Burnaby's federal electoral boundaries could shift, leaving the city with three ridings.
A federal electoral boundaries commission is proposing to redraw the riding maps to accommodate B.C.'s growing population. The ridings are at the proposal stage only, and the public will have a chance to give feedback in fall.
Burnaby now has two ridings: Burnaby-Douglas, which covers the northern half of the city, and Burnaby-New Westminster, which covers the south and a portion of neighbouring New Westminster. Burnaby would see three new ridings if the proposals were to go through.
Burnaby-Douglas would be split along Lougheed Highway, with the north becoming part of the newly proposed Burnaby North-Seymour riding, which would include part of North Vancouver on the north side of the Burrard Inlet. The southern half of Burnaby-Douglas would become part of the proposed Burnaby South-Deer Lake riding, which would include the western half of the existing riding of Burnaby New Westminster. The other half of Burnaby-New Westminster on the east side would become part of the new riding of New Westminster-Burnaby East.
Kennedy Stewart, the MP for Burnaby-Douglas, said he's had plenty of calls to his office on the proposed changes.
"People (are) confused by this configuration. It just doesn't make sense to them," he said, pointing out that the proposed riding of Burnaby North-Seymour includes some of North Vancouver, a municipality with a different health authority. Stewart said there has been speculation that the proposed configurations would advantage the Conservatives, but he has yet to do his own analysis of how the changes may impact elections results.
"There are going to be a number of stages of public input. I'm just hoping people will participate in the process and let their views be known," he said.
Public hearings will take place in fall in several locations throughout B.C.
Burnaby's will be at the Holiday Inn Express Metrotown, at 4405 Central Blvd, on Thursday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. To attend, email [email protected].
In all, B.C. will get six new electoral districts because the province's population has grown from 3.9 million in 2001 to 4.4 million in 2011.
For more information and to see maps of the current and proposed ridings, visit www.redecoupage-federal-redistribution. ca.
