When British Columbians head to the polls for the Oct. 19 provincial election, New West residents will be voting in three different ridings.
Instead of the current New Westminster and Richmond-Queensborough ridings, local residents will be voting in the provincial ridings of Richmond-Queensborough, Burnaby-New Westminster, and New Westminster-Coquitlam. The new ridings arose out of recommendations from the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission, in response to population growth.
The commission’s preliminary proposal, released in October 2022, had originally proposed five ridings with segments of New Westminster, but that was refined by the time the legislature approved the commission’s final recommendations.
Here’s a look at the boundaries of those ridings, according to the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission (maps are available online):
- Richmond-Queensborough: All of Queensborough is included in the provincial riding encompasses the eastern portion of Lulu Island. In addition to Queensborough, the riding includes the Richmond neighbourhood of Southarm. Its western boundary follows No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 Roads, as well as Shell Road while its northern, southern, and eastern boundaries follow the Fraser River.
- Burnaby-New Westminster: This electoral district includes the New Westminster neighbourhoods of Kelvin and Connaught Heights and the adjacent Burnaby neighbourhoods of Eastburn, Middlegate and Edmonds. Its boundaries follow Imperial Street in the north, Griffiths Drive in the west, Sixth Avenue in the south, and McBride Boulevard, Cumberland Street and Newcombe Street in the east.
- New Westminster-Coquitlam: This riding consists of downtown New Westminster south and east of Sixth and 10th avenues, as well as the neighbourhoods of Queen’s Park, Sapperton and Brunette Creek. It also includes the southwestern part of the Coquitlam neighbourhood of Cariboo. Its boundaries run along Austin Avenue and Blue Mountain Street in the north and east, and they follow the Fraser River to the south and west.
So, who is running?
Elections BC is now accepting candidate nominations for the 2024 provincial general election that is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 19.
The list of candidates, including political party affiliations, will be finalized after the close of nominations on Sept. 28, 2024.
Here’s who had put their names forward as of Sept. 10 for the three ridings including parts of New Westminster:
Burnaby-New West
- BC NDP: Raj Chouhan
- Conservative Party of BC: Deepak Suri
New Westminster-Coquitlam
- BC Green Party: Maureen Curran (not on Elections BC)
- BC NDP: Jennifer Whiteside
- Conservative Party of BC: Ndellie Massey
Richmond-Queensborough
- BC NDP: Aman Singh
- Conservative Party of BC: Steve Kooner
In the coming weeks, the Record will be providing election coverage. Watch for it at newwestrecord.ca.
Be ready
Elections BC is encouraging voters to get ready for the provincial election by making sure their voter registration is up to date.
Elections BC has been mailing out voter registration notices that list the voters registered at the recipient address and ask the residents of that address to register or update their information as necessary.
“Making sure your voter registration information is up to date is one of the best ways to get ready for the provincial election,” chief electoral officer Anton Boegman said in a news release. “Voting will be faster and easier if your information is current, and you’ll get a Where to Vote card from Elections BC after the election is called.”
To make sure you’re registered or to update your information, visit elections.bc.ca/register or call 1-800-661-8683.
The notices also list the voter’s new electoral district – including those in New West.
Elections BC noted there will be 93 electoral districts for the 2024 provincial election, up from 87 in the last provincial election in 2020.
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