Emerson says he could have won in Vancouver-Kingsway Controversial minister officially calls it quits
Catherine Rolfsen and Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, September 05, 2008
David Emerson said Thursday evening that he could have won Vancouver-Kingsway but ultimately decided not to seek re-election in order to spend more time with his Vancouver family.
"The reality is, Kingsway was an eminently winnable seat," said the Conservative MP at Vancouver International Airport as he retuned to the city from Ottawa. "Not because I'm a hugely popular fellow in Kingsway, but because of vote splits and the way the first-past-the-post system works."
However, Emerson cited his age -- 63 next week -- and young family as reasons for his announcement Thursday.
"I've got a young family, I've got kids still in school, I've essentially abandoned my family for the last four years and a bit and felt it was time to operate our life on a little bit of a different schedule."
He said that he would be "involved with the Conservative Party" during the coming election, saying specifics would likely come Friday.
"I've committed to the Prime Minister to continue to support him and continue to serve in any way he may think is valuable," Emerson said.
Asked about speculation this week that Prime Minister Harper could opt to keep Emerson in cabinet by appointing him to the senate, Emerson said: "I haven't even given any thought to that. It's premature to speculate on anything of that nature."
The Foreign Affairs minister also gave an explanation for his infamous defection to the Conservative Party only 14 days after winning election as a Liberal in the 2006 election.
He said he was "dragged into" politics by Paul Martin and became a "Paul Martin Liberal."
"When Paul decided he wasn't going to stay on as leader, I felt that my obligation to the Liberals had essentially expired and Mr. Harper called me," he said.
Emerson was the most powerful B.C. voice in the Conservative cabinet, a heavyweight praised for bringing competence to the crucial ministries of international trade and foreign affairs.
But back in Vancouver, he was regarded by many of his constituents as an anti-democratic turncoat. Angry protesters dogged his public appearances, taped "De-Elect Emerson" posters on sign posts, and even dumped manure and scrawled graffiti at his constituency office.
The two sides of Emerson's political life -- the one on Parliament Hill and the one in his riding of Vancouver-Kingsway -- didn't square. And on Thursday, the Conservative party surprised no one by announcing that Emerson had decided not to seek re-election.
The aggressive behaviour of his critics was something new to Emerson, an economist and expert on international trade who was B.C.'s deputy finance minister in the early 1980s, the top provincial bureaucrat in the '90s and later president of the Vancouver International Airport and CEO of Canfor Corp.
He agreed to run for the Liberals in 2004 after being handed a nomination as a star candidate and promised a seat in then-prime minister Paul Martin's cabinet.
His switch from the Liberals to the Conservatives just 14 days after winning election as a Liberal in the 2006 election gave him prominence in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. But it also, many observers believe, sparked the public anger that led to his decision not to defend his seat.
In Vancouver-Kingsway, David Emerson's old riding, the Conservatives aren't considered to really be in the running; the real competition is between the Liberal's Wendy Yuan and the NDP's Don Davies with Green's darkhorse candidate presumed to be not in the front.

The history of the riding can, in some measure, be read in the parties fielding candidates; in addition to the four national parties there are contestants from Libertarian, Communist, and Marxist-Leninist parties. The rich diversity of the riding has less than half of all households reporting English as the first language at home.

Emerson cited this diversity after announcing he would not be running for a third term. "The reality is, Kingsway was an eminently winnable seat," said the Conservative Minister. "Not because I'm a hugely popular fellow in Kingsway, but because of vote splits and the way the first-past-the-post system works."

Key in those vote splits are issues dividing the Liberal and NDP candidates. Naturalized Canadian Yuan points to her immigrant history, giving her an empathy with the immigrant and ethnic neighborhoods of the riding. “I came with limited means but through hard work, I got recognized and became a successful businesswoman. I understand what immigrants have to go through to reach what they want.”

“I really respect and appreciate and like the multicultural fabric of our riding,” says her NDP opponent Davies. “That’s why I live in Kingsway. I’m the only candidate who lives here with roots here.” The Teamster's lawyer is originally from Edmonton, but has been living in Vancouver environs since 1991.

The Conservative party candidate Salomon Rayek is not responding to press inquiries from several sources, and is cited as an example of a long-shot candidate - a candidate with little likelihood of being elected yet represents the party anyway. 

Doug Warkentin, the Green Party candidate, ran for Member of Legislative Assembly in BC's 2005 elections in the Vancouver-Langara provincial electoral district, coming in third to the Liberal's Carol Taylor. He's lived for the past three years in the riding, an engineer and small business owner who has a history of community involvement across south Vancouver. "I see the neighbourhoods in and around Kingsway as a great place to build on the natural vibrancy of the small business sector as a backbone for ethnically and economically diverse communities."

Matt Kadioglu of the Libertarians is a relative newcomer with one previous campaign, while Donna Petersen (Marxist-Leninist) and Kimball Cariou (Communist) each have four previous contests according to  Pundits Guide.

The stage for this fight was set in 2006, when newly-elected Liberal Dave Emerson crossed the floor and directly into the Conservative Cabinet, first as Minister of International Trade then as Minister of Foreign Affairs following the resignation of Maxime Bernier. His defection stirred a firestorm of controversy locally in the staunchly left-leaning riding, which had elected a Progressive Conservative candidate exactly once since it's creation in 1953 - during the 1958 Diefenbaker landslide.

In 2004 then-Prime Minister Paul Martin parachuted Emerson in, displacing the brewing contest between incumbent Liberal Sophia Leung and Ms Yuan. Emerson won the riding against Ian Waddell, the NDP candidate who had represented the riding from 1979-1988, and again by a wider margin in 2006 when other Liberals fell as victims of the Sponsorship Scandal.