Warning Federal Politics!

It's not my usual City material but the Census and changes to the federal seat redistribution could have a serious change to North Van.

In 2004, the last redistribution had BC with 36 seats and the average population was set at 108,548.  The Court has ruled that a riding should not be more or less than that number by 25%.  Needless to say, even with the loss of a northern seat, some have far less than that.  North Van had 120,841 and West Van had 124,572.

In the upcoming redistribution, there will be 42 BC seats with an average of 104,841 and the two North Shore ridings have increased.  Our two ridings are at the high end of the range.

Could we end up with a third riding on the North Shore?  

Last time, the preliminary recommendation wanted a North Van/Burnaby riding like pre-1988 but public outcry and Ted White's forceful intervention stopped that.  Putting a chunk of Svend Robinson's NDP seat with the strong Conservative areas of the east side of the District was and is never going to happen.  This commission could bring that idea back.

It's more likely that the Sea to Sky area of the West Van riding could form its own riding with the addition of other areas and that the West Van riding continue to include more of the North Van area.  Since the Commission usually sticks to municipal boundaries and West Van already borders on parts of MacKay Rd, most of the west part of the District would be transferred to the West Van riding.

BUT no matter how it's sliced up, it will remain solidly Conservative.