New Westminster (federal electoral district)

Pre-confederation

Before confederation, the various colonies and dominions had different election laws that restricted enfranchisement on various factors such as gender, land ownership, religion, allegiance to the United Kingdom, or length of residency. New Brunswick only allowed white male to vote, and First Nations are routinely excluded as they were not consider British subjects.

The electoral district of New Westminster however had the uniquely odious honour of being the first to single out specific racial groups for exclusion. When the Colony of British Columbia held its first general election in 1866, Chinese and First Nations were excluded from voting only in the New Westminster district.

1871 to 1896

When British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871, the province's six seats were allocated three each to the island and the mainland. Of the three seats for the mainland, two seats were allocated for the interior districts Cariboo and Yale. Accordingly, this riding constituted the entire New Westminster Land District, which covered largely modern day understanding of the Greater Vancouver, and Coast land district, the vast and largely unsurveyed mainland area west of 124th meridian west and the adjoining islands. (At the time, the City of Vancouver did not exist and the Vancouver riding was for the area of Vancouver Island not in Victoria.) It was and remained geographically the largest electoral district in the province until 1896. It returned Hugh Nelson, later Lieutenant Governor, for its first two terms.

The six original districts were contested in six general elections from 1872 to 1891 and represented through to the seventh parliament until the 1896 election. Although the boundary between New Westminster and Coast land districts has shifted significantly north to around modern day Prince Rupert according to the official map issued in 1891 by Forbes George Vernon, the province's Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, the riding remained notionally the same as it consisted of both those district.

During this period, the three mainland seats consistently returned Conservative MPs, with Liberal James Cunningham's election in 1874 being the exception. Cunningham did not complete his term however, having resigned after being elected as the first directly elected mayor of New Westminster.

1896 to 1914

Given the gradual growth of population and the incorporation of The City of Vancouver, the two interior seats were merged and a new seat named Burrard was created from New Westminster in the 1896 election, covering part of the newly incorporated City of Vancouver and the vast geography north of it. These new boundary also brought in a new batch of members, with all three mainland ridings returning Liberal MPs.

At the 1904 election, another riding was created from New Westminster with the City of Vancouver and its suburbs the municipalities of Point Grey and South Vancouver forming the electoral district of Vancouver City.

1914 till 1979

New Westminster riding continued to include Richmond, Delta and all the Fraser Valley communities up the river to one mile beyond Yale. In 1914, the riding consisted of New Westminster, Richmond and Delta, losing the Surrey-Langley area to the new Westminster District, which was only contested once before changing name to Fraser Valley.

In a further redistribution in 1924, the riding was shrunk to areas south of the Fraser River west of and including the Township of Langley, plus the city of New Westminster and the City of Burnaby. As population in the Lower Mainland continued to grow, by the 1933 election, the northern half of Burnaby was distributed to Vancouver North. By the 1947 election, the rest of Burnaby and Richmond were removed and became Burnaby-Richmond, and New Westminster riding consisted of New Westminster, Surrey, Delta and Langley.

The 1966 redistribution, which combined northern Burnaby into North Vancouver-Seymour, New Westminster riding extended as far into Burnaby as Grandview Highway and Edmonds Avenue, including Burnaby Mountain and the areas of Coquitlam west of Laurentian Avenue. At the time this included the then-municipality of Fraser Mills adjoining the francophone community at Maillardville. Langley, Surrey and Delta were excluded from the riding.

The riding was abolished in 1976. Successor ridings were Burnaby and New Westminster—Coquitlam.

Historical boundaries