VANCOUVER -- Liberal faithfuls gathered at Fraserview Hall were kept in suspense all night but finally got their party as Kash Heed was declared MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview.
A triumphant Heed, a former police chief, arrived fashionably late as his supporters wondered what the fate of the riding would hold.
But once Heed arrived to "The Heat is On," the supporters grabbed their signs and rallied behind the victor.
Heed promised he wouldn't change the brutally honest attitude that set him apart as a cop, and vowed to tackle crime.
The campaign in Vancouver-Fraserview has been a particularly nasty one.
Right off the bat, NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu attacked Heed for running in a riding he doesn't live in.
Heed lives in Richmond, but has experience in the area as a police officer. Yiu, by the way, does live in Vancouver-Fraserview; but that didn't stop him from running in Burnaby-Willingdon in 2005.
A lot has also been said regarding the drug policies of both candidates.
Yiu said the people, especially the Chinese community, in Vancouver-Fraserview oppose legalizing marijuana and the candidate has accused Heed of supporting the notion based on comments he made as a police officer.
Heed responded by unleashing his lawyers on Yiu for spreading misinformation.
Yiu has had to defend his own stance on the issue, which doesn't seem to be in line with the NDP platform.
Before running for the Liberals, Kash Heed had a decorated 28-year career with the Vancouver Police Department.
He helped the department adopt the COMPSTAT system to better track crime statistics in the city and was in charge of police operations in southeast Vancouver, which includes the Vancouver-Fraserview riding.
He then moved on to a short stint as West Vancouver police chief and was a vocal supporter of establishing a singular regional police force to tackle gang violence.
He unexpectedly resigned as police chief in February after just two years, instantly sparking rumours that he would be the next Liberal candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview riding vacated by Wally Oppal.
The sudden retirement, along with the severance pay he received, has also been a hot-button issue for critics.
