Riding redistribution proposals from BC Electoral Boundaries Commission spare Northwest of any consolidation

There will be no changes to the BC provincial electoral
map for the Northwest if a report from the BC Elections Commission
is accepted and acted upon

The numbers may not warrant it, but after a review of the constituencies of the Legislature of British Columbia the recommendation for Riding Redistribution is that the Northwest remain as it is, the call of democracy making the prospect of consolidation of one or more not part of the plan moving forward.

With the release of the preliminary report from the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission, the recommendation is four six new ridings to be created:   

Four in the Greater Vancouver area, one for Langford on Vancouver Island and another for the growing metropolis of Kelowna.

However, despite the lowest population bases of all the current ridings, the final map for consideration keeps all four of the Northwest ridings intact, with no mergers or consolidations planned to reflect the other population counts across British Columbia.

For the Legislature the BCEBC has set the ideal population count per riding one that is suggested as 53,773 and the majority of the current ridings meet that benchmark, with some deviations slightly above, some slightly below.

For the Northwest though the numbers drop significantly;

Bulkley Valley-Stikine 20,552
Nechako Lakes 25,293 
North Coast 21,980 
Skeena 30,148

The report notes that there was some consideration by the  given towards consolidation, but in the preliminary report (available here), the challenges towards any change were outlined for the Northwest constituencies.

In the report, the calls from residents to continue to have effective representation dominate the discussion, with many highlighting the geographic and distance challenges that any redistribution would bring. The synopsis of their work towards the four northwest ridings and two in the Peace Country highlighting why they chose in the end to make no change to existing boundaries.

"We heard from many residents of this area about the tremendous obstacles constituents and MLA's face in trying to access each other effectively. Most expressed great concern that reducing the number of electoral districts in this area would undermine effective representation. some advocated for increasing the number of ridings in this area because they felt they need a greater voice in the legislature. They told us that rural ridings do not have a sufficient say in government.

As our mandate requires, we first asked ourselves whether it was possible to reduce the number of electoral districts in this area and bring each district's population with the usual deviation range without compromising effective representation. 

We considered the location of communities, geographical features, transportation corridors and communications. Having done so, we concluded that any changes to the existing boundaries of these six electoral districts would deprive the residents of effective representation. Therefore we propose no changes to their existing boundaries."

The next step for the work of the Commission will be to consult the public on their recommendations, that is expected to take place later this month and run through to early November, there will also be a survey available for the public to take related to the reports finding.

You can learn more about the work of the BC Elections Commission from their website and Social Media feed.

More notes from the Legislature can be explored through our Northwest archive pages here, or by way of our political blog D'Arcy McGee and our Victoria Viewpoints archive.