Stephanie Allen announced Wednesday that she was withdrawing from the mayoral race as COPE’s candidate in the Oct. 17 municipal election, saying it was “for the good of all people living in Vancouver.”

Allen, co-founder of the Hogan’s Alley Society and a former vice-president at BC Housing, was acclaimed May 11 as COPE’s mayoral candidate. Her decision to fold her campaign was based on concerns of splitting the vote among the three self-described progressive candidates.

Pete Fry of the Green Party and William Azaroff of OneCity Vancouver met at Allen’s house Monday to discuss the trio’s conundrum. But Fry and Azaroff said Wednesday they were unaware Allen planned to pull out of the race.

“We know that it is mission critical to have one [mayoral candidate] on the progressive side, and it must be the person in the best position at this critical hour to win the election,” Allen told reporters from the Helena Gutteridge Plaza at city hall.

A recent poll released by Research Co. showed Fry tied with Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals at 19 per cent. Azaroff was at five per cent, Allen at four per cent.

Mayor Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver was ahead at 30 per cent, while Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver was at 14 per cent. Coun. Rebecca Bligh of Vote Vancouver was at seven per cent.

In making her decision to withdraw from the race, Allen wouldn’t say whether Fry or Azaroff was best to be the progressive candidate. Elections BC rules forbid parties from endorsing other parties.

“Pete and William both have parties and they have to make their decisions now,” Allen said.

‘In it to win it’

Fry arrived at the plaza after Allen’s news conference, where he told reporters that he is “100 per cent in it to win it” and will not withdraw from the mayoral race. His party is holding a kickoff event Sept. 10 for his campaign; the deadline to file nomination papers is Sept. 11.

“We’ve been friends and co-workers, and I have a great deal of respect for [Allen’s] integrity and her commitment to really, ultimately doing what matters for the city of Vancouver—and that’s unelecting Ken Sim and really restoring some humanity to city council,” Fry said.

Azaroff, meanwhile, told reporters Wednesday from OneCity’s campaign office on Main Street that he was going to meet with Fry Thursday. Azaroff said he still believes the progressive side should be represented by a single mayoral candidate.

Told of Fry’s comment that he was “in it to win it,” Azaroff said he was disappointed Fry would make such a commitment before the two were to meet.

“Pete and I are planning to go for a walk and chat tomorrow,” he said. “There are conversations still to take place. And for Pete to circumvent all that and make that statement, I find that disappointing.”

‘Real party apparatus’

Azaroff made the case at his news conference that OneCity was best positioned to take on Sim and ABC Vancouver, with volunteers and candidates having knocked on more than 20,000 doors.

He said the party had also raised more than $300,000.

“We have a real party apparatus that we can use to defeat Ken Sim,” he said, dismissing the opinion polls.

He described Allen’s decision to withdraw from the race as “brave.”

In April, the Greens, OneCity and COPE announced that they reached an agreement on how many candidates they will each run in the election. For city council, each party will nominate up to five candidates for 10 councillor seats.

For the school board, COPE and the Greens will run up to four candidates for nine trustee seats; OneCity will run up to five. For the park board, COPE and the Greens will run up to four candidates for seven park commissioner seats; OneCity will run up to three.

The agreement allowed each party to field its own mayoral candidate, but that the parties to “engage in a good-faith effort” to determine which candidate is best suited to compete.

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