Vancouver mayor-elect downplays suggestions his team lacks experience

Incoming Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is downplaying any suggestions his ABC team lacks the experience to effectively run the city, after it swept to victory on election night.

He says his party has “attracted the best people,” naming former Surrey Mayor and MP Dianne Watts as just one of his transition team members.

“So is Tung Chan, one of the role models that I have referred to — he was a sitting councillor,” Sim said, adding he also has a former Vancouver deputy city manager working on the transition plan.

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In the Oct. 15 election, every candidate ABC ran was elected to city council, the school board, and park board.

“We actually have quite a bit of experience in politics,” Sim said of his team. “We literally just created the largest municipal party in the province of British Columbia.”

In addition to experienced team members, Sim says he’s reached out to countless mayors across the region, already building relationships with them.

Sim first ran for mayor in 2018 with the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), but lost to now-outgoing Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Two years later, he left the NPA and became a founding member of ABC Vancouver.