In 2013: 1507 vote win; 46.6 per cent-39.8 per cent. Held by three-time incumbent Marc Dalton, a Social Conservative who was flirting with jumping to federal politics but decided not to. Always a close race, but he increased his vote total by 1,500 from 2009, which may suggest changing demographics in that riding that favor the BC Liberals.
The NDP vote declined by almost 100, the Greens went up by a little more than 400 and the Conservatives took almost 1,200.
In 2009: BC Liberal Marc Dalton defeated NDP candidate Mike Bocking by 64 votes, the second closest margin in the province.
History & Geography: A riding with rural and urban characteristics, Maple Ridge-Mission spans from the eastern half of Maple Ridge at 224th Avenue to the western edge of Mission at Cedar Street. The riding has gone to the Liberals in all three elections since it was created, but other ridings north of the Fraser have elected NDP MLAs in the past. The urban centres of Mission lean towards the NDP, while the rural area inbetween the two municipalities has heavily supported the Liberals in past elections.
Candidates
BC Liberals’ Marc Dalton is a former Maple Ridge school teacher. Dalton was elected in 2009 and is the Secretary for Independent Schools. He is Aboriginal, speaks French and has led student exchanges to Quebec.
NDP’s Bob D’Eith is a Maple Ridge entertainment lawyer. He won the nomination by acclamation.
Greens’s Peter Tam is a data systems analyst.
Libertarian – Jeff Monds: 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.
Conservative – Trevor Hamilton: Hamilton has come under fire over past social media posts. The BC Conservatives are a mere shadow of the party from the 2013 campaign, when they fielded 56 candidates. They are running 10 candidates in 2017. It’s a small-government, right-of-centre party.
2017 Stats: Maple Ridge-Mission
Population (2014): 58,697 (29th)
Population Deviation from Average: 10.5 per cent
Area: 393 sq km (42nd)
Pop Density: 149.4 (45th)
Average Age: 39.6 years (58th)
English as Second Language: 14.94 per cent (49th)
Top 3 Second Languages:
Panjabi (Punjabi) – 2.75 per cent
German – 1.34 per cent
Korean – 0.81 per cent
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