Vancouver South

Vancouver South was a federal electoral district in the southern portion of Vancouver, British Columbia, encompassing the neighbourhoods of Marpole, Oakridge, Sunset, Victoria-Fraserview, and Killarney, along with the commercial strips along Fraser Street and Victoria Drive. The riding was one of the most culturally diverse constituencies in Canada, with large Chinese, South Asian, Filipino, and Vietnamese communities that had transformed the area's commercial and cultural landscape over decades of immigration. The Punjabi Market on Main Street and the Vietnamese shops of Victoria Drive gave the riding a distinctly multicultural character.

Candidates

• Wai Young (Conservative) — Young was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of four. She attended Killarney Secondary School and graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in sociology, later taking post-graduate studies at Simon Fraser University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She had spent over 30 years working and volunteering in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside at organizations including the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C., the Association of Neighbourhood Houses, Strathcona Community Centre, and the YWCA Vancouver. Young had narrowly lost to Dosanjh by just 20 votes in the 2008 federal election, making the 2011 rematch one of the most closely watched races in the province.

• Ujjal Dosanjh (Liberal)* — Dosanjh was the incumbent MP and one of the most prominent politicians in British Columbia. Born in Dosanjh Kalan, Punjab, India, in 1947, he immigrated to England at 17 and then to Canada in 1968, working in a sawmill while attending college. He earned a BA in political science from Simon Fraser University and a law degree from UBC, establishing his own law practice in 1979. Dosanjh served as British Columbia's Attorney General from 1995 to 2000 and then as Premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001, becoming the first South Asian Canadian to hold that office. He was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal in 2004 and served as federal Minister of Health from 2004 to 2006.

• Meena Wong (NDP) — Wong was a community activist born in Beijing who had lived in Hong Kong before immigrating to Canada for university. She had worked as a staffer for Toronto city councillor Olivia Chow before moving to Vancouver, where she became involved with the Coalition of Progressive Electors. Fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese, Wong brought strong language skills to a riding where a large proportion of residents spoke Chinese languages. She later ran as the COPE candidate for mayor of Vancouver in 2014.

• Jean de Dieu Hakizimana (Green Party) — Hakizimana was the Green Party of Canada candidate in Vancouver South.

• Charles Boylan (Marxist-Leninist) — Boylan represented the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada.

About the Riding

Vancouver South in 2011 was one of the most ethnically diverse ridings in the country, with no single ethnic group forming a majority. Chinese Canadians made up the largest group at approximately 38 percent, followed by Europeans at 19 percent, South Asians at 18 percent, and Southeast Asians at 16 percent. The riding's commercial streets reflected this diversity, with Chinese restaurants and dim sum parlours alongside South Asian jewellery shops, Vietnamese bakeries, and Filipino grocery stores. The Punjabi Market along Main Street near 49th Avenue was a focal point for the South Asian community, while the Sunset neighbourhood had the city's largest Punjabi-speaking population.

The local economy was driven by small businesses, retail, and services, with many family-owned establishments catering to the riding's diverse ethnic communities. The Marine Gateway development at the Canada Line's Marine Drive station was beginning to transform Marpole, bringing new condominiums and commercial space to what had been a quieter residential area. Oakridge Centre, a major shopping mall, was another economic anchor, and plans for its massive redevelopment into a mixed-use town centre were already being discussed. Many residents commuted to jobs across Metro Vancouver, and the Canada Line's stations at Marine Drive and Oakridge provided important transit connections.

The 2011 campaign in Vancouver South was defined by the intense rematch between Wai Young and Ujjal Dosanjh. The Conservatives had made significant inroads with immigrant communities across Canada through targeted outreach on issues like tough-on-crime policies, lower taxes, and family values. In Vancouver South, the Conservative campaign focused on these themes as well as the HST, which was deeply unpopular across British Columbia. Dosanjh, meanwhile, emphasized his record on health care and his deep roots in the community, while also drawing attention to his long history of standing up against extremism in the South Asian community.

Wai Young won the rematch decisively, defeating Dosanjh by nearly 4,000 votes after having lost by just 20 votes in 2008. She became the first Conservative MP elected in the city of Vancouver since 1988, a milestone that reflected the party's successful ethnic outreach strategy and the broader Conservative majority sweep. The NDP's Meena Wong finished third with approximately 19 percent, while the Liberal collapse nationally contributed to Dosanjh's defeat despite his considerable personal profile. The result marked the end of Dosanjh's political career, as the former premier did not seek re-election.