For Immediate Release
September 8th, 2026
VANCOUVER, BC — Mayor Ken Sim and the ABC team issued the following statement today based on William Azaroff dropping out of the Mayoral race:
“In 2022, Vancouver chose a new direction. We began restoring public safety, bringing accountability back to City Hall, and rejecting an approach that normalized open-air hard drug use while children, families, seniors and neighbourhoods suffered.
The last thing we need right now is to shake up stable leadership. Pete Fry would take us backward and put our economy further at risk during this trade war, at a time when the average Vancouverite is wondering how to pay for groceries and protect their bank account.
Pete Fry represents the same failed approach we’ve seen from the radical far left: higher taxes, no economic development, and experimental public safety and health policies that put our families and seniors at risk. We already have enough economic uncertainty because of Donald Trump and a growing provincial deficit. Now is not the time to take a chance on Pete Fry.
This election is bigger than any one candidate. It’s a choice between continuing Vancouver’s progress or returning to the failed drug and public health policies we know have failed our city.
Vancouver cannot go back. We can lead this country as a safer, stronger, and more ambitious city. The work has started, and we’re on the right track. That’s why we need Vancouver residents’ support in this coming election.
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give Vancouver residents a voice on public safety and restore social expectations to their neighbourhoods. Pete Fry opposes the public safety plebiscite. To learn more about the public safety plebiscite, visit: voteyes2026.ca“
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Media Contact:
media@abcvancouver.ca