RIDING PROFILE: Vancouver West

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Transportation and housing affordability issues dominate in three ridings on Vancouver’s west side.

David Eby of the NDP is the incumbent in Vancouver-Point Grey. He was the spoiler in 2013 who forced Liberal leader Christy Clark to run in a by-election in West Kelowna so she could keep a seat in the House. Four years later, he has become one of the most high profile New Democrats in the Legislature.

“David’s been great,” says Jane McFadden, Executive Director of the Kitsilano/4th Avenue Business Improvement Association. “He’s a huge supporter of our business association. He’s out there fighting for the foreign buyers tax. He’s been working really hard and he works closely with the community. We see him often.”

McFadden says transportation is a key issue, as Point Grey would benefit from the long-promised Broadway-UBC rapid transit line. “There’s so many people going out to UBC and Point Grey and we see people lined up every day on West 4th to get on that bus,” she says. “So I imagine that it would be very well used.”

Then there’s housing affordability. Point Grey has renters, many of them university students. Affordability is also a big issue in both Vancouver-Quilchena and Vancouver-Langara, both BC Liberal strongholds, where Andrew Wilkinson and Moira Stilwell are the respective incumbents. However, Stilwell is not standing for re-election.

“There’s still many empty houses everywhere, there’s older houses that are empty that are awaiting redevelopment and there’s new houses that were built spec and they seem to be empty,” says local author and heritage advocate Caroline Adderson.

She lives in Quilchena, home to tony neighbourhoods like Dunbar, Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale, and Southlands. Adderson warns the housing market is creating two classes of people.

“It’s really unfair that a neighbourhood house by house can be transformed into a place that only people who are incredibly wealthy can buy into,” she explains. “It’s turning great tracts of the city into kind of gated communities that keep local people out.”

Candidates:

Vancouver-Point Grey

David Eby (NDP) (incumbent)
James Lombardi (BC Liberal)
Amanda Konkin (Green)
David Stall (Your Political Party)
Brian Taylor (Independent)

Vancouver-Quilchena

Andrew Wilkinson (BC Liberal) (incumbent)
Madeline Lalonde (NDP)
Michael Barkusky (Green)
William Morrison (Libertarian)

Vancouver-Langara

Michael Lee (Liberal)
James Wang (NDP)
Janet Rhoda Fraser (Green)
Surinder Singh Trehan (Your Political Party)

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