Chinese vote up for grabs in mayoral election

Cantonese-speaking Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan proved convincingly in the 2005 municipal election that he is the darling of Chinese Canadian voters in the city.

SFU political scientist Kennedy Stewart recently told the Georgia Straight that, based on the results of an exit poll he and his graduate students conducted, Sullivan bagged 70 percent of the more than 17,000 votes cast by Vancouver’s largest ethnic community.

Come election day on November 15 this year, Stewart predicts, at least 18,500 Chinese Canadians will go to the polls. How this community will vote this time is a subject of intense interest amid indications that Sullivan may have lost some footing in the community.

“Certainly, we have a variety of candidates this time,” Albert Fok told the Straight. Fok, the president of the Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Committee, named two others aside from Sullivan—park-board commissioner Allan De Genova and city councillor Raymond Louie, a second-generation Chinese Canadian.

Fok said that he personally knows De Genova, and “he’s always been good to the community, as has Mr. Louie.”

De Genova, who bolted from the ruling Non-Partisan Association after Sullivan suspended him from the caucus, has been a recognized figure in Vancouver’s Chinatown since his days as a salesman of paper products. According to his Web site (www.allandegenova.com/ ), De Genova chaired the city’s Chinatown historic planning committee for three years. It also states that the Chinatown Merchants Association was so impressed with his ability to get things done that the group named him special-projects coordinator.

“Every time we ask for help, he [De Genova] can do it very good,” Tony Lam, president of the Chinatown Merchants Association, told the Straight. “He knows Chinatown very good.”

Lam said that he has known De Genova since his salesman days, and that he has always been accessible to the community. “I talk to him even in the evening,” Lam said. “He answers my calls. Lots of people in Chinatown know his number.”

Keefer Bakery owner Donald Leung used to buy paper bags and other supplies from De Genova, and he is among the park board official’s supporters. Referring to Sullivan, Leung told the Straight: “He’s done quite a bit for the community too, you know, but it’s about time to change.”

Louie is a “good guy too”, according to Leung, “but I don’t know if he remembers me or not. Between Allan De Genova and Raymond, Raymond is still a bit young for the mayor’s job. Raymond has a young family and, I don’t know, he’s not as experienced as Allan.”

De Genova and Louie are two of three hopefuls vying for the mayoral nomination of Vision Vancouver, the third one being NDP Vancouver-Fairview MLA Gregor Robertson.

Kerry Jang, who is seeking a Vision Vancouver council nomination, believes that Sullivan won’t get as much support from the Chinese Canadian community as he did in 2005.

A declared supporter of Louie, Jang said that this can be seen from the strong backing being generated within the community for Louie—a “native son” who could become Vancouver’s first Chinese Canadian mayor—and De Genova.

Asked about Robertson, Jang told the Straight: “He’s pretty much unknown in the Chinese community. They really don’t know him.”

Would Louie’s supporters vote for Robertson if the latter wins Vision Vancouver’s endorsement? “That’s sort of the question we’ve all been asking,” Jang said. “Where would the Chinese vote go if Raymond came in third?”

Robertson’s campaign spokesperson, Brad Zubyk, said his candidate enjoys support from various ethnic communities. “I’m happy at where we are with all communities,” Zubyk told the Straight.

Vancouver designer David Wong supported Sullivan in 2005 but he is now backing NPA councillor Peter Ladner, who is challenging the mayor for the NPA nomination.

Talking to the Straight by phone, Wong said that he’ll have to do some serious thinking if Ladner doesn’t get the NPA’s nod. “There’s Sam, there’s Raymond,” he said. However, Wong conceded that Sullivan still has the edge over his rivals because he has former councillor Maggie Ip and husband Kelly Ip in his camp.

“You have to get the people who got the highest respect in the community,” Wong explained. “The persons who can get that highest respect are Maggie Ip and Kelly Ip. Sam’s got Maggie going up to bat for him, and because of that, I think that is going to be the magic bullet.”

Sullivan’s supporters included the late Lilian To, a long-time executive director of SUCCESS (United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society) and crusader for immigrants. Her son Daniel To remains a Sullivan die-hard.

“I think he’s an honest man,” To told the Straight. “He is someone of integrity. A lot of politicians, from my perspective, don’t necessarily follow through with their policies, and try to please the public too much.”