British Columbia could have six new ridings when voters go to the polls in the next provincial election, including one in Kelowna.
The Electoral Boundaries Commission released its recommendations for new and re-drawn electoral districts at the beginning of the month.
The new proposed riding is Kelowna Centre, which would encompass Kelowna’s north and downtown core.
Kelowna would now be represented in three ridings and West Kelowna would be represented in the West Kelowna-Peachland district.
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Wednesday morning, the commission held a public hearing detailing the proposed changes and seeking further input from residents.
“You’ve got a large growth in the population over the past eight years since the 2015 commission, and it’s spread out over a larger area. You can’t just shuffle boundaries and make districts with around the provincial average; you would actually just have too many people in that whole area,” said Nitya Iyer, commission chair of the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission.
Concerns were raised about Big White not being included in a Kelowna area riding. However, others were pleased with the proposed changes. Iyer says the hearings may lead to the boundaries being adjusted again.
“I can’t say what the result of that will be because we haven’t finished listening to everybody. But we do take the concerns of anyone who came to talk to us seriously,” said Iyer.
Iyer encourages residents to send in their thoughts to the commission before the Nov. 22 deadline to allow for further consideration.
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