Wilson-Raybould’s riding constituents express pride, concerns over testimony

VANCOUVER— Constituents in Jody Wilson-Raybould’s riding of Vancouver Granville expressed support for their MP, as well as concerns about her involvement in the SNC-Lavalin affair, after her explosive testimony to the Commons justice committee.

On Wednesday, former justice minister Wilson-Raybould testified that she was at the centre of a “consistent and sustained” effort by the Prime Minister’s office to politically interfere in charges against Quebec construction and engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.

Following her testimony, The Star spoke with more than a dozen of constituents near the corner of Granville and Broadway, in the heart of Wilson-Raybould’s riding. Reactions were mixed with many expressing strong support for their MP.

UBC student Jacob Beauregard, 25, who is set to move into the South Granville neighbourhood in March, said that despite his usual NDP leanings, he had voted for the Liberals in the 2015 election out of his disappointment with the Harper government and a need for “a different way forward.”

But now, he said he would support Wilson-Raybould if she crossed the floor to another party, and he would vote for her “even as an independent.”

“I was proud that she was so strong,” he said.

“It was clear the Liberal government made a lot of commitment to the Indigenous community and reneged on a lot of those commitments.”

Sean Lang, who is 29 and an editor in the film industry, lives in the riding and said that he voted for Wilson-Raybould in the last election. He said that the testimony will “definitely weigh in” to how he votes in the next election, especially if Wilson-Raybould runs for MP again.

However, Lang wasn’t surprised that the government was pressuring her on the SNC-Lavalin file due to the company’s significance in Quebec.

“She didn’t say anything particularly surprising,” Lang said.

However, other constituents wondered how the testimony could negatively impact the Liberal party.

Yvonne Taffe, who has been living in the riding since the 1980s, was rushing home to watch the testimony when The Star spoke with her.

She said that she was “disappointed” with the lack of clarity in the SNC-Lavalin affair leading up to the testimony and that it took so long to hear WilsonRaybould’s version of events.

“I’m just sorry to see that it has played out for such a long period of time,” she said.

In the 2015 federal election Wilson-Raybould won the riding with 43.9 per cent of the vote, or 23,643 total votes. The riding of Vancouver Granville has a population of over103,000 and includes the neighbourhoods of Fairview, Oakridge, and Shaughnessy.

Wilson-Raybould worked as a provincial crown prosecutor in the Downtown Eastside after she was called to the bar in 2000.

She was later elected Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and held the position until 2015.

With files from Tonda MacCharles.