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OCTOBER 22, 2020 • VOL. 54 NO. 04 • VANCOUVER, B.C.
S. Van riding a toss-up New candidates look to end Liberal's firm grip on the Langara riding By TYSON BURROWS
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or the first time in three decades, the NDP has a chance to wrest away the Liberal stranglehold on the Vancouver-Langara riding. Since its creation just prior to the 1991 provincial election, the Vancouver-Langara riding has been a Liberal stronghold but could see a shift to John Horgan’s NDP, should the party’s current popularity hold out. Incumbent MLA Michael Lee, seeking to defend the Liberals’ reign, won in 2017 by the smallest margin since the creation of the riding. Meanwhile, the NDP’s popularity continues to grow in B.C., partly due to its handling of the pandemic. Stephen Phillips, coordinator of Langara’s political science department, said the riding tends to vote in groups defined by their demographic. “There are parts of the riding that habitually vote Liberal and other areas that are fairly staunchly NDP,” Phillips said. Lee, who did not respond to three interview requests by The Voice, has centred his campaign on maintaining a “healthy, sustainable, and safe community.” NDP candidate Tesicca Truong is promising a government that will better represent a changing Canada, amid climate change, a seemingly endless opioid crisis and the dearth of affordable housing in the province. “We need intergenerational leadership to guide us and make sure this province is prepared for a rapidly changing world,” said Truong, who would become the youngest serving MLA in B.C. if elected, as well as the first of Vietnamese descent. Phillips worried with its current popularity, NDP-leaning voters could become complacent while Liberalleaning voters could be demoralized. Voters may think “we're going to fail [or] we're going to win anyway, so they don't need my vote,” he said. Trying to make headway is Green candidate Stephanie Hendy, a champion of equity who is unafraid her opinions might differ from her party’s. Currently a disability case manager, she wants to represent people of lower socioeconomic status, and people with disabilities. “Let’s help the people that are most disadvantaged first,” Hendy said, “I would like to make tuition free for those who have demonstrated financial need.”
Peter Lemanski (left) and Ian Vickers (right) studying from a local independent cafe to access their online learning courses. CAROLINE EGAN PHOTO
E-ducation disconnects Transition to online classes has been tough for all involved
By CAROLINE EGAN
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tudents are struggling to adapt as Langara College has moved to online classes in most programs to help limit contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working all day in front of a computer screen, often at home where others might be distracting and with new, often unfamiliar online tools are common challenges for students. “It just doesn’t work for me,” said first-year general studies Langara student Kunwarpreet Singh, who finds staring at a screen for too long strains his eyes and trying to keep a “quiet and
focused place” is challenging. this year and has struggled with the “I would quick transition. never study “I’m worried at home,” he about the qual“I’m worried about said. “I now ity and retenthe quality and go to Tim tion being Hortons or compromised retention being somewhere to being delivered work.” online,” he said. compromised being Singh said “I feel discondelivered online.” that he gets nected.” stressed out Asmaro said —DEYAR ASMARO, LANGARA PSYCHOLOGY and loses that he is more focus. “It’s flexible with due definitely a lot harder.” dates and tests this year considering the Langara psychology instructor Deyar technical and COVID related difficulAsmaro is navigating online teaching ties that students may be experiencing.
“It would be interesting to see what doors we could open with online learning.” Another Langara student, Jet Simon, felt differently about learning online. “It works for me.” He said that since he is a first-year student in computer science, it is hard to make the comparison to on-campus classes. Simon said that it has not significantly affected his ability to work. “There’s definitely a lot of pros and cons,” he said. “It’s different for everyone, but I would like to be able to use on campus services.” See langaravoice.ca for more coverage