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Vancouver Tory hoping to ride national wave

Last Updated: Thursday, January 19, 2006 | 9:15 AM ET

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The Conservative candidate in Vancouver Centre is hoping his party's recent surge in the national polls will boost his chances of winning a seat against heavyweight candidates for the Liberals and NDP.

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Tony Fogarassy says his campaign has been largely ignored compared to his higher-profile opponents, four-term Liberal incumbent Hedy Fry and longtime New Democrat Svend Robinson.

But the apparent success of the national Conservative campaign has put the Vancouver lawyer and newcomer to politics on voters' radar, he said. Fogarassy thinks it will be a tight race that he has a chance of winning.

"Last week, Hedy Fry made the statement that I was her main competition and it wasn't Svend Robinson," he said.

Vancouver Centre has been a Liberal riding since 1993, when Fry defeated then Prime Minister Kim Campbell, a Progressive Conservative.

Conservative Senator Pat Carney held the seat before Campbell, and she's now campaigning for Fogarassy.

"Vancouver Centre has got a great Conservative candidate in Tony Fogarassy," Carney said. "And Vancouver Centre is going to need a Conservative MP in a Conservative government."

Same-sex marriage is a significant issue in the riding, which has a large gay and lesbian population.

Fogarassy said he would vote his conscience in favour of same-sex marriage if Conservative Leader Stephen Harper went ahead with his promise to hold a free vote in the Commons on the issue.

Robinson, who was Canada's first openly gay MP, is a longtime advocate for gay rights.

Fry also has strong support in the gay community, taking part almost every year in the city's gay pride parade.

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