Prince George to Lose One MLA Under Accepted Electoral Boundary Plan

Thursday, March 13, 2008 05:59 PM

This is the official map of the new ridings and their borders.

Prince George, B.C. - The overall number of rural MLAs will be preserved, but it will still mean a loss for Prince George.

A motion has been introduced in the Provincial Legislature to support one of the alternative scenarios outlined in the Electoral Boundaries Commission report.

The option has 85 ridings, and while the North, Kootenay and Cariboo hold on to their original numbers, there will be some shifting.

That means, Prince George, will be represented by Prince George- Mackenzie, and Prince George, Valemount, the dividing line will be Highway 97, meaning the Hart will have two different MLA’s depending on which side of Highway 97 a person lives.

Gone is the Prince George-Omineca riding, instead, there is a new region which starts at Cluculz Lake and goes west to Houston, north to Germanson Landing, and the south side of Ootsa Lake. It will be called the Nechako Lakes.

Hixon will be aligned with Prince George- Valemount, while Williams Lake will no longer be divided as the entire community will be part of Cariboo South. The Southern edge of Cariboo south moves to 100 Mile House from the previous line at Kamloops.

There is also a new constituency called Stikine, while some tweaking of lines has new borders for the existing Peace River north, and Peace River South, Skeena and North Coast ridings.

There is also a juggling of borders and names in other regions, as there will be Cariboo North, Cariboo-Chilcotin, Kamloops- North Thompson, Kamloops – South Thompson and the Fraser-Nicola.

The legislation supporting the changes is expected to be passed this spring, and the new ridings will be in place in time for the next provincial election which will take place in May of 2009.

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 05:59 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Old Hippy on March 13 2008 9:37 PM

If we get a choice, I vote that we dump Mr. Wendy, Pat Bell.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on March 13 2008 11:04 PM

Thanks NDP, for nothing and screwing over the north again.

The NDP treats their power like a joke and in this case wouldn't vote to keep the extra MLA, no matter what. Looks like the north and rural areas don't have enough NDP union friends to worry about.

Posted by: ammonra on March 13 2008 11:39 PM

Interesting that YamaDooPolCat would attack the NDP when the motion was introduced by Mr. de Jong of the Liberals and voted for by 65 MLAs, most of whom are Liberals. After all, they do have a majority and could have defeated it if they wanted.

Why then single out the NDP? Well, its the old cow dung against the side of a barn scenario. Don't worry whether what you say is true or not, just fling it and some of it will stick.

It was an independent commission. Look up the word "independent" in a dictionary.

Posted by: ammonra on March 13 2008 11:51 PM

Interestingly, Bond, Bell and Rustad all voted in favour of the motion. That means at least one of them voted to remove themself as an MLA.

Posted by: thereasonableman on March 14 2008 12:53 AM

That will make the job a little busier now, having only two people to deny accountability for anything.

Posted by: Wileycoyote on March 14 2008 7:05 AM

Theres the same amount of ridings still. They just moved the boundaries a bit west. I dont understand what all the hoopla is all about. I think making the skeena riding smaller is a good idea. That riding was HUGE, now its more managable for the mla in that riding.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on March 14 2008 7:39 AM

As usual ammonra is blinded by the NDP comrades PR program. The amendment required unannimous support by all MLAs, otherwise it could not pass. Once the NP voted against it, it didn't matter what the BC Liberal MLAs voted because it was already dead.

Typical, rewriting by NDP hacks still can't change what the NDP did to the north again.

Posted by: ammonra on March 14 2008 9:20 AM

As usual YamDooPolCat twists reality just to be able to insult a political party he obviously hates. Unanimous means everyone (look it up) so any one MLA could have thwarted the plan including each and every Liberal, Mr de Jong who introduced it and the three PG MLAs who voted in favour. I ask again, why single out the NDP. Slam everyone, that would be understandable, but why single out one group when all MLAs were guilty? Prejudice and bigotry, perhaps?

Posted by: Andyfreeze on March 14 2008 2:51 PM

Do we get to pick who goes and who stays? (I hope?)

Posted by: tinyapplecork on March 14 2008 10:52 PM

Hmm..yes Andy on election day haha.

As a former Skeena riding resident all I have to say about the PG loss is, well...

Boohoo!

I feel better!! Now, I still don't agree with less representation from the North. But did PG area really need three???

Gotta luv politics. It won't matter anyway cuz the Campbell gov't will ram what it wants down our throats anyhow.