A new riding redistricted from Richmond Centre, Richmond East and Richmond-Steveston, three ridings held by BC Liberals. Transposing the 2013 election results onto the new riding boundaries show the BC Liberals would have won this seat easily over the NDP by 52.9 per cent – 23.9 per cent (6,866 votes to 3,102 votes). The NDP are convinced the ethnicity and local popularity (at the civic level) of their candidate makes this riding significantly more competitive than in previous election.
Candidates
BC L iberals – Linda Reid: Speaker of the House, Reid is the longest-serving MLA, having first been elected in 1991. She won re-election in 2013 handily, defeating her NDP challenger 54 to 28 per cent.
NDP – Chak Au: A two-term Richmond city councillor and Richmond School Board Trustee from 1999-2011, Au is a family therapist with VCH’s Family and Child Counselling Program
Green – Greg Powell: Powell will be doing most of his campaigning in Castlegar, a community in B.C.’s Kootenay region, about 624 km away from the riding he is running in. Powell is the minister at the Castlegar United Church.
2017 Stats: Richmond South Centre
Population (2014): 50,101 (67th)
Population Deviation from Average: -5.7 per cent
Area: 7 sq km (86th)
Pop Density: 7,157.3 (2th)
Average Age: 42 years (37th)
English as Second Language: 73.34 per cent (1th)
Top 3 Second Languages:
Cantonese – 20.04 per cent
Chinese, n.o.s. – 17.84 per cent
Mandarin – 17.19 per cent
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