By David P. Ball

As part of the The Pulse on CFRO's interviews with all major parties in Oct. 24's election campaign, we spoke with the BC Liberals about their positions on housing, homelessness and harm reduction.

As British Columbian voters head to the election booth this week — either on Saturday for election day, or in advance voting which ends on Wednesday — issues around housing, public safety and economic recovery have dominated the campaign.

But in the B.C. electoral district of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, which includes the Downtown Eastside — one of the lowest-income neighbourhoods in the entire country — it's a controversial homeless tent city, social assistance, drug policy and harm reduction that have resonated most with many voters.

As part of the Pulse on CFRO's broadcasting, we've spoken with every major party candidate to ask their solutions on those key issues and others.

For the BC Liberals' candidate in the riding, George Vassilas, the going will not be easy despite his optimism. The riding has never once stopped being New Democrat since it was first created in 1991, even holding the seat as one of only two left after the party was obliterated after years of massive scandals in the late 1990s.

That's not stopping Vassilas from believing.

"I'm in this to win it," he told The Pulse on CFRO. And he believes that growing resentment and tensions surrounding public safety and a homeless tent city in Strathcona Park, and tensions in neighbourhoods surrounding the Downtown Eastside may be a spark that has enough people finally fed up with the status quo in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

We put questions to Vassilas about whether he supports harm reduction, safe supply of illicit drugs, police enforcement against homeless campers, and how he responds to his party's policies on social welfare and housing after 16 years in power.