Proposed changes to federal ridings see less fragmentation for Burnaby

Burnaby could be split into four ridings in the next federal election, according to an updated proposal from the commission on federal electoral redistribution that’s now tabled in the House of Commons.

It’s a less drastic change from the last proposal, which suggested the city have territory in six separate ridings.

Currently, the city has three ridings: Burnaby South, where NDP leader Jagmeet Singh currently holds office; New Westminster-Burnaby, represented by Peter Julian (also of the NDP); and Burnaby North-Seymour, currently represented by Terry Beech of the Liberal Party of Canada.

The commission’s original report, made public last summer, proposed a set of boundaries that would have chipped portions of those three ridings away and amalgamated them into ridings mostly made up of other neighbouring cities.

For instance, the original report suggested splitting sections of the Burnaby South riding up along the boundary of Kingsway—some residents south of Kingsway would be represented by the Vancouver South riding, for instance, while some north of Kingsway would belong to the Vancouver Kingsway riding.

At the time, Mayor Mike Hurley told the Beacon that Burnaby had been “very poorly treated” in the report—and said that the proposed boundary changes failed to take into account the sociopolitical differences between Burnaby and its neighours.

“The residents of the west side of Metrotown will be weighed against the overwhelming majority of residents in South Vancouver,” he said last year, pointing out that Burnaby residents would make up just 7% of the population of Vancouver South under the proposal.

The mayor told the commission during public hearings that followed that no other city in the country would be so “fractured” if the proposals went through.

It seems the mayor’s presentation, among others, worked.

“Presentations and submissions urged the Commission to reconsider the number of electoral districts it had previously proposed for lands in the City of Burnaby. Presentations and submissions in neighbouring municipalities also questioned some of the boundaries set out in the Proposal,” the new report, released Feb. 8, reads.

“In response to this public input, the Commission now proposes to significantly redraw the electoral district boundaries affecting Burnaby and surrounding municipalities.”

The new proposal would create a new riding located wholly within the city limits, Burnaby Central, with a large portion of the land currently included in Burnaby South and New Westminster-Burnaby.

Part of Burnaby South would then go to the Burnaby North-Seymour and Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby ridings, and the currently named New Westminster-Burnaby district would be reconfigured with parts of Coquitlam to become New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville.

Part of New Westminster, meanwhile, would be amalgamated into the new Burnaby Central riding.

The Constitution of Canada requires that federal electoral boundaries be reviewed after every 10-year census, in order to keep up with changes and growth in the Canadian population.

Based on BC’s population in the 2021 census of 5,214,805, the province will be allocated 43 seats in the House of Commons—and the main criterion for determining the boundaries of the ridings is population equality, although it also takes into account social and geographic factors.

The Beacon has reached out to Hurley, along with New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone, for comment on the newly proposed boundaries.

Now that the report and proposed changes have been tabled in the House of Commons, members of Parliament will have the opportunity to present any objections between now and May.

The commission will have until June to consider those objections.

The final redistribution of boundaries will be completed by September 2023, and the changes will be applied in the first general election to be called in Canada at least seven months after the representation order is proclaimed.