Jaime Stein hopes to bring a Jewish voice to the table at Vancouver City Hall. He is vying for one of the two seats that will be filled in a by-election April 5.
One seat opened after Councilor Christine Boyle was elected as a New Democrat to the BC Legislature in the provincial election last year. She had been the sole representative on council for the OneCity electoral organization.
The other seat opened after Councilor Adriane Carr, one of two Green party councilors, resigned, citing frustration with the governing style of Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority.
Stein is on the ABC slate, with running mate Ralph Kaisers. They hope to increase ABC’s existing majority on council. ABC currently holds the mayor’s chair and six of the 10 councilor positions.
Aiming to prevent a larger ABC majority are four electoral organizations.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver has nominated former city councilor Colleen Hardwick and community organizer and urban researcher Theodore Abbott.
The three other groups have nominated one candidate each. OneCity has nominated schools and street safety activist Lucy Maloney. COPE, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, has nominated writer and punk musician Sean Orr. The Green party has nominated filmmaker and advocate Annette Reilly.
There are six independent candidates running: Jeanifer Decena, Guy Dubé, Charles Ling, Karin Litzcke, Gerry Mcguire and Rollergirl.
The dual by-election is the first test of the ABC majority on Vancouver city council since Sim and his party were first elected in 2022.
Stein said that, when meeting with a couple of hundred voters every day, he and his running mate Kaisers are hearing that people are “really happy with how ABC is willing to take on difficult issues, whether it’s in the Downtown Eastside or whether it’s with crime and safety or whether it’s just examining new ways to do things that maybe councils in the past haven’t done.”
He thinks there is a silent majority that doesn’t make a lot of noise but who are generally pleased with the direction the city has been taking in the past three years.
The issues that led to the ABC victory in 2022 have not changed significantly, according to Stein.
“I think the biggest issue, number one, is crime and safety,” he said. “People want Vancouver to be a safer city, one that they can get out and enjoy.”
The second most common issue he hears about, he said, is “making Vancouver open for business again.”
“That means reducing red tape for businesses,” said Stein. “It means making it easier for people to interact with the city, whether they need permits, etc., and also opening it to the world, like bringing more festivals and events here, like FIFA or Web Summit, and trying to generate tourism dollars in the city for folks.”
While Stein sees value in having a Jewish voice at the table, he said Vancouver already has Canada’s “most friendly mayor and council to the Jewish community.”
Although Vancouver’s second mayor, David Oppenheimer, was Jewish, there have never been a great many Jews in elected positions either locally, provincially or federally from British Columbia. Stein hopes his candidacy inspires other Jews to get involved.
“It’s a voice that needs to be at the table, not only to advocate for our community but also to serve as a role model for others to get involved in either the political process or in civic discourse in general,” he said.
Stein has corporate and nonprofit sector leadership experience, including in the technology sector at companies including BroadbandTV, Taplytics and Hootsuite. He partnered with Canadian Blood Services to raise $12.5 million for establishing Canada’s national public cord blood bank, inspired to do so by the loss of his father, Howard Stein, to leukemia, in 2006. He is also on the board of an agency advancing Alzheimer’s research.
In the Jewish community, Stein was selected as a 2024 Wexner Fellow, a two-year educational program focused on Jewish learning and leadership development. He chairs a committee on the Antisemitism and Israel Crisis Response Team. With the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Stein has worked with elected officials to develop public policy to strengthen community safety and security. He has been a volunteer and fundraiser supporting Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Centre and has volunteered in different capacities with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and others.
Last year, Stein was nominated as the BC United candidate in Vancouver-Langara, but did not run in the provincial election after the party folded its campaign and endorsed the BC Conservatives.
Polls are open election day, which is Saturday, April 5, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but there are opportunities to vote early at Vancouver City Hall, on Tuesday, April 1, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and people can also cast their vote by mail. For full details, go to vancouver.ca/vote.