In 2013: NDP Judy Darcy won this riding handily (48 per cent-33 per cent) over the BC Liberal challenger and the Greens won 8 per cent of the vote.
In 2009: Former MP Dawn Black won this riding for the NDP, defeating BC Liberal Carole Millar by over 5,000 votes, 56-35 per cent.
History & Geography: The riding of New Westminster has existed since B.C.’s very first election 1871. An NDP stronghold, New Westminster has gone to the NDP in 15 of the last 16 elections, with federal Liberal MP Joyce Murray being the only person of another party to win in 2001.
Candidates
BC Liberals – Lorraine Brent: Marketing manager for “Inspired Senior Living” Magazine and past director of the Hyack Festival, Brett is former chair of the Queen’s Park Healthcare Foundation and participated in the New Westminster Homelessness Coalition.
NDP – Judy Darcy: Currently serves as the NDP health critic. A longtime union leader, Darcy was the business manager for the Hospital Employees Union before resigning in 2011 to run for the NDP. She was also president of CUPE from 1991 to 2003, becoming the first female head of a major union in Canada. In 2004, she lost to Gregor Robertson for the NDP’s nomination in Vancouver-Fairview.
Greens – Jonina Campbell: before stepping down in October to run for the Greens, Campbell was New Westminster school board chair.
A teacher, she has taught both the primary and intermediate grades.
Libertarian Party – Rex Brocki: The Libertarian party is running 30 candidates, four times as many as in 2013. They have been running candidates in B.C. since 1986, but have never come close to winning a seat.
Social Credit – James Crosty: Crosty ran as an independent in 2013. He is one of two people running under the SoCred banner in 2017.
Independent – Eric Skytte: Skytte works in engineering. Running as an independent, his social media cites Chuck Cadman as an inspiration.
2017 Stats: New Westminster
Population (2014): 61,422 (6th)
Population Deviation from Average: 15.6 per cent
Area: 14 sq km (76th)
Pop Density: 4,387.3 (9th)
Average Age: 41.9 years (39th)
English as Second Language: 32.44 per cent (30th)
Top 3 Second Languages:
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) – 3.63 per cent
Mandarin – 2.73 per cent
Chinese, n.o.s. – 2.26 per cent
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