Stephanie Allen enters Vancouver mayoral race for COPE

COPE has named Stephanie Allen, cofounder of Hogan's Alley Society and a former B.C. Housing vicepresident, as its mayoral candidate in Vancouver's upcoming election. Allen said she wants to focus on affordability, including nonmarket housing, coops, tenant protections and better use of city land. She also said she would support a lobbyist registry and more citizens' assemblies to give residents a greater role in decisionmaking. The announcement adds another contender to an already crowded race, even though COPE, OneCity and the Vancouver Green Party recently agreed to limit their council, park board and school board candidates to reduce vote splitting on the left. The parties have not yet settled on a shared system for choosing a single progressive mayoral candidate, and there are now at least seven people running for mayor.