Liberal candidate Terry Beech elected in Burnaby North-Seymour

Liberal candidate Terry Beech has been elected in the riding of Burnaby North-Seymour in B.C.

Beech 36.2 per cent of the vote, beating out the NDP’s Carol Baird Ellan, who finished with 29.4 per cent. Mike Little of the Conservatives finished third with 28.1 per cent.

This is a new riding in this year’s election that was carved from an area that elected both a Conservative and a NDP MP in 2011. Burnaby North—Seymour was considered a riding to watch in this year’s election.

This seat was created from North Vancouver (which elected Conservative MP Andrew Saxton by 19 per cent in 2011) and Burnaby-Douglas (which elected NDP MP Kennedy Stewart by 2 per cent in 2011). Neither of them was running here.

This riding comprises the eastern half of North Vancouver, and all parts of Burnaby north of Lougheed Highway.

Historically, North Vancouver has always elected right-wing MPs, with the exception of 2004 and 2006 when popular former mayor Don Bell was elected as a Liberal. Meanwhile, the northern half of Burnaby has been home to NDP MPs since 1988. Before that, it was a hybrid North Vancouver-Burnaby riding for three elections, voting for Progressive Conservative candidates each time.

The big issue in this riding is the Kinder Morgan pipeline twinning. Green candidate, Lynne Quarmby, was one of the main activists involved in the Burnaby Mountain protests against the pipeline.

Full results from the 2015 federal election

Full results from B.C. in the 2015 federal election

Candidates

Conservative: Mike Little, a three-term councillor from the District of North Vancouver
NDP: Carol Baird Ellan, former Chief Judge of British Columbia’s Provincial Court
Liberal: Terry Beech, entrepreneur and former Nanaimo councillor
Green: Lynne Quarmby, SFU professor who protested last year against the Kinder Morgan pipeline
Marxist-Leninist: Brian Sproule
Libertarian: Chris Tylor
Communist: Brent Jantzen
Independent: Helen Chang