Vancouver-Fairview

Vancouver-Fairview had flipped to the NDP in 2013 when George Heyman defeated the incumbent BC Liberal in the riding that stretches from the leafy streets of Shaughnessy through the densifying Cambie corridor to the apartment blocks along Broadway. The riding contained some of the most valuable residential real estate in the province alongside some of its highest concentrations of low-rise rental apartments, creating a constituency of stark economic contrasts. Broadway, the riding's main commercial artery, was one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, and the lack of a rapid transit extension along it was a persistent source of frustration.

Heyman entered the 2017 race as the incumbent, seeking a second term. The former leader of the BCGEU and executive director of the Sierra Club BC had established himself as a vocal critic of the Clark government's environmental and housing policies during his first term in the legislature.

Candidates

George Heyman (BC NDP) — Heyman was born in Vancouver to Stefan and Marta Heyman, a Polish-Jewish couple who escaped occupied Poland during the Second World War with the assistance of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara in Lithuania. His father worked as a machinist while having his engineering credentials recognized in Canada. Heyman briefly worked as a logger before joining the BC Ministry of Forests as a log scaler in 1978. He rose through the labour movement to become president of the BCGEU from 1999 to 2008, representing tens of thousands of public sector workers. From 2009 to 2012, he served as executive director of the Sierra Club BC, acting as the organization's chief spokesperson on energy, mining, conservation, and climate change.

Gabe Garfinkel (BC Liberal Party) — Garfinkel, 32, had served as Premier Christy Clark's director of stakeholder and community relations before leaving the premier's office in 2013 to work for the public relations firm FleishmanHillard. He opened his own communications agency in 2015. He had served on the Vancouver chapter of Cystic Fibrosis Canada and volunteered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. He won the Liberal nomination over former Vancouver city councillor Elizabeth Ball.

Louise Boutin (BC Green Party) — Boutin was a realtor and served as vice-president and chair of the childcare committee for the Kensington Community Centre Association. She had previously run for the Greens federally in Vancouver-Kingsway in 2011 and as a Green school board trustee candidate in the 2011 municipal elections.

Joey Doyle represented the Your Political Party of BC.

Local Issues

Housing affordability was the defining issue in Vancouver-Fairview. The riding's Shaughnessy neighbourhood contained some of the most expensive homes in Canada, yet the bulk of the constituency was made up of renters in aging low-rise apartment buildings along Broadway and the surrounding streets. Average rents had risen sharply under the BC Liberal government, and the NDP argued that government inaction and cozy relationships with developers had allowed home prices to skyrocket by treating housing as a speculative investment rather than a necessity. The Liberals countered with their B.C. Home Partnership program, designed to help first-time buyers.

The lack of rapid transit along the Broadway corridor was a major frustration. The 99 B-Line bus, which ran through the heart of the riding, was one of the busiest transit routes on the continent, and advocates had long pushed for a SkyTrain extension along Broadway to UBC. The question of when and whether the provincial government would fund the project was a central point of debate.

Childcare affordability and availability was another pressing concern. The riding had a significant population of young professionals and families who struggled to find and afford licensed daycare spaces. The NDP promised to create thousands of new licensed childcare spaces and reduce fees, while the Liberals emphasized targeted subsidies and capital grants for new spaces.