Jenny Kwan stakes out an early lead in NDP nomination contest in Vancouver East

The NDP MLA for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant, Jenny Kwan, has by far the most endorsements in the race to succeed Libby Davies as the MP for Vancouver East.

Kwan was surrounded by supporters at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre on January 25 when she officially entered the NDP nomination contest.

“I cannot tell you what that means to me, how much your encouragement means to me, as I embark on this journey,” Kwan told a noisy crowd of about 200 people.

The meeting opened with Musqueam Nation member Cecilia Point praising Kwan as a “sister” and another Musqueam member, Audrey Siegl, lauding how compassionate Kwan is. The MLA was also heartily endorsed by Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation, who talked about Kwan’s willingness to help others.

The president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, also spoke glowingly about Kwan, telling the audience that she “was born with a purpose, and that purpose was to make this a better world”.

Phillip's remarks brought tears to Kwan's eyes. But perhaps equally important to her candidacy, she already has more than 60 public endorsements, including those of the president and vice president of Unifor Local 111, which represents transit operators.

Kwan’s rival in the race, NDP MLA Mable Elmore, is a former bus driver and used to be an active member of Local 111.

The Vancouver-Kensington MLA told the Straight by phone that although Kwan has the nod from Local 111 president Nathan Woods and Local 111 vice president Carlos Moreira, she is supported by many bus drivers in Vancouver East.

Elmore lists five endorsers on her website: Gordon August of the Sechelt Nation, UNITE HERE Local 40 president Robert Demand, cultural historian Naveen Girn, union activist Wendy Lawrence, and retired union activist Marion Pollock.

Elmore emphasized that she’s running a grassroots campaign focused on signing up young people and residents from diverse communities. As part of that plan, she’ll be doing outreach on Thursday (January 29) at an LGBT event at Havana Restaurant on Commercial Drive.

Meanwhile, Kwan’s endorsers include Lorelei Williams, a vocal advocate for families of missing and murdered indigenous women. Kwan is also backed by former Vancouver East MLA Bob Williams, former Vancouver-Kensington MLA David Chudnovsky, United Steelworkers director Steve Hunt, Chinese Freemasons president Hilbert Yiu, Canada-China Business Association president George Lian, Rio Theatre owner Corinne Lea, comedian Charles Demers, political commentator Bill Tieleman, and many other prominent Vancouverites.

The third candidate for the Vancouver East NDP nomination is SFU public-relations director Scott McLean.

Both Kwan and Elmore have expressed deep admiration for Davies, who played a crucial role in forcing the former Liberal government to look upon drug addiction as a health issue.

The two NDP MLAs have called for changes to the temporary-foreign-worker program to make it easier for these employees to become citizens. They both also support a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

“Canada has a legal obligation to address the root causes of violence against indigenous women and girls,” Kwan said at her campaign launch. “How many more indigenous women and girls have to go missing before we have a national inquiry? If this were happening with any other community, would it be tolerated? Absolutely not.”

Afterward, reporters pressed Kwan about her taking family vacations that her former husband charged to the nonprofit PHS Community Services while he was an executive with the organization.

She responded that she never knew that the trips were being billed as expenses and after she learned of this, she borrowed money and immediately paid back the debt.

“That was a deeply personal issue and, of course, it was very, very difficult,” Kwan said. “There’s no question about that.”

So far, Elmore has not made an issue of the PHS scandal, preferring to talk about the importance of the NDP communicating that its values are Canadian values.

At her launch at the Philippine Diamond Society Clubhouse on December 21, Elmore insisted that she has “great respect” for Kwan, even though they were on opposite sides when Kwan led a group of dissidents calling for the ouster of provincial party leader Carole James in 2010.