Politics

Vancouver Election Awards: The Best and Worst in Vancouver Centre

By Nathan Caddell /

Canadians go to the polls next week, so we thought we’d have some fun with the Vancouver ridings. Here are some obscure, fun and incredibly important and correct awards for Vancouver Centre.

Best Fact

Best Confirmation of Fact

Worst Moment

This, and it’s not particularly close.

Most Petty

Hedy Fry is the Bill Belichick of Vancouver politics. She’ll defeat you mentally and physically and then run the score up on you just for fun.

Sure, her Green Party opponent may or may not be campaigning out of a publicly owned and subsidized building. He’s also polling at 18 percent. Have some mercy, Hedy!

Best Name

Speaking of which.

No, the founder of Canadaland is not running for the Greens in Vancouver Centre. That would make it a lot more fun, though.

The Greens are being represented by a Jesse Brown, but this one is the executive director of the Vancouver Friends for Life Society.

Best Campaign

That would be NDP candidate Breen Ouelette (right in the photo), the Métis lawyer who has tried to utilize the winning strategy of U.S. Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC, of course, was a massive underdog in her fight for New York’s 14th congressional district.

Ouelette also has the odds stacked against him, but he appears to be saying all the right things.

“People in this riding want something more from their MP than what they’re currently getting,” said Ouellette to the CBC.

That seems like a message that might resonate with voters tired of the same old thing they’ve been getting for over 25 years.

And hey, Ouellette was already the underdog in the NDP nomination vote, beating out higher profile names in Morgane Oger and David C. Jones.

Worst Campaign

Boycotting pride is not how you get elected in a riding like Vancouver Centre. Sorry Conservative candidate Davey Cavey (I know, shocker that it was a Conservative who boycotted it). 

His name is actually David, but there’s a lot of potential with that nickname (you’re welcome for that). 

Radio talk show host? Real estate agent? Being a financial planner seems like a missed opportunity. 

Best Fact II

The last person to unseat a Prime Minister? Fry (what hasn’t she done?), who took down Kim Campbell in this riding some 26 years ago.

Best Hit List

In addition to Campbell, Fry has taken down several other big names over the years, including long-time MP Svend Robinson, UBC professor Michael Byers, and current Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Best Chance of Winning

Unless national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party really formalizes in B.C., it’ll be Fry.

Best “Hmm”

But if Jagmeet Singh’s momentum continues, maybe Ouelette can surprise some people.

Did we only write that to create some sense of drama in a riding that hasn’t had any for more than two decades?

Maybe.

Best Attempt at Setting the Odds

The BCLC doesn’t have odds on this (c’mon BCLC, some of us have problems to exploit!), but they’d probably look something like this:

Hedy Fry: -1000 (have to bet 1000 to make 100)

Breen Ouelette: +1000 (bet 100 to make 1000)

David Cavey: +1500

Jesse Brown: +2000