THE TALK OF THE TOWN

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What Do We Have For You This Month?

Welcome to “The Talk of The Town” for May, 2025. Click on the following links to find:

West End News & Notes

Vancouver centre MP Dr. Hedy Fry.

IT’S HEDY FOR THE WIN!
Another Victory, By The Numbers

It’s unlikely that any of our readers haven’t yet heard that longtime Vancouver Centre MP Dr. Hedy Fry retained her seat in April’s federal election. Fry will continue to represent West End and Coal Harbour residents in a Liberal minority government in Ottawa until the next go-round. Here are some interesting facts and numbers about Dr. Fry’s ten term tenure.

Fry first sought and won the Liberal Party nomination for Vancouver Centre in the 1993 federal election. She defeated Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell, becoming only the fifth person to unseat a sitting prime minister, and the first to do so on their first campaign for office. Fry has been re-elected in every subsequent election: 1997, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2021, and now, 2025.

According to the official election results — as posted on the Elections Canada website on April 30, with all polls having reported — Fry earned 29,855 votes, 55.2 percent of the 54,073 votes cast in Vancouver Centre. That means voter turnout was 63 per cent of the 85,755 registered voters in our riding, not including any who registered on election day.

By comparison, Fry won 40.4 percent of the votes cast in 2021, 42.18 percent in 2019, about 56 percent in 2015, and around 31 percent in 2011. Numbers from earlier elections are harder to come by, but we think it’s safe to say that Fry is holding steady.

Congratulations Dr. Fry, and to all the candidates, campaign workers, and voters who continue to participate in and uphold our democracy.

Here are the results for all Vancouver Centre candidates, as posted on the Elections Canada website at noon on April 30. Click on image to enlarge.

Vancouver Centre 2025 federal election results. (Elections Canada at 12 noon on April 30)

regency park on Cardero.

REGENCY PARK TENANTS WIN ACTION AGAINST LANDLORD
”A Victory For Every Tenant In B.C.”

Five tenants of Regency Park at 1225 Cardero have won a significant victory after years of being forced to carry their trash to an outdoor garbage area that was constantly filthy and presented health and safety hazards, including the frequent presence of rats. Open drug use and discarded drug paraphernalia was also a problem.

The issues arose nearly ten years ago when the landlord locked the garbage chutes for a protracted amount of time.

After an eight-year battle during which the tenants represented themselves against their landlord’s lawyers, a tenancy branch arbitrator ruled in April that five tenants at the West End apartment will be paid nearly $40,000,  plus ongoing rent reductions.

The arbitrator in the dispute ruled that the landlord, Larco Investments, failed to meet health, safety, and housing standards, breaching its responsibilities under the Tenancy Act.

“This is a huge victory, not just for the tenants that live in the building at 1225 Cardero Street, but for every tenant in British Columbia,” said Aissa Aggoune, a housing advocate and a former tenant at the building.

“It sets a precedent for tenants coming together and exposing the unsanitary living conditions that they’re forced to live in,” Aggoune said.

MARCH FIRE CAUSED BY CIGARETTE
1115 Nelson Blaze Injured 12

A March 11 fire at was caused by a discarded cigarette. (Vancouver Fire Rescue services photo)

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services reported on April 27 that an investigation into the March 11 fire at 1115 Nelson determined that the fire was accidental and caused by “carelessly discarded smoker’s material.”

The 20-storey Nicholson Tower housed 295 residents in 221 units, and was 90 per cent occupied at the time of the fire. The building is was owned and operated by The Bloom Group Community Services Society non-profit.

Following reports of smoke from the high-rise, crews arrived to heavy flames from a seventh storey unit, extending up to the eighth floor. Firefighters set up a ladder truck master stream to knock down the flames, while other crews made entry inside the building for fire attack and search operations.

Due to building requirements at the time of the building’s 1969 construction, sprinklers were only installed on the building’s first floor, though fire alarms were working when the fire started.

A total of 12 injuries were reported following the fire, with six individuals taken to hospital for treatment. Fifteen units were directly damaged by the fire, mostly on the seventh floor where the blaze started and three on the eighth.

Do You Know Where This Is?

Can you identify the location of this West End “Hidden Treasure”?

IDENTIFY THIS PHOTO
And Win A $50 Coffee Shop
Gift Card

(click image to enlarge)

Several years ago The West End Journal ran a series of features by West End journalist Dianne Maguire titled “Hidden Treasures”, exploring some of the unexpected moments of beauty to be discovered strolling about the West End - Coal Harbour neighbourhood.

The first reader to contact editor@thewestendjournal.ca and correctly identify the location of this image will win a $50 gift card to their choice of Blenz, Delaney’s, Melriche’s, Waves, J.J. Bean, or Greenhorn Cafe.

So if you recognize this lovely water fountain, write in now! Only the winning response will be notified.

The answer, and the clue to the next contest, will appear in our June issue.

West End Street & Lane Names

West End street names were established when Lauchlan Hamilton laid out the street grid in the late 1800s, and — while some are contemporarily contentious — they have remained. In 2017 the City started naming eight of the lane ways that run east and west through the West End.

REAR-ADMIRAL GEORGE FOWLER HASTINGS.

WEST HASTINGS

by Lucas Pilleri

Hastings Street was so named because it was the road from the Granville Townsite (which became Vancouver in 1886) to the Hastings Townsite. Hastings was founded in the 1860s until its residents voted to join the City of Vancouver in 1910.

Stretching from Burrard Inlet to what is now 29th Avenue, and from Nanaimo Street to Boundary Road, the town was named for Rear-Admiral George Fowler Hastings (1814 - 1876). Towards the end of a 50-year career in the Royal Navy, Hastings served as the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Station of the Royal Navy at Esquimalt through the mid-1800s. Hastings is also memorialized in the names of a school, a mill, a park, a part of Observatory Inlet near Prince Rupert, and streets in New Westminster and Port Coquitlam.

West End - Coal Harbour In The News

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Thank you!
Kevin Dale McKeown
Editor & Publisher
editor@thewestendjournal.ca