ABC Vancouver has named Ralph Kaisers, a police sergeant, and Jaime Stein, a tech business leader, as their candidates for the city’s byelection on April 5.
ABC Vancouver has named Ralph Kaisers, the head of the Vancouver police union, and Jaime Stein, a tech business leader, as its candidates for the city’s upcoming byelection.
Recommended Videos
Kaisers and Stein join candidates previously announced by COPE, TEAM, and the Vancouver Green party.
Mayor Ken Sim made the announcement during a news conference on Thursday afternoon.
Kaiser has been in law enforcement for 34 years. He’s a sergeant with the Vancouver police and is president of the Vancouver Police Union and the B.C. Police Association.
Kaiser and the police union endorsed Sim for mayor during the 2022 election campaign, despite the union’s tradition of remaining neutral when it comes to politics.
Stein comes from a tech background, having worked with Hootsuite, BroadbandTV, Taplytics and previously as head of digital media with the CFL.
“I’ve spent 34 years as a Vancouver police officer serving my community, and I’m ready to take that commitment to the next level as your city councillor,” Kaiser said. “This byelection is a chance to elect councillors who will work tirelessly to enhance public safety, invest in our communities and bring real solutions to the table.”
The byelection is set for April 5 and takes place after OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle was elected as an NDP MLA in the fall and Green Coun. Adriane Carr resigned in January.
OneCity hopes to replace Boyle with lawyer and transportation activist Lucy Maloney, while the Greens nominated filmmaker and health advocate Annette Reilly.
Crime appears set to be a major issue leading up to the byelection, with Maloney calling out Sim and his party’s previous campaign promises in recent weeks.
“I live downtown. It’s where my kids bike to school, take transit to see their friends and hang out. I share people’s safety concerns, and am committed to act on them,” Maloney said Thursday. “Ken Sim ran on a platform of balancing enforcement with prevention. Well, we’ve got the enforcement. But the prevention is nowhere to be seen. I’m going to fight to get those front-line safety and crime prevention services implemented.”
COPE has announced Sean Orr as its candidate, while TEAM will run Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott.
Orr is a Simon Fraser University geography and political science graduate, a housing activist and a longtime political blogger hoping to appeal to voters “in the trenches of the real world,” according to his biography.
“ABC’s governing coalition is falling apart, as Sim has alienated elected members of his own party on council, school board and park board,” Orr said. “There is no question that Sim’s hand-picked backbenchers were chosen for their deference to Sim.”
Hardwick served as a councillor from 2018 to 2022 and lost the 2022 mayoral race to Sim.
Abbott is a community organizer, recent Capilano University graduate and host of the podcast One Site Report that focuses on urban issues in Vancouver.