New Westminster (provincial electoral district)

New Westminster
British Columbia electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
First contested	1871
Last contested	2020
Demographics
Census division	Metro Vancouver
Census subdivision	New Westminster

LegislatureLegislative Assembly of British Columbia

First contested1871

Last contested2020

Census divisionMetro Vancouver

New Westminster is a former provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It was the final electoral district from the first British Columbia election of 1871 to continually exist until its abolition at the call of the 2024 election.

The riding is notable in a variety of ways. It never voted for a Social Credit candidate during the Socred's era of dominance between 1952 and 1991. It was also represented by Byron Ingemar Johnson, the 24th premier of British Columbia.

During the 1990s, the riding was represented by Anita Hagen, who served as deputy premier of British Columbia and minister of Education from 1991 to 1993 during the premiership of Mike Harcourt. Hagen was replaced by Graeme Bowbrick in 1996, who served as minister of Advanced Education in 2000, and attorney general from 2000 to 2001.

Under the 2021 British Columbia electoral redistribution the riding was dissolved into Burnaby-New Westminster and New Westminster-Coquitlam.^[1]

[1]

Assembly	Years	Seat 1			Seat 2
Assembly	Years	Member	Party		Member	Party
1st	1871–1875	William James Armstrong		Opposition	Josiah Charles Hughes		Opposition
2nd	1875–1878	William James Armstrong		Government	Ebenezer Brown		Independent-Government
3rd	1878–1882	Wellington John Harris		Government	Donald McGillivray		Government
4th	1882–1886	John Robson		Opposition	James Orr		Opposition

Assembly	Years	Seat 1			Seat 2			Seat 3
Assembly	Years	Member	Party		Member	Party		Member	Party
5th	1886–1890	John Robson		Government	William Henry Ladner		Opposition	James Orr		Opposition
Riding replaced by Westminster

Assembly	Years		Party
Riding re-created from New Westminster City
14th	1916–1920	David Whiteside	Liberal
15th	1920–1924	David Whiteside
16th	1924–1928	Edwin James Rothwell
17th	1928–1933	Arthur Wellesley Gray
18th	1933–1937
19th	1937–1941
20th	1941–1945
21st	1945–1949	Byron Ingemar Johnson	Coalition
22nd	1949–1952		Coalition
22nd	1952–1952		Liberal
23rd	1952–1952	Rae Eddie	Co-operative Commonwealth
24th	1953–1956
25th	1956–1960
26th	1960–1963
27th	1963–1966		New Democratic
28th	1966–1969
29th	1969–1972	Dennis Cocke
30th	1972–1975
31st	1975–1979
32nd	1979–1983
33rd	1983–1986
34th	1986–1991	Anita Hagen
35th	1991–1996	Anita Hagen
36th	1996–2001	Graeme Bowbrick
37th	2001–2005	Joyce Murray	Liberal
38th	2005–2009	Chuck Puchmayr	New Democratic
39th	2009–2013	Dawn Black
40th	2013–2017	Judy Darcy
41st	2017–2020	Judy Darcy
42nd	2020–2024	Jennifer Whiteside
Riding dissolved into Burnaby-New Westminster and New Westminster-Coquitlam

v t e 2020 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Jennifer Whiteside	15,903	60.25	+8.32	$31,579.21
	Green	Cyrus Sy	5,020	19.02	−6.05	$18,803.70
	Liberal	Lorraine Brett	4,291	16.26	−4.94	$9,107.81
	Conservative	Benny Ogden	912	3.46	–	$0.00
	Libertarian	Donald Wilson	269	1.02	+0.30	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			26,395	100.00	–	$66,123.96
Total rejected ballots			146	0.55	+0.16
Turnout			26,541	56.20	–7.41
Registered voters			47,226
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+7.19
Source: Elections BC^[2]^[3]

2018 British Columbia electoral reform referendum: Question 1
Choice		Votes	%
	Proportional representation	9,596	50.96
	First Past the Post	9,236	49.04
Total valid votes		18,832	100.0
Total rejected ballots		191	1.00
Source: Elections BC^[4]

