2011 Vancouver municipal election


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 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.
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. On December 8, 2013, Wong resigned from the Coalition of Progressive Electors 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. New party Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver 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.
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.
Candidate nameParty affiliationVotes% of votesElected
Gregor RobertsonVision Vancouver77,00553.17X
Suzanne AntonNon-Partisan Association58,15240.15
Randy HeltenNeighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver4,0072.77
Gerry McGuireVancouver Citizen's Voice1,1950.83
Sam PelletierIndependent4430.31
Darrell ZimmermanIndependent4260.29
DubgeeIndependent4190.29
Robin LawranceIndependent3530.24
Victor B. PaquetteIndependent3330.23
Lloyd Alan CookeIndependent3100.21
Menard CaissyIndependent2880.20
Gölök Zoltán BudayIndependent2680.19

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 nameParty affiliationVotes% of votesElected
Raymond LouieVision Vancouver63,27343.69X
Kerry JangVision Vancouver61,93142.76X
Heather DealVision Vancouver61,36842.37X
Andrea ReimerVision Vancouver60,59341.84X
Tim StevensonVision Vancouver56,63839.11X
Geoff MeggsVision Vancouver56,18438.79X
Tony TangVision Vancouver53,87337.20X
Elizabeth BallNon-Partisan Association51,60735.63X
George AffleckNon-Partisan Association51,14535.32X
Adriane CarrGreen Party of Vancouver48,64833.59X
Ellen WoodsworthCoalition of Progressive Electors48,55733.53
Bill YuenNon-Partisan Association48,40733.42
Mike KlassenNon-Partisan Association47,86833.05
Ken CharkoNon-Partisan Association45,37331.33
Bill McCreeryNon-Partisan Association45,11431.15
Francis WongNon-Partisan Association44,70730.87
Tim LouisCoalition of Progressive Electors43,92630.33
Sean BickertonNon-Partisan Association43,28929.89
Joe CarangiNon-Partisan Association41,46028.63
RJ AquinoCoalition of Progressive Electors39,05426.97
Jason LamarcheNon-Partisan Association37,28625.75
Sandy GarossinoIndependent20,86614.41
Elizabeth MurphyNeighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver19,64413.56
Nicole BensonNeighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver17,98312.42
Terry MartinNeighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver13,0258.99
Marie KerchumNeighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver12,6148.71
Chris ShawDe-Growth Vancouver8,2195.68
Ian GregsonDe-Growth Vancouver7,8725.44
Amy FoxIndependent6,4994.49
Kelly AlmIndependent5,5253.82
Grant FraserIndependent4,7583.29
Chris MassonDe-Growth Vancouver4,6903.24
Lauren R.I.C.H. GillIndependent4,6823.23
Michael Singh DharniIndependent4,1672.88
Marc Tan NguyenIndependent4,1182.84
Rick OrserIndependent3,9962.76
WendythirteenIndependent3,9262.71
Bang NguyenIndependent3,8262.64
Cord CopelandIndependent3,5872.48
Aaron R.I.C.H. SpiresIndependent2,2001.52
R H Maxwell N BurIndependent1,9551.35

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 nameParty affiliationVotes% of votesElected
Constance BarnesVision Vancouver63,95244.16X
Sarah BlythVision Vancouver62,19842.95X
Aaron JasperVision Vancouver58,34340.29X
Niki SharmaVision Vancouver58,33040.28X
Melissa De GenovaNon-Partisan Association56,50139.01X
John CouparNon-Partisan Association50,37534.78X
Trevor LokeVision Vancouver49,87834.44X
Casey CrawfordNon-Partisan Association49,02033.85
Gabby KalawNon-Partisan Association48,60033.56
Jason UptonNon-Partisan Association46,26131.94
Dave PasinNon-Partisan Association46,00531.77
Stuart MackinnonGreen Party of Vancouver44,76130.91
Brent GranbyCoalition of Progressive Electors42,76929.53
Donalda Greenwell-BakerCoalition of Progressive Electors39,03326.95
Jamie Lee HamiltonIndependent Democratic Electoral Alliance19,49513.46
Juliet Victoria AndalisIndependent12,6938.76
Eleanor HadleyIndependent10,7549.37
Andrew MurrayIndependent9,8196.78
Tammy TruongIndependent8,9176.16
Peter Raymond HaskellIndependent5,5403.83
Freyja Pri ToorIndependent5,0623.50

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 nameParty affiliationVotes% of votesElected
Patti BacchusVision Vancouver72,02549.73X
Mike LombardiVision Vancouver65,41145.17X
Ken ClementVision Vancouver61,99442.81X
Cherie PayneVision Vancouver61,87442.72X
Ken DenikeNon-Partisan Association59,31040.95X
Allan WongCoalition of Progressive Electors57,90239.98X
Rob WynenVision Vancouver56,76339.19X
Sophia WooNon-Partisan Association55,89038.59X
Fraser BallantyneNon-Partisan Association55,71338.47X
Stacy RobertsonNon-Partisan Association54,27537.48
Gwen GiesbrechtCoalition of Progressive Electors52,47036.23
Jane BoueyCoalition of Progressive Electors52,02635.92
Al BlakeyCoalition of Progressive Electors51,96335.88
Sandy SharmaNon-Partisan Association49,84334.42
Louise BoutinGreen Party of Vancouver34,47723.81
Lily HarveyIndependent20,31414.03
Misha LauensteinIndependent14,2979.87
Robert Allan StarkIndependent13,3919.25
Bang NguyenIndependent12,9038.91
Peter Raymond HaskellIndependent11,9158.23

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
OptionVotesPercentage
Yes81,60563.39
No47,12436.61
Total votes128,729100

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?
OptionVotesPercentage
Yes88,64068.85
No40,09531.15
Total votes128,735100

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
OptionVotesPercentage
Yes87,51568.23
No40,74031.76
Total votes128,255100

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. 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.