There won’t be any changes to the boundaries of the six provincial electoral ridings in the north but some names of the ridings should change, an electoral boundaries commission has recommended.
In a report released this month, the commission acknowledged that five of the ridings are so very sparsely populated they fall below the range of what is normally wanted.
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And while the commission could reduce the number of northern ridings to bring populations closer to the numbers in ridings elsewhere, it decided against that measure.
The commission recommends the North keeps our current six ridings, but also wants to add six in the much more populated southern part of the province, specifically in Burnaby, Langley, Surrey, Vancouver, Langford and central Okanagan. That would increase the size of the provincial legislature to 93 seats.
Keeping the same number of northern ridings and increasing the number of southern ones could diminish the north’s representation in the legislature.
READ MORE: No change to northern ridings, provincial election boundaries commission recommends
What should the B.C. Legislature do with the recommendations of the electoral boundaries commission?