Decision BC: Vancouver-Kensington

In 2009: NDP candidate Mable Elmore won this riding in her first election, defeating Liberal candidate Syrus Lee by over 2000 votes, 53-41%.

History & Geography: Created for the 1991 election from parts of three different ridings, Vancouver-Kensington is bordered by Main Street to the west, East 49th to the south, Nanaimo to the east, and Kingsway to the north. The riding has elected the NDP candidate in four of the five elections it has been contested, including Ujjal Dosanjh in 1991 and 1996.

Basic Stats:

• Population: 57790 (19th)

• Size: 9 km (84th)

• Density: 6421.1 people/km (3rd)

Odds and Ends: 15.2% of people in this riding were under 15 in the 2011 census, making it the “youngest” riding in Vancouver.

Candidates

Liberals-Gabby Kalaw: A businessman, Kalaw works for a telecommunications company. Kalaw has also worked with Journalists for Human Rights, training local local journalists in Ghana to identify human rights abuses. He graduated with a Political Science degree from Acadia, where he also managed the campus newspaper The Anthenaeum.

NDP-Mable Elmore: The critic for ICBC, Elmore was elected in 2009, becoming the first MLA of Filipino descent in the B.C. legislature. Prior to politics, Elmore was a bus driver for Coast Mountain Bus Company for over a decade, and was also active with her local union. Elmore attended UBC, studying physical education.

Greens-Chris Fjell:  Fjell is a biomedical scientist at UBC in clinical research, and has previously worked in the pulp and paper, and oil and gas sectors as an engineer and independent contractor.

Conservatives-Raj Gupta: A realtor, Gupta has managed several retail stores with his wife. He graduated from Chandauli Polytechnic in India in 1967 with a diploma in Mechanical Engineering.