Vancouver Kingsway

by The Georgia Straight Staff on September 5th, 2008 at 5:00 AM

Map of Vancouver Kingsway

Key demographic indicators (2006 census)

Population: 119,815
English as a mother tongue only: 42,130
Lived at the same address five years ago: 65,260
Number of immigrants: 64,330
Visible minority population: 81,385
Chinese descent: 47,605
Filipino descent: 11,930
South Asian descent: 7,775
Southeast Asian descent: 5,685
Aboriginal descent: 1,615
Latin American descent: 1,605
Median age: 38.2
Percentage of single detached houses: 28.7 %
Number of owned dwellings: 26,250
Number of rented dwellings: 15,690
Median income (2005 all families): $53,493
Median income (2005 married couples): $57,581
Median income (2005 common-law couples): $65,546
Median income (2005 lone-parent families): $35,376

Don Davies
Salomon Rayek
Doug Warkentin
Wendy Yuan

Stretching across the city from Oak Street to Boundary Road and mostly between 16th Avenue and 41st Avenue, Vancouver Kingsway cannot really be described as an East Side riding. It has been a safe Liberal seat since it was created in time for the 1997 election.

Sophia Leung won in 1997 and 2000, and David Emerson, a former senior civil servant and former forest-industry CEO, defeated the NDP’s Ian Waddell in 2004 and 2006.

Shortly after winning the 2006 election, Emerson crossed the floor to the Conservatives, eventually rising to become the foreign affairs minister. A De-Elect Emerson campaign has been running in the riding ever since Emerson joined the Harper government; recently, Emerson announced that he didn’t regret his move. Emerson also said he won’t seek reelection.

Waddell held the seat for three terms from 1979 to 1988 when it was more of an East Side riding. The seat was eliminated in 1988 as a result of redistribution of seats, only to resurface nine years later.

Slightly more than a third of Vancouver Kingsway residents cited English as their only mother tongue in the 2006 census. More than half of the residents are immigrants, and more than two-thirds are visible minorities, with Chinese the most oft-cited background.

The Liberals have nominated businessperson Wendy Yuan; the NDP candidate is lawyer Don Davies. Both have been running hard for more than a year in an effort to raise their profiles in the riding. Yuan was a strong supporter of Stephane Dion’s leadership run. Davies has ties to the labour movement and has been a vocal human-rights advocate.

The Conservatives nominated businessman Salomon Rayek shortly after the election was called.