In what everyone involved agrees will be a tough race, the battle for the Vancouver Centre riding includes a rookie politician going up against a savvy veteran in a traditional Liberal stronghold.
Although Liberal Hedy Fry has easily held the riding since 1993, with the other three main parties running strong candidates, pundits are saying that this time the seat could be taken with as little as 30 per cent of the vote.
Running against Fry are the Conservatives’ Lorne Mayencourt, the New Democrat’s Michael Byers and Adriane Carr, leader of B.C.’s Green Party.
While Byers, a political scientist at UBC and an international lawyer, only recently entered politics, he’s known as a fierce critic of Canada’s foreign policy and of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s approach in the Arctic.
The main issues in Vancouver Centre, which includes part of Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside, are poverty and homelessness, a lack of rental accommodation, a shortage of daycare spaces and mental health and addiction issues, says Fry.
A lack of work skills are another problem, and Fry says the Liberal Party is “looking at how to increase training and skills and education because that is going to be what’ll give us the best workforce we can get so that people can work.”
Mayencourt, who quit as a provincial MLA to seek the federal Tory nomination for the riding, says he made the move because he felt he could be “even more effective” as an MP.
“A lot of the issues I’ve been working on like housing and mental health and addictions really need the participation or the partnership between the federal government and the province, and I think I can sort of bring those two groups together so that we can address some of these issues in a more holistic way.”
Mayencourt spearheaded a much-needed drug treatment facility in Prince George and has had two pieces of legislation passed that have resulted in the reduction of aggressive panhandling in the area.
Mayencourt believes he has a good chance of getting elected. However, as a Conservative his stumbling block may be Insite, the supervised injection site located a few blocks east of the riding boundary which has been condemned by federal health minister Tony Clement.
Fry, Byers and Carr, who support Insite, have also been courting Vancouver Centre's large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, which has traditionally backed Fry.
Byers replaces NDP candidate Randall Garrison who withdrew from the race in June. He says the most important issue in the riding and something he’s “very strong and passionate on” is homelessness and affordable housing.
“We have a crisis situation with almost 3,000 people sleeping on the streets or in the parks, and 94 of them are children. And then we have tens of thousands of people who are having trouble hanging on to their apartments, because the rents are going up very quickly.”
He says the national housing program which the NDP “forced Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to adopt” and was cut by the Liberals in 1993 needs to be brought back.
Byers believes the fact that he’s not a consummate politician actually stands in his favour.
“I am a father. I am an educator. I already have the best job in the world. I think the fact that I am not a professional politician and that I don’t need to do this demonstrates that I actually really do want to promote change.”
The Greens’ Carr, who was born in Vancouver Centre and spent most of her life there, has very high name recognition in the riding which has a large number of environmentally aware voters.
At an all candidates debate in the riding on Monday, Carr said the guaranteed livable income proposed by the Greens will address the country’s growing problem of poverty and homelessness and move away from welfare-type programs which are “complicated and shame-based.”
She also said it’s time to “de-link drugs and crime” and make drug addiction a mental health issue, something Fry also favours.
“I think if we work cooperatively on the full range of issues we will have a compassionate society and we will solve these problems,” Carr said.
