Summary#
Vancouver City Council carried Mayor Sim’s motion, seconded by Councillor Kirby-Yung, to enact a by-law setting questions for voters’ opinion in the October 2026 municipal election. The supplied material does not include the by-law’s Appendix A, so the questions themselves are not available here.
- The decision sets up a public safety plebiscite as part of the municipal election.
- Councillor Maloney’s amendment to replace the plebiscite motion with several staff-report directions was lost. Those directions were not approved.
What it means for you#
- Voters: The decision provides for public safety questions to be put to electors in October 2026. The questions and how voters will answer them are not in the supplied material.
- Residents and organizations: The lost amendment would have directed staff to report on crisis-response, neighbourhood-support, restorative-city and housing policies. Council did not approve those directions through this motion.
Money#
No cost information is in the available material.
What is unclear#
- What questions will appear on the plebiscite, and what answer options voters will have.
- What legal or policy effect, if any, the results will have.
- The supplied material does not include Appendix A or a staff report, so it does not give background, costs or implementation details.
Case for#
- A plebiscite lets electors give their opinion on public safety questions at the municipal election.
- Councillor Maloney’s proposed alternative would have required staff reports on several crisis-response and community-safety approaches. Council instead approved putting questions to electors.
Case against#
- Without the questions or an explanation of what the results would affect, voters cannot tell from the supplied material what choice they will be asked to make or what follows from it.
- Councillor Maloney opposed the carried motion. The material does not give his reasons.