Summary: A working-class riding, Vancouver East will be electing a new MP for the first time in 18 years, after NDP MP Libby Davies opted to retire.
Boundaries: Vancouver’s northeastern riding, it generally comprises all the Downtown Eastside, all areas east of Main, and all areas north of 16th Avenue.
Last Election: Libby Davies, first elected in 1997, won a sixth term in this riding, thumping her nearest competition by 43.9 per cent.
History: With the exception of 1974 and 1993, the riding has elected NDP (or CCF) MPs in every election since it was created prior to 1935.
Demographics: Home to the Downtown Eastside, one of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods, 24 per cent of people in Vancouver are below the low-income rate, the second highest number in the province.
Candidates
Conservative: James Low
NDP: Jenny Kwan, MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant since 1996
Liberal: Edward Wong, lawyer
Green: Wes Regan, urban geographer and Executive Director of the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association
Communist: Peter Marcus
Marxist-Leninist: Anne Jamieson
Independent: D. Alex Millar
Pirate Party: Shawn Vulliez
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