WATCH: MLA Jenny Kwan has announced she’s jumping into federal politics, seeking to succeed Libby Davies as the MP for Vancouver East. As Nadia Stewart reports, she becomes the second declared candidate in the NDP race.
VANCOUVER – A veteran member of British Columbia’s legislature is going to try to jump to federal politics.
Jenny Kwan says she’ll attempt to get the NDP nomination for the riding of Vancouver-East for this year’s federal election.
The seat is coming open because high-profile New Democrat MP Libby Davies announced last month she will not run again.
Kwan announced her plans to seek the nomination in the riding of Vancouver East on Sunday, while surrounded by members of the diverse neighbourhood’s aboriginal and Chinese-Canadian communities.
“What we need is someone who is fearless in Ottawa to take on the Prime Minister,” she declared in her speech. “Some might say I am a fighter and I’m not afraid to take on Stephen Harper.”
The riding has long been an NDP stronghold and the race for the coveted nomination is shaping up to be a tight one.
Kwan will square off against another member of the B.C. New Democrats, Mable Elmore, who announced in December that she also intends to seek the nomination.
Scott McLean, SFU’s director of media and community relations, is also seeking the NDP’s nomination. However, most observers believe the race will be between the two NDP MLAs.
“It’s going to be a close race. I don’t think it’s a flip a coin thing, but I would not underestimate Mable Elmore,” says Global News legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey.
“Nominations are not like general elections. It comes down to how many party members you can sign up and recruit in a short period of time.”
Vancouver East is among the poorest federal ridings in Canada. Its troubled Downtown Eastside area has seen high rates of missing and murdered aboriginal women, and Kwan made that issue a major focus of her announcement.
Her news conference, held at an aboriginal centre, opened with endorsements by several First Nations supporters. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said he believed becoming an MP was Kwan’s “destiny.”
“I believe that Jenny Kwan was born with purpose, and that purpose was to make this a better world. And I believe that her going to Ottawa as the MP for the Downtown Eastside is just simply part of her fulfilling her purpose,” he said.
When Kwan took the podium, she promised that if she made it to Ottawa, she would push for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dismissed calls for such an inquiry.
“How many more indigenous women and girls have to go missing before we have a national inquiry?” asked Kwan. “If this were happening with any other community, would it be tolerated? Absolutely not.”
The politician’s long tenure in the legislature has not been without controversy. Last year, she wound up repaying $35,000 for European and Disneyland trips for her family that had been initially paid for by the Portland Hotel Society.
Her ex-husband, Dan Small, was a former executive of the society, which was publicly funded to provide social services to residents of the Downtown Eastside. Kwan told reporters on Sunday that the matter is a “deeply personal issue” that she has handled.
“What I heard from the people in the community and what they’ve said to me is that they want me to move forward and to seek the nomination,” she said. “Ultimately the people will see my record and the work that I’ve done and they’ll make their decisions.”
– With files from Global News
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