision Vancouver	61,994	42.81	X
data-sort-value="Payne, Cherie"	Cherie Payne	Vision Vancouver	61,874	42.72	X
data-sort-value="Denike, Ken"	(I) Ken Denike	Non-Partisan Association	59,310	40.95	X
data-sort-value="Wong, Allan"	(I) Allan Wong	Coalition of Progressive Electors	57,902	39.98	X
data-sort-value="Wynen, Rob"	Rob Wynen	Vision Vancouver	56,763	39.19	X
data-sort-value="Woo, Sophia"	Sophia Woo	Non-Partisan Association	55,890	38.59	X
data-sort-value="Ballantyne, Fraser"	Fraser Ballantyne	Non-Partisan Association	55,713	38.47	X
data-sort-value="Robertson, Stacy"	Stacy Robertson	Non-Partisan Association	54,275	37.48
data-sort-value="Giesbrecht, Gwen"	Gwen Giesbrecht	Coalition of Progressive Electors	52,470	36.23
data-sort-value="Bouey, Jane"	(I) Jane Bouey	Coalition of Progressive Electors	52,026	35.92
data-sort-value="Blakey, Al"	(I) Al Blakey	Coalition of Progressive Electors	51,963	35.88
data-sort-value="Sharma, Sandy"	Sandy Sharma	Non-Partisan Association	49,843	34.42
data-sort-value="Boutin, Louise"	Louise Boutin	Green Party of Vancouver	34,477	23.81
data-sort-value="Harvey, Lily"	Lily Harvey	Independent	20,314	14.03
data-sort-value="Lauenstein, Misha"	Misha Lauenstein	Independent	14,297	9.87
data-sort-value="Stark, Robert Allan"	Robert Allan Stark	Independent	13,391	9.25
data-sort-value="Nguyen, Bang"	Bang Nguyen	Independent	12,903	8.91
data-sort-value="Haskell, Peter Raymond"	Peter Raymond Haskell	Independent	11,915	8.23

Capital Plan questions

1. Are you in favour of council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass by-laws between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2014, to borrow an aggregate $65,800,000 for the following purposes?

Community Facilities at $58,600,000
Parks at $7,200,000

Option	Votes	Percentage
Yes	81,605	63.39
No	47,124	36.61
*Total votes*	*128,729*	*100*

2. Are you in favour of council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass by-laws between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2014, to borrow an aggregate $66,300,000 for the following purposes?

Street and Bridge Infrastructure at $41,150,000
Transit and Safety Improvements at $8,500,000
Street Lighting, Traffic Signals and Communications Systems at $16,650,000

Option	Votes	Percentage
Yes	88,640	68.85
No	40,095	31.15
*Total votes*	*128,735*	*100*

3. Are you in favour of council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass by-laws between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2014, to borrow an aggregate $47,700,000 for the following purposes?

Public Safety Facilities at $13,200,000
Civic Facilities at $34,500,000

Option	Votes	Percentage
Yes	87,515	68.23
No	40,740	31.76
*Total votes*	*128,255*	*100*

Voter and party statistics

Voter turnout

Of the 418,878 registered voters, there were 144,823 recorded ballots, marking the voter turnout at 34.57 percent.^[9] This is an increase from the 30.79-percent turnout during the previous municipal election in 2008.

Elected percentage by party

Of the parties represented, only Vision Vancouver had its entire slate of candidates elected in all fields.

Party		Mayor		Councillors		Park board commissioners		School board trustees		Total candidates
Party		Elected	% Elected	Elected	% Elected	Elected	% Elected	Elected	% Elected	Elected	% Elected
	Vision Vancouver	1/1	100.0	7/7	100.0	5/5	100.0	5/5	100.0	18/18	100.0
	Green Party of Vancouver	NIL	N/A	1/1	100.0	0/1	0.0	0/1	0.0	1/3	33.3
	Non-Partisan Association	0/1	0.0	2/10	20.0	2/6	33.3	3/5	60.0	7/22	31.8
	Coalition of Progressive Electors	NIL	N/A	0/3	0.0	0/2	0.0	1/4	25.0	1/9	11.1
	Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver	0/1	0.0	0/4	0.0	NIL	N/A	NIL	N/A	0/5	0.0
	De-Growth Vancouver	NIL	N/A	0/3	0.0	NIL	N/A	NIL	N/A	0/3	0.0
	Vancouver Citizen's Voice	0/1	0.0	NIL	N/A	NIL	N/A	NIL	N/A	0/1	0.0
	Independent Democratic Electoral Alliance	NIL	N/A	NIL	N/A	0/1	0.0	NIL	N/A	0/1	0.0
	Independent candidates	0/8	0.0	0/13	0.0	0/6	0.0	0/5	0.0	0/32	0.0

Seat changes by party

Party		Mayor & councillors				Park board commissioners				School board trustees				Total elected
Party		2008	2011	% Change	% Seats	2008	2011	% Change	% Seats	2008	2011	% Change	% Seats	2008	2011	% Change	% Seats
	Vision Vancouver	8	8	0.00	72.73	4	5	+25.00	71.43	4	5	+25.00	55.56	16	18	+12.50	66.67
	Non-Partisan Association	1	2	+100.00	18.18	1	2	+100.00	28.57	2	3	+50.00	33.33	4	7	+75.00	25.93
	Green Party of Vancouver	0	1	N/A	9.09	1	0	−100.00	0.00	0	0	0.00	0.00	1	1	0.00	3.70
	Coalition of Progressive Electors	2	0	−100.00	0.00	1	0	−100.00	0.00	3	1	−66.67	11.11	6	1	−83.33	3.70

External links

Vancouver Votes on city website

Notes and References

Web site: 2014 Vancouver civic election . June 17, 2022 . City of Vancouver . November 29, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141129184841/https://vancouver.ca/your-government/2014-municipal-election.aspx.
http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/elections/2011election/documents/Capital_Plan_Information.pdf Capital Plan 2012-2014
Web site: Spencer. Kent. Olivier. Cassidy. Robertson leads Vision sweep. The Province. November 20, 2011. November 23, 2011 .
Web site: O'Connor. Naoibh. COPE's last man standing speaks. Vancouver Courier. November 21, 2011. November 23, 2011 .
Web site: Thomas. Sandra. Adriane Carr makes Vancouver city council history. Vancouver Courier. November 19, 2011. November 23, 2011 .
Web site: Howell. Mike. COPE infighting follows Vancouver election disaster. Vancouver Courier. November 21, 2011. November 23, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181215223138/https://www.vancourier.com/news/cope-infighting-follows-vancouver-election-disaster-1.382602 . December 15, 2018.
Web site: Carrigg. David. Veteran left-wing COPE squeezed out of picture. The Province. November 20, 2011. November 23, 2011 .
Web site: Election summary - Election 2011 - City of Vancouver Elections . September 11, 2023 . City of Vancouver . https://wayback.archive-it.org/13140/20191216225018/http://former.vancouver.ca/electionresults2011/index.htm . December 16, 2019.
http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/Library/Elections/VoterTurnout_BCMuni2011.pdf Percent Voter Turnout Calculations for BC Municipalities