It remains to be seen if the respect that Wilson-Raybould earned in April will translate into enough votes in October to offset her loss of the Liberal Party’s brand and deep pockets and carry her to victory. That roaring sound you hear is not the fast-approaching Canadian federal election, it is all the political parties contesting the election and their armies of campaign workers that have now hit the ground running in every federal riding in Canada.

Wednesday morning (September 11) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Governor General Julie Payette to dissolve Parliament, officially kicking-off Canada’s 43rd general election.

The vote will be held on October 21, the latest date that it must take place under the fixed-date procedures of the Canada Elections Act.

In the federal riding of Vancouver Granville, where I spend most of my time, there are at least seven politicians in the running:

• Jody Wilson-Raybould (Independent)
• Taleeb Noormohamed (Liberal)
• Zach Segal (Conservative)
• Yvonne Hanson (NDP)
• Louise Boutin (Green)
• Naomi Chocyk (PPC)
• John Turner (Rhino)

The densest part of the 100,000-plus population of Vancouver Granville—and the best transit—is located on the northern edge, along the Broadway corridor.

It is hardly surprising therefore that the four Vancouver Granville candidates with storefront campaign headquarters have all located them within blocks of each other on, or near, West Broadway Avenue, the axis of the corridor.

But, in addition to masses of voters, this stretch of West Broadway is also supposed to be home to blocks and block of the most sought-after and expensive real estate.

In fact, thanks to steadily rising rents and a general holding-of-breath in expectation of the land rush that could accompany the commencement of Broadway subway construction in 2020, there are empty storefronts and “for lease” signs all along the 10 blocks of “campaign row”.

So lets see what the candidates were able to find, with their tight budgets and on short notice.

For a limited time only: the wholesale return of retail politicking

NDP candidate Yvonne Hanson—described as “a recent Simon Fraser University grad, retail worker, and renter” and, to paraphrase her own words, as someone who believes the most effective way to address the climate crisis is by first redressing social inequalities—has made her campaign headquarters in 1067 West Broadway.

This is surely a good thing for both the candidate and the landlord, because this little property hasn’t seen a tenant for over four years! Not since May of 2015, after Prompt Printers moved to cheaper digs in East Vancouver.

The space is listed as approximately 1,500 square feet, which appears to be divided into two floors. The monthly rent of $6,500 includes one parking stall in the back.

Campaign posters for Liberal Party candidate Taleeb Noormohamed—described as a Canadian-born technology entrepreneur and investor, a community volunteer, and a former federal government employee—appeared in the windows of 1256 West Broadway within a few weeks of the departure of Miniso.

The Chinese/Japanese discount store, which had occupied the address since April of 2017, suddenly vacated the premises after the middle of August, following the bankruptcy of the chain’s Canadian operations.

I have no information as to the lease, or the square footage of 1256 West Broadway but it is a large space—essentially two storefronts wide—I would guess over 2,500 square feet.

In the front area alone, the self-styled “Team Taleeb” has made space for a central reception area, a bank of eight phones and an oval of swivel office chairs. And there are walled-off back rooms as well.

Coincidentally (I’m sure), Noormohamed’s campaign office popped up just across the street from the constituency office of Jody Wilson-Raybould, the incumbent MP for the riding, who is seeking reelection.

With such an office already in hand, one might think that Wilson-Raybould would be the one Vancouver Granville candidate who did not have to scramble to find an empty storefront to campaign from.

But one would be wrong. The constituency office apparently belongs to the riding.

For her reelection campaign headquarters, Wilson-Reybould has taken a small storefront four blocks off West Broadway, at 2843 Granville Street.

This 1,318 square-foot ground-floor space sees moderate turnover, having hosted at least four different ritzy clothing retailers in the last decade.

The address has been empty since at least April 2019, when the monthly rent (plus taxes) was listed as $10,434. This is actually a few hundred less than the $10,653 it rented for back in July 2015.

Conservative candidate Zach Segal—a former Conservative government staff member and current employee of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation—has set up his small campaign headquarters five blocks west of pricey South Granville—at 1938 West Broadway Avenue. This 1,298 square-foot, ground-floor retail space has sat empty since at least May of 2018, according to Google Street View.

The last tenant of 1938 West Broadway was the Karuna Health Foundation, a would-be cannabis dispensary that appears to have been denied a city license in 2016 for being too close to several schools.

The monthly rent that the Segal campaign is paying is only about $6,576.

Why all eyes will be on Vancouver-Fairview on election night

The race in Vancouver-Fairview will be one of the most closely watched in Canada because of the incumbent, Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Wilson-Raybould—a lawyer by profession and a member of the Indigenous We Wai Kai Nation of British Columbia—came to national prominence when she was elected the Vancouver Granville riding’s first MP in November 2015, as a star Liberal party candidate.

She was immediately named to the prestigious post of minister of justice and attorney general of Canada in the majority Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In January 2019, however, she was abruptly demoted to minister of veterans affairs. A month later, on February 12, she resigned from the Trudeau cabinet. This was after her behind-the-scenes clash with the prime minister’s office, over the handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair, was reported in the national press.

In April 2019, she was unceremoniously kicked out of the Liberal caucus.

The perception that as justice minister she stood up to PMO pressure to soft-pedal corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin—the largest construction company in Canada by revenue and a major employer, particularly in the Liberal stronghold of Quebec—has earned Wilson-Raybould the respect of millions of Canadians.

But in the upcoming election she will be running for reelection from the disadvantageous position of an independent, against better funded national political party candidates, including one from her former party, the Liberals.

It remains to be seen if the respect that Wilson-Raybould earned in April will translate into enough votes in October to offset her loss of the Liberal Party’s brand and deep pockets and carry her to victory.

Are not-so-little fed ridings good?

The large federal riding (or electoral district) of Vancouver Granville was created by amalgamating four smaller ridings in 2012 and first contested in 2015.

The riding is a north-south rectangle, covering 27 square kilometres and stretching over 7 kilometres from the Fraser River almost to the south bank of False Creek. Its western edge is Arbutus Street/West Boulevard, while Main, Cambie, and Ontario streets variously serve as its eastern border.

Within these boundaries, Vancouver Granville encompasses the better part of three city neighbourhoods: Marpole, Kerrisdale-Oakridge and Fairview.

According to Elections Canada the riding has a total population of 103,456 people, with 80,488 being registered voters. Hopefully, the vast majority will find the time to go to the polls.

For those who find the election day date of October 21 inconvenient—as anyone observing the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret (October 20-22) may—Elections Canada says that advance voting will be available from October 11 to the 14, at polling places to be announced October 2.