What Are Voters Saying in Canada’s Most-Watched Riding?

Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould’s run as an Independent in Vancouver-Granville is attracting attention across Canada.

The former Liberal star candidate was pushed out of cabinet because she refused to bow to pressure from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to abandon corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin. A damning ethics commissioner report confirmed Trudeau broke conflict of interest laws in trying to help the company avoid prosecution.

Now Wilson-Raybould is trying to retain her seat as an Independent. It’s an uphill battle. Parties help their candidates with money, volunteers and paid staff.

But based on an entirely unscientific sampling of people in the riding, Wilson-Raybould is off to a strong start.

Residents certainly know who Wilson-Raybould is. But no one we spoke to on the day we visited knew the name of her Liberal rival, Taleeb Noormohamed.

“Who is it? I really can’t speak about him because I don’t know,” said Collette Humer, a fairly typical answer. (People also noted that it’s early in the race and they haven’t researched the candidates yet.)

And most people said voting for the Liberals this time around wasn’t going to be easy.

“It’s a very complicated situation,” said Humer. “I wouldn’t vote Liberal, and I’ve always been Liberal. I was disgusted with them this time around,” she said, speaking about the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

Other voters said they share Humer’s feelings that the Liberal government let them down.

“I think it stinks. I think it was a big mistake, and I think the Liberals are going to pay for it now,” said Bonnie Dodds.

Another voter, Jenny, who didn’t want her last name used, said they’re “disappointed in Justin.”

But she also had doubts about Wilson-Raybould’s role. “I think it was badly handled, and I think Trudeau was bullying to Jody Wilson-Raybould, but I think she stuck a knife in him as well.”

It’s not all bad news for the Liberals.

“I will be almost definitely voting for the Liberals,” said James Webber, who also thinks the SNC-Lavalin affair was “blown out of proportion.”

Wilson-Raybould is also up against Conservative Zach Segal, New Democrat Yvonne Hanson, and Green Louise Boutin.

SNC-Lavalin isn’t the only issue on voters’ minds. Many of the people we interviewed said climate change was the most important issue in this election.

“We have to be concerned about the climate,” said one voter, who declined to give a name. “It can’t just be shallow, individual actions. The government needs to be involved. It’s got to have regulations and enforce them.”

David Favrholdt agreed.

“I really think all the climate strikes and climate actions coming up, the politicians have to listen and have to act on it,” he said. “I don’t want to hear promises, we had promises last election that didn’t materialize.”

Dodds said “more housing, more affordable housing” should be a top priority.

And Gala Munoz-Carrier said she’s not a single-issue voter.

“Who’s best equipped to deal with a lot of issues that are all equally important — climate change, unequal wealth distribution that sort of thing,” she said. “I feel like it’s hard, because I feel like parties want to prioritize one thing over other things, but you really can’t be doing that these days. You really have to be looking all the things.”

Some residents said they’ve already started to decide who they will vote for, with the Greens and New Democratic Party most frequently cited.

Munoz-Carrier is thinking of voting “either NDP or Green.”

“I voted Green last time,” said Favrholdt. “I usually vote Green.”

Werner Humer was said he’s leaning toward two parties.

“Not for the Liberals,” he said when asked about who he is thinking about voting for. “It would most likely be the Conservatives or the Green party.”

Wilson-Raybould won the riding easily in 2015 with 44 per cent of the vote, compared with 27 per cent for the NDP candidate, 26 per cent for the Conservative and just three per cent for the Green candidate.

A June poll found Wilson-Raybould had the support of 32 per cent of voters, narrowly ahead of her Liberal opponent Noormohamed who had 29 per cent support. The Conservatives were at 20 per cent, the Greens at 10 per cent and the NDP trailed with eight-per-cent support.

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