West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager said he was just trying last year to fill empty condominiums with local buyers at Westbank Development’s resort-style luxury complex in Horseshoe Bay.
But a challenger for the Mayor’s office in the Oct. 17 District of West Vancouver election is skeptical.
“Why was a mayor playing realtor, when he should be playing mayor?” asked Kirk LaPointe.
In February, a numbered company called 1397676 B.C. Ltd. sued HB Nelson Property Inc., HB Nelson LP and QR Oakridge Finance GP Inc. after an October 2025 deal to buy 23 units at Sanctuary for $30 million fell through in November 2025.
1397676 B.C. Ltd. hoped to make a $3.4 million profit by selling 17 of the units under contract.
Sager is not a party to the lawsuit, but he was mentioned in a defence reply and swore a March 31 affidavit that said he had been a director of the numbered company in November and December 2025. He also dealt directly with agents for the defendants, Jason Soprovich of Rennie and Associates and Marko Radovic of Westbank.
How he got involved
Sager told theBreaker that he was selling his house when his real estate agent told him he was getting a bulk listing at the 158-unit Sanctuary.
“I always thought, kind of overbuilt, marketed offshore,” Sager said. “Never went through the units. Anyway, he convinced me to go look at them and I did. And I thought, oh, I know the right buyer for this property is the people building the hotel in Horseshoe Bay.”
Their offer was not accepted. Sager said Westbank gave him a key and he volunteered his time privately to bring people together. Within three weeks, he had 19 people lined up. Sager was interested in buying one himself.
“True local people — a gardener, a construction guy, a young guy who does work for Microsoft.”
Westbank agreed to the deal, but it fell through when QuadReal wouldn’t release the mortgage.
Denies conflict of interest
West Vancouver incumbent mayor Mark Sager. (Mackin)
“One of the questions I would ask is why did he not think members of the community might perceive this as a conflict of interest?” LaPointe said during an interview. “Should a mayor or a councillor be representing a real estate transaction in their own municipality? The documents suggest that a sitting mayor was running the risk of affecting the value of a building occupied by his electors.”
Sager denied any conflict of interest. The development was already approved and built and he had received a verbal opinion from a lawyer for District of West Vancouver. Sager said he was told “there’s nothing that would touch the council table.”
“There was nothing in this for me. There was no money coming, no interest whatsoever coming to me,” Sager said.
Acted on verbal legal opinion
theBreaker asked Sager in the Oct. 6 interview why he did not have the legal opinion written for him. He said it was provided verbally, so as to save money for taxpayers.
Sager forwarded theBreaker an email that was sent to him on Oct. 7 by lawyer Don Lidstone, a municipal law specialist who advises the District of West Vancouver.
Lidstone wrote that, during fall 2025, Sager phoned him to ask if there would be a municipal council conflict of interest if he were to participate in an arrangement to market strata units of a building at Horseshoe Bay.
“You confirmed that no issue regarding the development or proposed transactions would be considered by council or a council committee, but that you would make a declaration and depart from the council chamber if any matter were to appear on a council agenda regarding the development or the proposed transactions,” Lidstone wrote. “We discussed the nature of unlawful ‘gifts’ as well as using your position as Mayor for financial gain or to influence any council member or member of staff at the District. You also confirmed that you were not aware of any municipal information that would not otherwise be freely available to the public regarding the development or the transactions.”
Further, Lidstone said that Sager did not require a written opinion, because he wished to save the municipality some legal fees.
“I confirmed that I was not providing advice regarding the proposed transactions, but only in relation to potential conflicts of interest as mayor,” Lidstone concluded.
Namesake firm
Kirk LaPointe, challenging Mark Sager for the Mayoralty of West Vancouver. (LaPointe/YouTube)
The lawyer for the numbered company, Bijan Ahmadian, is a partner at Sager Law Corp. The firm, however, is only named in honour of Sager. Sager said he is the landlord, but otherwise has no other connection to the firm.
Sager retired from the Ambleside Law firm in April 2024. The Law Society of B.C. suspended his licence for two years in February 2024 after he admitted to a conflict of interest while acting as an administrator of an estate.
Contestants
Incumbent Sager began his political career on West Vancouver School Board in 1979. He was elected to council in 1984 and his first go-round as mayor ran from 1990 to 1996. He made a comeback in the 2022 election, by unseating incumbent Mary-Ann Booth.
Challenger LaPointe is a former media executive, newspaper editor and North Shore News columnist who was runner-up for Mayor of Vancouver in 2014. A Caulfeild resident since 2022, LaPointe is running on a change platform that includes promises to control taxation and spending, increase transparency and public engagement and demand reform of Metro Vancouver.
Also in the race: Coun. Sharon Thompson and lawyer Joe Spears.
Election day is Oct. 17.
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