British ColumbiaCoun. Pete Fry is considering whether to challenge Vancouver Mayor Kan Sim with a run for mayor in next year’s election. If he ran, Fry would be Sim’s third major challenger, joining the mayor’s former chief of staff, Kareem Allam, and his former ABC council colleague, Rebecca Bligh.Greens, COPE and OneCity all have a city councillor, but face a decision over how — and who — to run for mayorJustin McElroy · CBC News · Posted: Sep 25, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours agoCoun. Pete Fry is pictured during a council meeting in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Ben Nelms/CBC)At the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference happening in Victoria this week, there is plenty of discussion from mayors and councillors about substantive issues that residents face across the province.But in between meetings and over beverages, there is also gossip — and some of it is whether Vancouver Coun. Pete Fry will be the next person to throw his hat in the ring to challenge Mayor Ken Sim.”Pete’s a good guy, he’s a hard worker; what more can you ask for in a politician these days, especially a local one?” said Chilliwack Coun. Jason Lum, former Fraser Valley Regional District chair and one of many people who have served on the UBCM executive with Fry and encouraged him to run.”Our politics might not align perfectly, but when we were going through some huge challenges around the [2021] floods, the first person from Vancouver and Metro Vancouver who gave me a phone call was Pete.”WATCH | Fry considers run for mayor: Vancouver councillor Pete Fry considers run for Vancouver mayorIn the same week that one Vancouver councillor announced her candidacy for mayor, another one is thinking about stepping in as well — but as Justin McElroy reports, Pete Fry’s possible entry would force other left wing parties to make big decisions.If he ran, Fry would be the third major challenger Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim in next year’s election, joining Sim’s former chief of staff, Kareem Allam, and his former ABC council colleague, Rebecca Bligh.’I’m thinking about it’But he would be the first who has opposed Sim in all three years of his mayorship — and he admitted he’s heavily considering it.”I’m thinking about it,” said Fry, a two-term Green Party councillor.”I do see a real need for leadership that will take our city in the right place, and I haven’t seen that from Ken Sim,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of squandered opportunities, wasting time on abolishing the park board or talking about bitcoin, and those are missed opportunities to focus on real issues in Vancouver.”Fry says that he doesn’t have a timeline for making a decision, though he acknowledged that fundraising rules encourage making a decision before the end of the year.But if he did run, it would force Vancouver’s many progressive parties to start making big decisions.WATCH | Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh announces her bid for mayor: Longtime Vancouver city councillor to run against Mayor Ken Sim next yearThe next municipal election in Vancouver is still more than a year away, but the palace intrigue is already heating up. Coun. Rebecca Bligh was ousted by Ken Sim’s governing ABC party earlier this year. As CBC’s Michelle Ghoussoub reports, she’ll now be running against the mayor. Politics of the leftFor the last two decades, the run-ups to Vancouver’s elections have included negotiations and tensions between the city’s various progressive parties — which are currently the Greens, COPE and OneCity — as they decide whether to endorse a single candidate for mayor to prevent vote splitting.COPE and OneCity said they wouldn’t support Bligh’s bid for mayor, and while OneCity attempted and failed to recruit B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma to run for them, neither party has made a decision on candidates. But Stewart Prest, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, said Fry could occupy a political sweet spot.”Pete Fry is a more centrist-leftist if you like,” he said.”He can perhaps bring on board everyone from COPE to OneCity to the Greens themselves … politicians come up labelled as the left or right, it’s hard to change those identities, and it matters in Vancouver politics.”Indeed, Fry has already been talking with left-wing organizations in Vancouver about ensuring a single candidate. And he could have the support of COPE’s only elected councillor, Sean Orr.”I think Pete would make an excellent mayor,” said Orr, who has ruled out his own mayoral run.While he says his words weren’t necessarily an endorsement, he saw Fry as a person that could unite the left. “Vancouverites, as we saw in the byelection, want a progressive, they want someone with integrity — and Pete has that.” B.C. Green Party toques and buttons are pictured on a table. (Justin McElroy/CBC News)Fry would face challenges if he ran: he supported a number of positions of former Mayor Kennedy Stewart that were soundly rejected in 2022, and Prest said the Green Party’s loss in this year’s council byelection – where OneCity and COPE candidates were elected instead – showed a lack of brand and organizational strength.”The vibes are not good with the Green Party at the moment, and that’s something that he is going to have to deal with,” said Prest.Could Fry revive those Green vibes, unite the left and face off against Sim’s swagger? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Thirteen months is a long time in politics, and as Fry acknowledges, there’s one vote that will matter most in his decision making.”I have to talk to my wife first and foremost,” he said. “It’s not gonna happen unless she says yes.”ABOUT THE AUTHORJustin is the Municipal Affairs Reporter for CBC Vancouver, covering local political stories throughout British Columbia.
Pete Fry considering a run for mayor of Vancouver and he could be the candidate to unite the left
