Vancouver voters gave Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver team a renewed mandate Saturday, re-electing the mayor to a second term with every single member of his team.

Not only did Robertson's seven council candidates top the polls, but the team also kept control of the Park Board and School Board as voters signalled approval of the direction Vision Vancouver, a relatively new party, has steered the city.

And if that wasn't enough, Vision will get a bit of extra insurance on council with Adriane Carr, the Green candidate, winning the 10th spot on council in a squeaker that came down to the last three polls.

In his acceptance speech, Robertson thanked his main rival, the Non-Partisan Association's Suzanne Anton, saying she had served her city well and with love. He also had words of solace for the Coalition of Progressive Electors, who failed to capitalize on a power-sharing agreement with Vision, losing incumbent Coun. Ellen Woodsworth to Carr by just 91 votes.

It is possible Woodsworth will call for a recount. It is unclear if the tally includes mail-in ballots.

The NPA's Elizabeth Ball and George Affleck won two council seats.

Robertson told reporters later voters had clearly accepted that Vision was setting a proper course for the city, and he told supporters in his acceptance speech that work would resume Sunday.

He also recognized that division in neighbourhoods - as evidenced by the relatively strong vote for Neighbourhoods for Sustainable Vancouver - meant Vision has to work more closely with communities.

"We definitely want to focus on community engagement, working with neighbourhoods. The city is growing, we've got a lot of pressure to grow and develop. Our economy is strong and we have to do that very carefully and thoughtfully working with our neighbourhoods," he said.

Speaking to a jam-packed crowd of supporters at the Sheraton Wall Centre, Robertson told them they had shown Canada that "we can dream big and accomplish big things in Vancouver."

For others, the dreams ended badly.

In beating Anton, Robertson won public reaffirmation of his aggressive agenda to try to end homelessness, raise the profile of green issues and tackle housing affordability.

And in uniting a new majority council under the Vision banner Robertson also appeared to cement in city history a new party that has successfully wedged itself between the established civic political institutions, the centre-right NPA and leftist COPE.

The council sweep for Vision means Robertson won't have any difficulty putting through his agenda, and importantly, he has the magic eight votes necessary to approve all financial programs. Council needs to approve grants by two-thirds majority, and with this vote Robertson has that count.

Unlike the NPA, Robertson and Vision tried to stay with an upbeat campaign. While Anton and the NPA went negative early, attacking Vision's policies and saying they had a "common sense" plan to "take back Vancouver", Vision crafted an incumbency-based campaign, trying hard not to engage their opponents. It delayed the launch of its campaign until six weeks out, and then kept up a rolling schedule of platform announcements. Only in the last week did Vision turn negative, warning voters not to gamble with the city's future by letting the NPA back in.