Vote-rich Vancouver is perhaps second only to Toronto as a focal point for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff as they wage an intense ground war in hopes of coming out ahead on May 2.

In Harper's case, the majority government he seeks may depend on his ability to achieve success in a number of tight races in the region.

At the centre of the fray is the Vancouver Centre riding held by Liberal incumbent Hedy Fry, who has owned the riding since 1993.

In past contests, the 69-year-old veteran politico has faced off against heavyweight contenders from both the left and right, and come out the winner every time.

This time, Fry's three main challengers are also women: Jennifer Clarke is the Conservative candidate, Karen Chillington is running for the NDP and the Green Party's Adriane Carr is contesting the seat for the second time.

Equal Voice, a non-partisan advocacy group promoting women in politics, says Vancouver Centre is the only riding in the country to have all four major parties fielding female candidates.

Fry, a family physician with a highly organized army of committed volunteers in the diverse riding, could be an unstoppable force.

In her initial outing, after being recruited by former prime minister Jean Chretien, she took the riding from Canada's first female prime minister, Kim Campbell of the former Progressive Conservative party.

In 2006, she beat Canada's first openly-gay MP, Svend Robinson, who was attempting a political comeback after being charged with stealing an expensive ring. In 2008 she led the Conservative candidate, Lorne Mayencourt, a former provincial Liberal MLA, by 5,300 votes.

The original star candidate for the Conservatives, Rachel Greenfeld, dropped out in mid-March, just before the election was called.

The Conservatives quickly lined up Clarke, another star who has long been considered a moderate in Vancouver politics. She is a three-time Vancouver city councillor who ran unsuccessfully in the 2002 mayoral race, losing to Larry Campbell, now a senator.

The NDP contender in Vancouver Centre, anti-poverty activist Chillington, was the only candidate to step forward for the party's nomination. She has previously run for the Green Party, both provincially and federally.

Carr is the Green Party's deputy leader. She ran in Vancouver Centre in 2008, placing fourth, but garnering 18 per cent of the vote and substantially improving the party's showing in the riding. In 1983, Carr co-founded the B.C. Green Party.

Vancouver Centre is a diverse riding, encompassing downtown Vancouver's high density core, English Bay and False Creek, the middle-income and upscale areas of the West End, Coal Harbour, Yaletown and Fairview neighbourhoods, Granville Island, as well as part of Kitsilano and the western section of Strathcona.

The riding is home to a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community of about 18,000 that has strongly supported Fry.

Key issues in Vancouver Centre:

  • Human rights, including same-sex marriage
  • Affordable housing
  • Jobs and the economy
  • Environmental issues
  • Crime

Michael Byers, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, knows the riding well -- he ran for the NDP in 2008 in Vancouver Centre, coming in third.

Byers says tight races in several B.C. ridings mean votes in the province could determine the results of the May 2 election.

"I think it will come down to British Columbia this time around," Byers told 麻豆影视. "The rest of the country will have to stay up late to watch."

Other tight races in the Lower Mainland:

  • Vancouver Quadra: Liberal Joyce Murray, a former provincial environment minister, has held the seat since 2006. She is facing Conservative challenger Deborah Meredith for a second time.
  • Vancouver South: Liberal incumbent: Ujjal Dosanjh won by just 20 votes in 2008, and is facing a repeat challenge from Conservative candidate Wai Young.
  • Burnaby-Douglas: The seat has long belonged to the NDP, but with Bill Siksay retiring the seat is up for grabs. Ronald Leung, a Conservative who lost by just 792 votes to Siksay in 2008, will go up against NDP candidate Kennedy Stewart, a Simon Fraser policy professor, and Liberal candidate Ken Low.