Sherry Shaghaghi (NDP)

If the goal is to keep social conservatives out of Parliament, the Straight should logically recommend the Liberal candidate in this riding, which has a relatively high average income. However, when the Liberal candidate is an uninspiring former mayor who attends the same fundamentalist church as the socially conservative candidate, it makes us look around for different options.

Sherry Shaghaghi of the NDP and Green candidate Jim Stephenson of the Greens are far better candidates than the two front runners, Liberal MP Don Bell and Conservative Cindy Silver. In the past, Focus on the Family has retained Silver, a lawyer, to argue against changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. Silver, a former school trustee, has not returned several calls from the Straight seeking her views on different issues.

Bell was mayor during the Northlands Golf Course fiasco, in which a bookkeeper stole almost $250,000 of public funds. The citizens didn't learn about this situation until shortly after Bell was reelected in 2002.

We're recommending Shaghaghi, a clinical counsellor, over Stephenson because of her extensive record of community service and her party's record in the recent Parliament. According to a profile written by NDP supporter Crawford Kilian, Shaghaghi has worked with the North Shore Women's Centre, the North Shore Multicultural Society, the Immigrant Services Society, and the Vancouver Association for the Survivors of Torture. Originally from Iran, Shaghaghi moved to Vancouver in 1989. She lost in her attempt last year to get elected to the City of North Vancouver council.

The Green candidate, Stephenson, is no slouch and is definitely also worth considering. He is a computer consultant and former software company founder who has worked for First Nations, corporate clients, and on projects for BC Gas, BC Hydro, and the Workers' Compensation Board. Formerly a business professor, he has a PhD in business and economics from Stanford University. He is past president of the ultraliberal North Shore Unitarian Church. On his official biography, he states that his interest in applying economic incentives to addressing environmental degradation dates back to the 1970s, when he worked at UBC's Westwater Research Centre.