ABC Vancouver calls for public safety plebiscite on ballot — opps decry 'glorified opinion poll'

VANCOUVER — Mayor Ken Sim and the ruling ABC party have expressed their desire to see two plebiscite questions added to the ballot on election day in October.

An emergency council meeting has been called for Friday to make the move official.

Both questions are related to public safety, and are as follows:

1. Are you in favour of the City of Vancouver strengthening its laws to forbid open-air hard drug (Heroin, Meth, Fentanyl, and Crack) use in public spaces?

AND

2. Should the City of Vancouver formally ask the Province of BC to convert portions of the old St. Paul’s Hospital, or another similar site, into a secure medical facility that provides acute voluntary and 100-plus involuntary care beds for individuals posing a serious risk to themselves or others due to severe substance use and mental health disorders?

During a press conference on Thursday, Sim defended the move, arguing that the plebiscite gives Vancouverites the ability to candidly offer their opinion on the issues at hand.

"A lot of people are afraid to say how they feel in public because they feel intimidated," the mayor said in response to a question from Sitka Media, "and so this gives us an opportunity to have every single resident who wants to come out and vote to vote on this issue without any kind of coercion or intimidation, and then they can send a signal to the future council of this great city of ours and to the province."

The plebiscite is predicted to cost 4-6% of the election, or around $55,000. Sim called it an "investment," noting that in the grand scheme of what Vancouver spends on tackling the crises, it's not a lot.

ABC's plan has faced strong backlash from opponents.

Among them, City Councillor Sean Orr, who labelled the plebiscite a "glorified opinion poll."

"ABC loves to talk about jurisdictional limitations and core services but somehow think that the city has authority to do anything about this," he wrote in a post on X. "Open air drug use is already illegal. This is just more cynical electioneering."

ABC itself acknowledged that plebiscites are "non-binding."

"In respect to ... our opposition bringing this up, well I'm at a loss," Sim said when asked by Sitka Media about his opponents' framing of the move. "I don't know why it's a bad thing to ask the voters and the residents of Vancouver for their opinion, to have a say in this incredibly important conversation."

Vancouver Liberals mayoral candidate Kareem Allam also expressed his opposition.

"A plebiscite won't solve anything, and neither will Ken Sim," he told Sitka Media. "He's had four years to make progress on public safety, and by every measure things have gotten worse."

Allam suggested the move was little more than a "distraction."

"Ken Sim's 2026 campaign seems to be campaigning against his 2022 campaign," he continued, "and I just find the whole entire exercise laughable that he would entertain a referendum on areas outside of the city's jurisdiction and mandate."

Allam also drew attention to the complexities of the situation, especially when it comes to ABC's second question and St. Paul's Hospital.

"The questions seem to be more about electioneering," he said, "and less to do with the realities of what we need to do to solve the problems or make progress on the issues that Vancouver are demanding change on."

In a statement of their own, TEAM argued that ABC's move was unnecessary and a "cynical attempt to distract from their four years of ineffective government."

"We don’t need a plebiscite to tell us that open-air drug use is unacceptable and a threat to public health and safety," the party said. "Ken Sim and ABC had four years to deal with this crisis – but failed to deliver solutions."

The election is scheduled for October 17.