Update | Meena Wong, the Vancouver mayoral hope with Hong Kong roots
Meena Wong draws on Hong Kong experience by putting housing affordability centre stage in her bid to become the city's first Chinese mayor
Hong Kong emigrant Meena Wong has launched a bid to become the first Chinese mayor of Vancouver, one of the world's most Chinese cities outside Asia.
Wong, the daughter of doctors who fled mainland China for Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution, on Sunday was declared the mayoral nominee of the left-leaning Coalition of Progressive Electors (Cope).
Hong Kong has over 50 per cent housing built by the city … why can’t Vancouver?
The city, which is 28 per cent ethnic Chinese, has become a magnet for wealthy mainland "investor immigrants", yet it also has a large homeless population. The average price of a detached house in Greater Vancouver is more than C$1.2 million (HK$8.54 million).
"I believe that every single resident of Vancouver … deserves respect. To build a healthy community, respect is a fundamental ingredient, no matter who you are - whether you're a millionaire or living on the street. Respect means that everyone's voice is heard," Wong, 53, said.
Cope, which was once a leading force in city politics and won the mayoralty in 2002, has suffered years of decline, triggered by a party split in 2005 that resulted in the establishment of the centre-left Vision Vancouver team. Vision's Gregor Robertson has been mayor since 2008.
Cope has not run a mayoral candidate since Vision's creation to avoid splitting the city's left-leaning electorate, a tactic which has helped Robertson crush rivals from the right-leaning Non-Partisan Association (NPA) in the past two elections.