The co-founder of a seniors’ home care service and a bagel business announced Monday that he is seeking the mayoral nomination with the Non-Partisan Association.
Ken Sim, who helped found Nurse Next Door and Rosemary Rocksalt Bagels, is the fourth person to declare his intention to lead the party in the Oct. 20 municipal election. The others are Coun. Hector Bremner, park board commissioner John Coupar and financial analyst, Glen Chernen.
The Courier was unable to reach Sim before posting this story, but it was clear from a news release he issued that making Vancouver more affordable was one of the main reasons he wants to become the NPA’s mayoral candidate.
“I grew up here and believe my four boys should have the opportunity to raise their families here also,” Sim said. “I believe this generation, and future generations, should be able to afford to live in this city.”
The entrepreneur wants to focus on job creation, saying he was “gravely concerned that countless Vancouverites have been forced to move to other cities for better opportunities.” The city’s ongoing social problems related to mental health, addiction and homelessness are also on Sim’s agenda.
The Vancouver-born Sim graduated in 1988 from Churchill Secondary with Chernen and NPA president Gregory Baker. He is a graduate of the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business. He has worked at KPMG and as an investment banker and merchant banker at CIBC World Markets in Vancouver, Toronto and London, England.
Sim will compete against the other declared candidates May 29 at the Hellenic Centre on Arbutus Street. One other person is interested in seeking the nomination but has yet to announce his or her intention, according to Baker.
Vision Vancouver, meanwhile, which has been in power at city hall since 2008, has set today (Monday, April 16) as the deadline for applications from anyone interested in seeking the party’s mayoral nomination.
Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr is still mulling a run for mayor with her party, while former Vision board member Shauna Sylvester declared two weeks ago that she is running as an independent.
The race for mayor became wide open in January after Mayor Gregor Robertson announced he will not seek a fourth term at city hall.
@Howellings
