Yesterday we had a first look at Conservative candidate for Vancouver-Kingsway Salomon Rayek.

While doing some research I'd run across Google's cache of a few letters to various local papers but didn't find anything of sufficient interest to include. After all, a conservative toeing the party line on the InSite safe injection site isn't exactly news. Whatever their personal opinion may be, a junior candidate or MP isn't going to be contradicting big boss Harper or the even less inspiring Tony Clement. Career limiting.

Sean Holman of PublicEyeOnline.com also had a look at Mr. Rayek and did include full copies of Rayek's letters on InSight and other topics. One I was still wrestling with: he'd commented on the Tsawwassen First Nation treaty which is wrapped up in Emerson's "gateway" initiative. I'm not a fan of Gateway but I can't blame the TFN for wanting to seek a deal.

But being president of Delta-Richmond East, Mr. Rayek has also spent some time with its slightly more maverick MP, John Cummings. Cummings has a track record of being critical to many aboriginal policy decisions, particularly those concerned with fishing rights. I make no judgement on these, but its certainly valid to wonder about Mr. Rayek's views and to what extent he may share those of Mr. Cummings.

In another article Holman unearthed a letter to the Richmond News I'd not seen previously. Apparently Mr. Rayek had some, er, communication difficulties in conjunction with a strata townhouse he owned:

[F]or Salomon Rayek, who emigrated from Mexico in 1998, the decision to hold the meeting primarily in Cantonese was offensive. "I've been in Canada for about 10 years, and I have never felt so discriminated against," he said." I was really upset by the situation."

I can empathize with the root problem - after all those pesky political strata councils can be as tricky to navigate as a House of Commons ethics committee. Yet Rayek's public response might have been more measured, or for a seemingly ambitious young politico, perhaps better held in check. After all, almost one half of Vancouver-Kingsway voters are Chinese.