For the Federal NDP there are few safer seats than Skeena - Bulkley Valley

Nathan Cullen in the House of Commons earlier this year,
a recent study indicates that Mr. Cullen is among those in
the NDP with one of the safest seats in Parliament

When it comes to Federal politics some seats are hotly contested, edge of your seat affairs on election night, while others are all but decided shortly after we drop our ballot in the ballot box.

With a Federal election year coming up in 2019, Canada's political parties are checking their lists to see where they believe that they will have the most success, as well as to where a lot more effort will be required to secure a place in the House of Commons on election night.

For the Federal NDP, there are many seats in play this time around, with political pundits suggesting that the party will see a slide in support and reduced number of seats in the House of Commons for 2019.

However, there appear to be a few pockets of solid support, with Skeena-Bulkley Valley included on a recent list of the safest of NDP ridings, holding down the sixth spot in a list of ten that are NDP inclined.

As it stands today, Nathan Cullen's grasp on the Northwest remains strong, with Mr. Cullen's seat listed as leaning close to 30 percent in favour of the NDP, making it among the most partisan of ridings in the country.

The findings were part of a CBC News review of where Canada's voters are leaning towards in the run up to the 2019 election campaigns.

The success of the NDP in their ten most loyal ridings is attributed to the high profile of the MP's that represent the party in the region.

And indeed, Mr. Cullen's profile with the party and from his time in Ottawa has helped to deliver the vote for the party.

In the 2015 election campaign, Mr. Cullen received over 51 percent of the vote, with 22,531 voters selecting him as their choice for MP in Ottawa, the next nearest challenger was Tyler Nesbitt of the Conservatives who received close to 25 percent of the vote.

Mr. Cullen's past results look as follows

2011

2008

2006

2004

Skeena-Bulkley Valley has at times shifted allegiances from NDP Orange to hues of Blue from Conservative Alliances and ancient success of the Liberals in the past, but that interruption of NDP dominance has been rare.

For any candidate looking for a sign that the NDP can be beaten, there is always the campaign from Andy Burton who represented the Conservative Alliance in 2000 and that of Mike Scott who represented the Reform party for two terms starting in 1993.

Both of the candidates on the right hand side of the political spectrum found success following the departure of long time NDP Jim Fulton, who retired from politics before the 1993 campaign.

Mr. Fulton who was among one of the most popular of politicians to serve in the region passed away at the age of 58 in 2008.  He had served in Ottawa for fourteen years, having defeated Liberal cabinet Minister Iona Campagnola in the 1979 Federal election.

The shift to the right of the late nineties and early this century reversed itself in 2004, when Mr. Cullen began his dominance in the Northwest, with the now high profile MP having won successive election campaigns, serving the riding for fourteen years and counting.

For more items of interest about Federal politics in the Northwest see our archive page here.

A wider overview of Federal issues can be found on our political portal D'Arcy McGee.


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