Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Local News

New Westminster won't be split up in federal boundary shift

The original plan — which would have joined New West and North Surrey, and sent Queensborough off with Richmond East — has been reworked.
Julie MacLellan
Julie MacLellan

The City of New Westminster will remain intact as a federal riding.

The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has tabled a revised proposal to the House of Commons, following a public consultation process last year.

The commission is tasked with redrawing the country’s federal ridings every 10 years, following the census, to ensure balanced representation and adjust for population changes.

It came up with a new proposal in May 2022, following the 2021 census, that would have seen New Westminster divided between two new federal ridings: New Westminster-Bridgeview, with mainland New West sharing a riding with parts of North Surrey; and Richmond East, which would have taken in Queensborough.

New Westminster city council had opposed the plan, saying New Westminster’s needs could be erased by the changes.

The commission’s revised proposal addresses the concerns by keeping all of New Westminster — including Queensborough — in one riding: New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville.

The riding would also take in part of Burnaby (the area roughly bounded by 10th Avenue, Canada Way, Burris Street and Highway 1) and the Maillardville area of Coquitlam. (You can find a full description of the riding and a map at the Electoral Boundaries Commission's redistribution website.)

The riding would have a population of 114,665, slightly under the province’s electoral quota of 116,300.

Burnaby divided among four ridings in new electoral boundaries plan

The commission’s revised proposal shows Burnaby divvied up amongst four ridings: the New West-Burnaby-Maillardville riding, along with Burnaby Central, Burnaby North-Seymour and Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby.

The revised proposal now must go through an approval process in the House of Commons, including a chance for MPs to file written objections to the report and for a parliamentary committee to consider those objections.

The new boundaries will be declared by September 2023 and become effective on the first dissolution of Parliament that occurs at least seven months later (by April 2024 at the earliest).

📢 SOUND OFF: What do you think of the proposed electoral boundary changes? Will this work for New Westminster? Send us a letter.

Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected]