Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»South is a centre for Vancouver’s Asian community and houses the city’s Punjabi market.
The riding is also a battleground for the Liberals and Conservatives, having elected Liberal incumbent Ujjal Dosanjh by a margin of only 20 votes in 2008. Since then its representation has alternated between the Liberals and the Tories, and has been represented by Liberal MP Harjit Sajjan since 2015. The riding includes the neighbourhoods of Fraserview, Champlain Heights, Killarney and South Vancouver.
Here's who's running:
Conservative
Wai Young
Wai Young is looking to win back the seat she held from 2011 to 2015. Having lost to Harjit Sajjan in the last election, Young tried her hand in running for mayor under the Coalition Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»banner in 2018. She finished fourth with 11,872 votes in the 19-person race. Her mayoral campaign included talking points around lower taxes, scrapping bike lanes and reducing the amount of garbage and syringes on city streets. Young is a foster mother to seven kids and a recipient of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from UBC and has lived in South Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»for 45 years.
Green Party
Judy Zaichkowsky
Judy Zaichkowsky is looking to resurrect a political career that lasted little more a year. A former Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»school board trustee, Zaichkowsky was elected in the October 2017 byelection but chose to not run again almost a year later to the day. Zaichkowsky was moving homes at the time and couldn’t commit the necessary hours to public life, but she’s now had a change of heart. She was born and raised in Vancouver, attending Sir Guy Carleton elementary, Killarney secondary and UBC. Zaichkowsky received her PhD from UCLA in marketing, with minors in psychology and statistics. She holds a master’s degree in consumer studies from the University of Guelph.
Liberal (incumbent)
Harjit Sajjan
Harjit Sajjan is a former Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»police officer and decorated combat veteran. Sajjan served as Minister of Defence in the Trudeau government and moved from India to Canada with his family at the age of five. Sajjan was a VPD member for 11 years, based primarily in his home riding, and finished his policing career as a detective with the gang crime unit. Sajjan is also the first Sikh to command a Canadian army regiment — a reserve regiment known as the Duke of Connaught’s Own. As a member of the regiment, Sajjan participated in four military deployments: one to Bosnia and three to Afghanistan.
NDP
Sean McQuillan
Sean McQuillan works in the TV and film sector and is a member of Vancouver’s film technicians union. He’s a graduate of Langara College’s Studio 58 program and holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Alberta. McQuillan, who is of Cree Metis ancestry, is campaigning on promises to bolster affordable childcare and housing and universal pharmacare.
People’s Party
Alain Deng
Alain Deng is registered as the PPC candidate, though he has no website and his social media channels contain no biographical information nor platform promises.
The election is Oct. 21.
— with files from Andrew Fleming and Vicente Biancardi da Camara