Left-Leaning Coalition Wins Vancouver School Board Election
A coalition of COPE, OneCity, and the Green Party won all seats on the Vancouver school board, shutting out ABC Vancouver.
A left-leaning coalition comprising COPE, OneCity, and the Green Party won control of the Vancouver school board in the 2026 election. The result was a total shutout for the right-of-centre ABC Vancouver party, which had previously dominated the board in 2022.
COPE candidates Suzie Mah, Melanie Cheng, Derrick O’Keefe, and Gwen Giesbrecht secured the top four spots in the race. OneCity's Krista Sigurdson and Rory Brown, along with Green Party candidates Julie Strilesky and Alisha Masongsong, also won seats. The new board takes office amid declining enrolment and budget constraints, operating under a mandate to halt school closures and long-term land leases while reversing recent cuts to student services.
In a separate regional contest, Surrey First Education won five of six Surrey school board seats. This race included a victory for newcomer Michelle Ceniza, who defeated incumbent chairman Gary Tymoschuk.
