Last week, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for B.C., a non-partisan three-member group, announced its proposal for how B.C.'s electoral map should be redrawn in order to accommodate the six additional ridings.
An analysis by The Sunday Province found that the five additional seats proposed for the Lower Mainland would have gone to the Conservative Party if they had been contested in 2011 election.
The changes could also prove troubling for NDP MPs Kennedy Stewart of Burnaby-Douglas, Fin Donnelly of New Westminster-Coquitlam and Jinny Sims of Newton-North Delta, all of whom won by less than 3,500 votes last election. They face possible major realignment of their riding boundaries due to large population increases in North Vancouver, Coquitlam and Surrey.
"While consideration was given to the province as a whole, it soon became apparent that certain areas of substantial population growth would require the most concentrated attention," the preliminary report by the nonpartisan commission read, calling growth in the Conservative leaning Fraser Valley "explosive".
In the proposal, the area between Cloverdale and Abbotsford would gain an additional seat, along with the area between Pitt Meadows and Mission. Instead of being split between two districts in Richmond and Surrey, Delta would also get its own riding.
An additional seat in Vancouver, called Vancouver-Granville, would comprise the Fairview, Shaughnessy and Marpole communities. Conservative candidates received approximately 1,000 votes more than NDP candidates at the last election in that proposed riding.
Finally, due to growth on the North Shore, the commission proposed combining the North Vancouver neighbourhoods east of the Second Narrows Bridge with northern Burnaby to create the riding of Burnaby North-Seymour - which would have gone decisively to the Conservatives had it existed in 2011.
The only proposed additional seat not in the Lower Mainland is the Cowichan-Nanaimo corridor on Vancouver Island.
The commission will make a final report to the House of Commons after public hearings scheduled for September and October.
Electoral commissions in every province were established after legislation was passed to increase the total number of ridings from 308 to 338.
A similar increase and redistribution takes place each decade based on census numbers.
Original Article
Source: the province
Author: Justin McElroy
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