In 2013, the NDP won by 743 votes (44.3 per cent to 40.6 per cent).
Incumbent NDP MLA Jane Shin is not running again, so the incumbency advantage is gone. Former Global TV news anchor Steve Darling, who has major name recognition, is running for the B.C. Liberals. Also Joe Keithley (a.k.a. Joey Shithead of D.O.A. punk rock fame) is running for the Greens, and also brings some recognition. He may split the anti-Kinder Morgan vote with the NDP candidate, paving the way for a BC Liberal victory.
Of further note, someone named “Christine Clarke” ran here in 2013 and picked up 1,399 votes. It’s likely many of those were cast by people thinking they were voting for the premier, so that may have confused BC Liberal voters.
In 2014, NDP Jane Shin narrowly defeated BC Liberal Ken Kramer, who had replaced incumbent BC Liberal Harry Bloy.
In 2009, Liberal Harry Bloy won his third straight election in this area defeating NDP Jaynie Clark by 696 votes (48 per cent to 45 per cent).
History & Geography: Formerly called Burquitlam, Burnaby-Lougheed moved completely into Burnaby in the 2009 election. Bordered by Sperling, Highway 1, Lakefield Drive, 10th Avenue, and North Road, the northern half of Burnaby was held by the NDP in every election from 1953 to 1996, but Liberal Harry Bloy has three straight elections. Some suburbs around Burnaby Mountain are quite Liberal, but the NDP has support from students and the part of Burnaby south of Deer Lake in this riding.
Candidates
Liberals – Steve Darling, former Global BC Morning show host was personally recruited as a candidate by Premier Christy Clark. Has been running a vigorous campaign with a very active ground game of residential and business door-knocking.
NDP – Katrina Chen was born in Taiwan, arriving in B.C. as a foreign student 16 years ago. In 2014, she was elected to the Burnaby board of education as a member of the Burnaby Citizens Association. Chen is the second Taiwanese-born NDP candidate to be nominated in Burnaby.
Greens – Joe Keithley, another ‘star candidate’ and is better known as “Joey Shithead.” the lead singer of legendary Vancouver punk band D.O.A. A long-time social activist, who has run unsuccessfully for political office a number of times, Keithley is expected to make the opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline a major theme in his campaign.
Libertarian – Neeraj Murarka: 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.
Independent – Syliva Gung: Gung has twice run for Burnaby mayor, where her campaign seemed to focus on banning public displays of affection.
2017 Stats: Burnaby-Lougheed
Population (2014): 59,797 (20th)
Population Deviation from Average: 12.6 per cent
Area: 37 sq km (61st)
Pop Density: 1,616.1 (27th)
Average Age: 38.9 years (71st)
English as Second Language: 50.25 per cent (16th)
Top 3 Second Languages:
Cantonese – 7.49 per cent
Chinese, n.o.s. – 7.34 per cent
Mandarin – 7.12 per cent
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