Who held power in Vancouver
One line per body, one block per term, coloured by party. Independents ran the city for its first fifty years; the NPA dominated the next fifty; since 1972 the mayoralty has changed hands nine times between six different banners. Hover anywhere to read the composition on that date.
How to read this
Wards, then at large
Until 1936 aldermen were elected by ward, half of them each year, and mayors served one-year terms. From 1936 every seat has been elected city-wide (“at large”); the 2004 plebiscite to bring wards back was defeated 54–46. Terms lengthened to two years in 1940, three in 1990 and four in 2014.
Parties are recent
Vancouver had no civic parties before the CCF ran candidates in the 1930s and the Non-Partisan Association formed in 1937 to stop them. Everyone earlier is shown as independent. Party labels 1936–1993 follow Wayne Madden’s Vancouver’s Elected Representatives via the Canadian Municipal Elections Database; from 1996 they are the City’s own.
Sitting councils vs. election slates
Before 1966 the blocks show who actually sat, from the City’s roster of councils since 1886 (the half-council elections make the elected slate alone misleading). From 1966 each block is the slate elected at that election, then adjusted for by-elections (1992, 2017, 2025) and documented changes of affiliation.
Boards
Park Board composition is shown from 1990 and School Board from 1980 (with the 1985 dismissal of the whole board and the 1986 special election), where sources record the winners’ parties. Earlier board results exist on paper in the City Archives but not in machine-readable form.
Majority outline
A darker outline marks the party holding more than half the seats. Mayors are counted with their party but vote as one member of council; an NPA mayor with a COPE council (1980s) or an independent mayor with an NPA council (2018–2022) is a real divided government.
Sources
City of Vancouver open data (1996→); Canadian Municipal Elections Database (CC0) for 1886–1993; City of Vancouver, Councils dating back to 1886; Wikipedia for 1990–1993 board results, the 1980s school boards and post-election affiliation changes. Details on the data page.