On most election nights, a Canadian government is already decided before results in British Columbia start rolling in.
That’s unlikely to be the case this year.
With polls showing the Conservatives, NDP and Liberals all within ten per cent of one another, it’s quite possible that B.C.’s will play a key role in determining who will form government after Oct. 19.
Six of Canada’s 30 new electoral districts will be in British Columbia, giving the province 42 in total.
Of those, seven are on Vancouver Island, six in Vancouver, five in Surrey, 15 in the rest of the Lower Mainland – and nine in the rest of the province.
We’ll have a look at all 42 ridings closer to the election. For now, here are 10 ridings across the province that will be heavily contested in the weeks to come.
1. Burnaby North-Seymour
But the Liberal Party believes their candidate, entrepreneur Terry Beech, will be competitive in this district, and the Green Party candidate, SFU professor Lynne Quarmby, is well known after her activism on Burnaby Mountain last year.
Add it up, and it forecasts as a riding where all four parties believe they have a realistic chance at winning.
2. Vancouver Granville
The Liberals are betting that Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former regional B.C. chief for the Assembly of First Nations, will be a star candidate that can propel them to victory. She goes up against NDP candidate and Broadbent Institute director Mira Oreck, and Biotechnology CEO Erinn Broshko for the Conservatives.
3. Surrey Newton
For the Liberals, former MP Sukh Dhaliwal is running to retake the seat he held from 2006 to 2011. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are running Harpreet Singh, a well-known broadcaster on local TV and radio.
Last election the NDP, Liberal and Conservative candidates were separated by under 1,000 votes – and it will likely be close yet again this year.
4. North Vancouver
The Liberals are countering with businessman Jonathan Wilkinson, the NDP with First Nations activist Carleen Thomas – and the Greens with longtime CBC meteorologist Claire Martin.
A recent poll by Insights West conducted in this riding showed all four parties sitting between 10 and 30 per cent support, giving each of them hope for the campaign to come.
5. West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country
Two former mayors look to unseat Conservative MP John Weston in this sprawling riding, which includes West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton.
Two-term Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed is running for the Green Party, while Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, who served as Mayor of West Vancouver from 2005 to 2011, is running for the Liberal Party.
The NDP are countering with Larry Koopman, a small business owner and Sunshine Coast Community Coordinator for the Opportunities Fund.
6. Kootenay—Columbia
Conservative MP David Wilks won this seat by over 22 per cent in 2011, and the NDP haven’t won it since 1988.
But Wilks’ re-election may not be so easy. Redistribution has added Nelson and Salmo, which traditionally favour the NDP, to this riding. And the NDP’s candidate, Wayne Stetski, is the former mayor of Cranbrook, the largest city in the riding.
The Liberal candidate is Don Johnston, while the Greens are running a Green – Bill Green, that is.
7. Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo
Conservative MP Cathy McLeod took this seat by just over 15 per cent over the NDP last election – the party’s smallest margin of victory in B.C.’s interior.
McLeod seeks re-election against Liberal candidate Steve Powrie, Green candidate Matt Greenwood, and NDP candidate Bill Sundhu, a judge who is seeking redemption a decade after a criminal incident.
8. Courtenay—Alberni
But it may be a familiar face that wins election – longtime Conservative MP John Duncan, who has been elected in the Vancouver Island north for all but one election since 1993, has decided to run here.
He’ll be running against Liberal candidate Carrie Powell-Davidson, NDP candidate Gord Johns, and Green candidate Glenn Sollitt.
9. Victoria
Former NDP MP Denise Savoie won this riding by 27.2 per cent. However, she stepped down in 2012, and in a byelection, Green candidate Donald Galloway came within 1,118 votes of defeating NDP candidate Murray Rankin.
Rankin is running for re-election, while the Green Party is countering with well-known ex-CBC radio host Jo-Ann Roberts.
Cheryl Thomas is running for the Liberals, while John Rizzuti is running for the Conservatives.
10. Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam
Former broadcaster Sara Norman is running for the NDP, while the Liberals are running Ron McKinnon and the Green Party Brad Nickason.
As for the Conservatives? Provincial MLA Doug Horne and former candidate for Coquitlam council Andy Shen are both running for their party’s nomination.
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