Vancouver Kingsway

This central Vancouver riding encompasses an area running from Boundary Road in the east to Oak Street in the west, bordered on the south by 41st Avenue West, 41st Avenue East, School Avenue, Tyne Street and 49th Avenue East, and on the north by 16th Avenue West, 16th Avenue East, 15th Avenue East and Grandview Highway South.

The 2006 census found that just 35 per cent of residents here listed English as their mother tongue. More than 54 per cent are immigrants. Forty-three per cent are ethnically Chinese, followed by Filipino at 11 per cent.

The area is mainly residential. The service sector is the major employer, along with manufacturing and retail. The average family income is $72,052 and the unemployment rate is 6.5 per cent.

The riding of Vancouver Kingsway existed from 1953 until 1986. It was re-established in 1996 from half of Vancouver Quadra, one-quarter of Burnaby-Kingsway and smaller portions of Vancouver East and Vancouver South. In 2004, 11 per cent of the population was redistributed to other ridings, while about 7,000 people were added from Vancouver Quadra and 1,830 from Vancouver East.

Population: 119,815 (2006 census; an increase of 3.9% since 2001)

Political History

Liberal David Emerson retained this seat in 2006, although the riding promptly ended up in Conservative hands. Two weeks after the 2006 federal election, Emerson crossed over to the Tories, frustrating voters in a riding that has not voted Conservative since 1958.

Even before the 1996 re-establishment, voters in the region were consistently left-leaning, mostly supporting the NDP.

Emerson won here in 2004, defeating former New Democrat MP Ian Waddell by 1,351 votes. Prime Minister Paul Martin named Emerson minister of industry in 2004.

Liberal Sophia Leung held this seat from 1997 to 2004, first beating New Democrat Victor Wong and then, in 2000, fending off the Canadian Alliance's Alice Wong by 5,042 votes.

Vancouver Quadra was held by Tories from 1949 to 1963, by Liberals from 1963 to 1972 and by Tory Bill Clarke from 1972 to 1984.

The old Vancouver Kingsway riding picked MPs from the CCF and NDP from 1953 through the 1984 election, with just one exception, a Progressive Conservative in the 1958 Diefenbaker sweep.

Vancouver Kingsway:

• 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 - LIB