Each election, the North Shore News asks the candidates in every riding to fill out a questionnaire on local issues. Today, we bring you the responses from West Vancouver-Capilano candidates. Click here to see our grid.
Probably not on any pundits’ ridings-to-watch lists on May 9, West Vancouver-Capilano is as safe a riding as they come for the B.C. Liberals.
Octogenarian Ralph Sultan has coasted to victory in the affluent riding four times since 2001 and is looking for one more. Sultan was last elected with 67 per cent of the vote – the highest in the province. The NDP’s highest result since 1991 was 23.5 per cent. The B.C. Green Party’s best result came in 2001 with 13.7 per cent.
West Vancouver Mayor Mike Smith recently remarked at council that the Liberals could run Daffy Duck in the riding and still win, and the NDP could nominate Mother Teresa and still lose.
Nonetheless, the NDP and Green Party have recruited candidates with serious credentials: The NDP have nominated medical doctor and pharmaceutical consultant Mehdi Russel and the B.C. Green Party is fielding Capilano University communications professor Michael Markwick.
Running from Upper Lonsdale in the east to Rodgers Creek in the west, the riding contains the British Properties, Ambleside, Dundarave, Grousewoods, Edgemont, Delbrook and Pemberton Heights – mostly neighbourhoods with high-end single-family homes.
Just more than 60 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in 2013.
Demographics
Population (2014): 57,173
Median age (2011 census): 47.6
The big issues in the riding:
Housing
The presence of foreign money in the real estate market is both a blessing and a curse in West Vancouver-Capilano, with some cashing out for millions and others feeling squeezed by monster homes that impose on neighbourhood character.
Smith frequently pushes his council to develop more rental housing and smaller condo units in an effort to allow the area to be home for local first responders, service workers, civil servants and low-income families.
As a municipality, West Vancouver was one of the only communities in the Lower Mainland to have a declining population, according to the 2016 census.
Taxes
With sky-high property assessments and high-income tax brackets, West Vancouver-Capilano residents pay hefty tax bills and there is little appetite for perceived waste in Victoria.
Transportation
During their commutes, drivers from both sides of the Capilano River jockey for position on the Lions Gate Bridge. No party is entertaining expanding or replacing the bridge.
Smith frequently remarks that his community receives too little from the province when it comes to transit and road infrastructure dollars. The Liberals say Lower Mainland mayors will have to hold another referendum if they want to pay for more TransLink services with any new funding sources that don’t involve raising property taxes.
West Vancouver-Capilano election results (2009 & 2013) *Note: Michael Markwick ran as an independent in the 2013 election
