Vancouver Kingsway: Long-time NDP stronghold stays orange

NDP beats Liberals' star candidate in Kingsway High-profile Liberal candidate Tamara Taggart ultimately fell short trying to take the NDP stronghold of Vancouver Kingsway.

VANCOUVER - Justin Trudeau kicked off his federal election campaign in Vancouver Kingsway as an attempt to turn an historically orange riding red, but the NDP managed to hold on to its seat.

Voters in the 15-square-kilometre riding re-elected Don Davies on Monday, a New Democrat who's represented the riding since 2008.

The former lawyer who served last term as NDP health critic ran on a campaign based on improving affordability. He told CTV News Vancouver earlier this month that it's the key issue he hears from constituents, and that the most common complaints are cost of housing, cellphone plans, child care and tuition.

Climate change and health care were also high on his list.

Davies took on Tamara Taggart, who officially launched her campaign with the Liberal leader 40 days ago.

The self-described community leader and activist ran for the first time, and said she was inspired to enter the race by a lack of change brought by Davies.

Under the Conservative banner was Helen Quan, a businesswoman who said the challenges she faced as a single mom shaped her campaign.

The Greens backed Lawrence Taylor, whose history included participating in Trans Mountain pipeline expansion protests.

The People's Party of Canada ran Ian Torn, who said he felt the values that attracted his family to Canada had "eroded."

Smaller parties also had candidates running in Vancouver Kingsway.

Kimball Cariou ran with the Communist Party of Canada, and Marxist-Leninist Donna Petersen was also on the ballot.

Read more on the candidates in this "Ridings to watch" profile.