Meet the Candidates Part 2: Salomon Rayek – Conservative Party of Canada

Meet the Candidates Part 2: Salomon Rayek – Conservative Party of Canada

Unfortunately, there is no contact information on the Conservative party website for Mr. Rayek. And, just this week, our household received a gigantic and very expensive brochure for David Emerson, entitled: David Emerson, MP Vancouver Kingsway: Strong Leadership: A Better Canada. I wonder if the Conservatives are aiming to confuse voters as to who is actually running in the riding?

Who is Salomon Rayek: An immigrant who came to Canada from Mexico with his wife and two sons. He’s an entrepreneur and small business owner. He’s also a family man, who tells potential voters his young son was born and raised in V-K riding and that the family is part of the community. It doesn’t appear as though he and his family live in the riding though, or have anything much to do with it at this point, so it's difficult to know how and to what extent they are "part of the community."

Rayek became President of the Delta-Richmond East Conservative Riding Association and his party affiliations with that riding go back to at least 2006, when he was a director on the board and was the Richmond Electoral district Association (EDA) liaison. This is quite confusing, when did Rayek's interest spark for the Vancouver-Kingsway riding?

Rayek’s business, where he is President of WeeStep Enterprises Ltd, is located in Richmond as well. He and his family apparently have a condo in Richmond. Sean Holman of Public Eye Online (see below for story) found Mr. Rayek had a bit of a problem with the annual general meeting of his townhouse building being conducted in Cantonese and spoke to the Richmond News about it, stating:

"I've been in Canada for about 10 years, and I have never felt so discriminated against. I was really upset by the situation."

It is hard to tell at this point if Rayek has any connections in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding at all, other than being a Conservative that is? Apparently he also made an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as the Conservative candidate running in the Burnaby-Douglas riding as well. Mr. Rayek gets around. For someone who clearly is interested in politics, his judgment in speaking with the media about language and communication issues with his Chinese neighbours of the strata council might be questionable, since the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway has a substantial number of Chinese candidates.

I think it’s fair for voters to ask what does Mr. Rayek know about the Vancouver-Kingsway riding, the issues, needs and concerns of the voters and citizens here?We will be asking him and all of the candidates that question and others in the near future.

Apparently Mr. Rayek is quite the letter writer on a wide range of issues including the Tsawwasen Final Agreement, Insite and complaints about other party members’ communications with their constituents.

Residents of Burnaby got some of his vitriol when he wrote about Insite, stating: that injection site supporters aim to "legalize hard drugs and get rid of law enforcement."

Re: Take ideology out of decisions, Burnaby NOW, May 7, and Opposition is not just 'ideology', Burnaby NOW, May 10.

I wasn’t aware the large contingent of professionals working in the area of addictions, health, mental health and the other professions actually working with this high-risk population were advocating for legalization and an end of policing. I think voters in this very large riding will want to strongly consider the kind of tolerance our next elected representative will have for both people living and dealing with addictions, their families and those working with them in this riding. Mr. Rayek's ignorance and extremity of perspective and judgment about a wide range of people working in this area of health practice is frightening and goes against the well established research and real world outcomes for the individuals who use the site.

Contact: Salomon Rayek Campaign
#120 - 4395 Fraser St
Vancouver, BC,
V65V 4G4
Phone: 604 - 454 - 9001
salomon@salomonrayek.ca

The Platform: Conservative Party Key Issues

Key Issues - Sovereignty, Leadership, Environment, Health Care, Lower Taxes, Child Care, Tackling Crime, Accountability

Conservative Candidates

Language barriers

Conservative candidate Salomon Rayek wants to represent the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway, where - according to the 2001 census - 41.8 percent of the population is Chinese. So those voters may be interested to know that, just last year, Mr. Rayek sounded off in the Richmond News when his strata council conducted its annual general meeting in Cantonese. At the time, Nelson Bennett reported a majority of the townhouse owners spoke Cantonese. And the meeting was translated into English. But one of the owners, according to Mr. Bennett, suspected much was lost in translation. And Mr. Rayek, another owner, was quoted as saying, "Definitely we feel that we lost more than half the meeting. I don't have anything against Chinese. But when I feel discriminated against, as a minority by being singled out - because that's the way I feel - something is wrong." Indeed, Mr. Rayek added, "I've been in Canada for about 10 years, and I have never felt so discriminated against. I was really upset by the situation." Mr. Rayek hasn't responded to a request for comment placed this morning.

The following is a complete copy of Mr. Bennett's June 29, 2007 article.

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Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel Mr. Harper, the man who is the Prime Minister of Canada:

"You’ve got to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society."

- Stephen Harper, The Report newsmagazine, January 22, 2001.

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