Rough ride for some incumbents: B.C.’s municipal elections at a glance

Some incumbent candidates have taken a beating in British Columbia’s municipal elections.

Voters on Saturday evicted the mayors of Vancouver and Surrey, the province’s two biggest cities.

Here’s a look at some of the results.

BIG TURNOUT IN VANCOUVER, FRY WINS

Pete Fry will be Vancouver’s first Green mayor, after a resounding win over incumbent Ken Sim.

It’s a big turnaround for businessman Sim, just four years after he swept to power when his ABC Party claimed a majority on council with seven out of 10 seats.

ABC has now been reduced to one seat, secured by Mike Klassen, while a mix of progressives from the Greens, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, and OneCity Vancouver take nine seats.

Turnout surged to more than 209,000, up 36 per cent from 2022.

The preliminary tally shows Fry won more than 98,000 votes, far ahead of Sim on 67,000, with Colleen Hardwick a distant third with about 18,000 votes.

Sim’s former chief of staff, Kareem Allam, received about 10,500 votes.

MCCALLUM BACK IN SURREY AGAIN … AGAIN

Doug McCallum is back for his third separate stint in the Surrey mayor’s office, which he first occupied 30 years ago.

Preliminary results show he received about 32 per cent of the vote to comfortably defeat incumbent Brenda Locke, who had 23 per cent.

McCallum was bested by Locke four years ago, and the pair have clashed repeatedly over Surrey’s switch to a municipal police force from the RCMP, a move McCallum supported and Locke fiercely opposed.

McCallum, 82, first sat as mayor from 1996 to 2005, then again from 2018 to 2022.

VOTERS BACK AMALGAMATION OF VICTORIA, SAANICH

Voters in Victoria and Saanich have supported amalgamation by about a two-thirds majority in a non-binding ballot.

Mayor Marianne Alto was meanwhile re-elected in Victoria, with about 44 per cent of the vote, defeating Bruce McGuigan on about 34 per cent.

The ballot question of whether to combine Victoria and Saanich into a single municipality received 62 per cent support in Victoria and 68 per cent support in the District of Saanich, where Rishi Sharma is forecast to win the mayoralty.

KAMLOOPS MAYOR’S TUMULTUOUS TENURE ENDS

Incumbent mayor of Kamloops Reid Hamer-Jackson has been soundly defeated, finishing fourth with just 12 per cent of the vote after a turmoil-filled tenure.

The new mayor will be Mike O’Reilly, a former councillor, who won 44 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary results.

Hamer-Jackson was stripped by council of his position as the city’s official spokesman in 2024, amid protracted conflict with council and city staff.

PRINCE GEORGE GETS NEW MAYOR AFTER TIGHT RACE

Simon Yu has been defeated in his bid to retain the mayoralty in Prince George, in a tight three-way contest.

Preliminary tallies show Yu was defeated by Garth Frizzell, a longtime councillor, who won 28 per cent of the vote, compared to 24 per cent for Yu and 23 per cent for Kyle Sampson.

RICHMOND GETS FIRST NEW MAYOR IN 25 YEARS

Richmond is getting its first new mayor in a quarter century, with Rob Howard gaining a narrow win over former Olympian Alexa Loo.

Howard, a former provincial legislator, received almost 20,000 votes to defeat Loo by fewer than 900.

Malcolm Brodie had held the mayoralty since 2001, but decided not to run again.

BRAD WEST GETS 90 PER CENT OF PORT COQUITLAM’S VOTES

One of B.C.’s most prominent and popular mayors has been re-elected with a massive share of the vote.

Port Coquitlam’s Brad West received about 90 per cent of the vote to retain the office he first won in 2018.

He says he’s “deeply humbled and grateful” in a message on social media.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press