COPE ends Vancouver mayoral campaign, urging Greens and OneCity to rally

From (L-R): Green candidate Pete Fry, Stephanie Allen of COPE, and William Azaroff of OneCity PHOTO BY CREDIT: ARLEN REDEKOP; STEPHANIE ALLEN; NICK PROCAYLO Stephanie Allen, who had been endorsed by COPE to run for mayor of Vancouver this October, announced Wednesday she was ending her campaign in an effort to consolidate the progressive vote behind a single candidate. “It has been the privilege of a lifetime to stand as the mayoral candidate for COPE, a party with the deepest history of fighting the power of the super-rich and showing up for the poor and working-class people in our city,” Allen said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “While I am announcing the end of my campaign for mayor, I am also here today to recommit to our movement to the fight for the people of this city.” COPE, Vancouver’s oldest left-wing party, struck a deal earlier this year with the city’s two other largest left-leaning organizations, OneCity and the Green party, agreeing to limit the number of council candidates and continue discussions around rallying behind a single mayoral candidate to avoid diluting the progressive vote. As of Wednesday, OneCity nominee William Azaroff and Green Coun. Pete Fry are still running for mayor. In her statement Wednesday, Allen said she was “strongly encouraging the other mayoral candidates in the race to also do the right thing, show integrity, and narrow the mayoral field to the progressive candidate best positioned to evict Ken Sim.” “We can’t put our egos before doing the right thing for Vancouver,” said Allen, who previously worked in housing development in the non-profit, public and private sectors. COPE co-chair Nate Stanley said in a statement: “This decision will mean that COPE’s candidates across all boards will be working with a progressive mayor instead of Ken Sim. … We’re scaling up for our biggest campaign in decades, to boost voter turnout, elect incredible COPE candidates, and win for our values.” Allen was scheduled to meet reporters Wednesday outside city hall to answer questions. More to come … chchan@postmedia.com dfumano@postmedia.com COMMENTS You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments. Create an Account Sign in JOIN THE CONVERSATION Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment,…