Killarney

Killarney is a sprawling southeast Vancouver neighbourhood of roughly 29,000 people that encompasses two distinct sub-areas: traditional Killarney, one of the last parts of Vancouver to be developed, and Champlain Heights, a 1970s planned community designed with curving roads and cul-de-sacs. The neighbourhood was still second-growth forest until after World War II. About 57 percent of residents are immigrants, with Chinese-Canadians as the largest group — Chinese languages are the most common mother tongue at 38 percent, ahead of English at 34 percent. Filipino, South Asian, Korean, and Vietnamese communities also have a significant presence. Traditional Killarney is dominated by single-family homes, many of them Vancouver Specials built in the 1960s through 1980s, while Champlain Heights features one of the highest concentrations of townhouses in the city, including 15 social and co-operative housing developments that account for roughly 15 percent of Vancouver's total co-op housing stock. About 62 percent of households are owner-occupied.

Killarney was among Ken Sim's strongest east-side results, with Sim winning 63.9 percent — 6,421 of 10,050 valid ballots — to Stewart's 20.3 percent. But the neighbourhood's two sub-areas told very different stories. At Killarney Community Centre, Sim dominated by nearly four to one on election day (1,220 to 290) and by five to one at the advance poll (2,903 to 584), reflecting the traditional homeowner community's strong alignment with ABC's public safety message. Champlain Heights Community Centre was far more competitive: Sim won 720 to 506 on election day (47.2 percent) and 1,010 to 448 at the advance poll (55.7 percent), with the co-op housing communities producing the closest margins in southeast Vancouver. Provincially, Killarney falls within Vancouver-Fraserview, held by NDP MLA George Chow since 2017. Federally, it was within Vancouver South, held by Liberal Harjit Sajjan from 2015 until his retirement ahead of the 2025 election.

Municipal Issues

Anti-Asian hate crime and public safety were the dominant drivers of Killarney's decisive ABC vote. Vancouver was labelled the anti-Asian hate crime capital of North America after a surge in reported incidents beginning in 2020 — a crisis felt with particular intensity in a neighbourhood where the majority of residents are East or Southeast Asian immigrants. Chinese-language media coverage of random assaults on elderly residents, transit incidents, and park attacks generated deep anger. ABC's promise of 100 additional police officers and 100 mental health nurses, the unprecedented Vancouver Police Union endorsement, and Sim's identity as the first Chinese-Canadian elected mayor created a powerful alignment with Killarney's electorate. The 2018 election had seen the centre-right vote split across Sim (NPA), Wai Young (Coalition Vancouver), and other candidates; ABC's consolidation of that coalition in 2022 explained the jump from competitive to dominant.

Champlain Heights faced a distinct set of concerns. The neighbourhood's unprotected trail network and forested corridors — city-owned land not designated as parkland — faced development pressure as the city advanced plans for new social housing in the area. The grassroots group Free the Fern organized petitions to protect the trail system as an ecological corridor, and during public engagement processes Champlain Heights residents submitted a disproportionate share of city-wide comments. Everett Crowley Park, Vancouver's fifth-largest park at 38 hectares, anchors the community, and residents worried that densification would erode the green character that distinguishes Champlain Heights from the rest of the city. The co-op communities' closer election margins — roughly 47 to 33 percent for Sim on election day versus 69 to 16 percent in traditional Killarney — reflected both the different housing tenure mix and a population more sympathetic to the social housing and harm-reduction approaches that Stewart represented.

Transit isolation was a longstanding grievance. Killarney lacks a SkyTrain station within its boundaries — the nearest stations are Joyce-Collingwood and Patterson on the Expo Line — and bus service along the neighbourhood's internal streets was widely seen as inadequate for a community of nearly 30,000. The absence of rapid transit investment reinforced a perception among east-side residents that city hall prioritized the west side and downtown corridor.