2018 British Columbia electoral reform referendum: Question 2
System	Ballot 1		Ballot 2
System	Votes	%	Votes	%
Mixed-Member Proportional	6,113	45.21	8,399	64.67
Dual-Member Proportional	3,925	29.03	4,589	35.33%
Rural–Urban Proportional	3,484	25.77	Eliminated
Source: Elections BC^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Joyce Murray	11,059	49.20%	$47,701
	New Democratic	Graeme Bowbrick	6,971	31.02%	$26,704
	Green	Robert Broughton	2,982	13.27%	$3,401
	Marijuana	Marlene P. Campbell	859	3.82%	$394
	Unity	Howard Vernon Irving	604	2.69%
Total Valid Votes			22,475	100.00%
Total Rejected Ballots			113	0.50%
Turnout			22,588	71.07%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Graeme Bowbrick	10,418	46.69%	$29,591
	Liberal	Helen Sparkes	8,591	38.50%	$34,673
	Reform	Brian Stromgren	1,446	6.48%
	Progressive Democrat	Craig Sahlin	1,121	5.02%
	Green	Michael G. Horn	488	2.19%	$145
	Independent	Arthur Crossman	142	0.64%
	Natural Law	George Bauch	107	0.48%	$224
Total Valid Votes			22,313	100.00%
Total Rejected Ballots			133	0.59%
Turnout			22,446	70.41%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Anita Hagen	10,384	49.89%	$24,062
	Liberal	Lori MacDonald	7,117	34.20%	$2,534
	Social Credit	Tom Baker	3,311	15.91%	$26,509
Total Valid Votes			20,812	100.00%
Total Rejected Ballots			395	1.86%
Turnout			21,207	72.32%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Dennis Geoffrey Cocke	11,455	56.52%	unknown
	Social Credit	Barry David Butler	8,224	40.57%	unknown
	Liberal	John Ian Paterson	590	2.91%	unknown
Total valid votes			20,269	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			233
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Dennis Geoffrey Cocke	11,343	59.30%	unknown
	Social Credit	Malvern James Hughes	7,786	40.70%	unknown
Total valid votes			19,129	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			292
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Dennis Geoffrey Cocke	10,357	55.63%	unknown
	Social Credit	Alexander John Seigo	8,473	44.35%	unknown
	Liberal	Karl Franke	923	4.83%	unknown
	Communist	Roderick Doran	60	0.31%	unknown
Total valid votes			19,106	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			166
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Dennis Geoffrey Cocke	7,280	40.75%	unknown
	Social Credit	John Earl Edmondson	7,161	40.08%	unknown
	Liberal	Dennis Douglas George Milne	3,368	18.85%	unknown
	Communist	Harry Harris	57	0.32%	unknown
Total valid votes			17,866	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			221
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Rae Eddie	5,751	44.65%	unknown
	Social Credit	Edith Maud Corrigan	5,552	43.11%	unknown
	Liberal	Robert James Cooper	1,577	12.24%	unknown
Total valid votes			12,880	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			160
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Rae Eddie	5,035	37.57%	unknown
	Social Credit	Edith Maud Corrigan	4,717	35.19%	unknown
	Liberal	George Herbert Barrett	2,335	17.42%	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	G. Basil Raikes	1,316	9.82%	unknown
Total valid votes			13,403	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			98
Turnout			%

v t e 2013 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Judy Darcy	13,170	48.84	−7.52	$126,704
	Liberal	Hector Bremner	8,997	33.37	−1.24	$56,036
	Green	Terry Teather	2,252	8.35	−0.68	$1,417
	Conservative	Paul Forseth	1,318	4.89	−	$1,450
	Independent	James Crosty	1,038	3.85	−	#3,530
	Libertarian	Lewis Dahlby	190	0.70	−	$250
Total valid votes			26,965	100.00
Total rejected ballots			132	0.49
Turnout			27,097	57.81
Source: Elections BC^[7]

v t e 1953 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Rae Eddie	4,903	37.02	5,970	51.34
	Liberal	Fred H. Jackson	4,309	32.53	5,658	48.66
	Social Credit League	Malvin A. Olsen	3,787	28.59
	Labour Progressive	Alfred Dewhurst	157	1.19
	Christian Democratic	Mervin Casper	89	0.67
Total valid votes			13,245	100.00	11,628	100.00
Total rejected ballots			486
Turnout			77.94
Note: Preferential ballot: 1st and 4th counts of four shown only

v t e 1920 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	David Whiteside	1,980	43.07
	Soldier–Labour	William James Sloan ⁵	1,611	35.04
	Conservative	Thomas Gifford	1,006	21.88
Total valid votes			4,597	100.00
⁵ Also referred to as an Independent. Nominated by delegates representing the Great War Veterans Association, the GAUV, the B.C. Fisherman's Protective Association, the Army and Navy Veterans, and organized labour.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Rae Eddie	6,496	41.25%	unknown
	Social Credit	Stanley Desmond Kermeen	5,041	32.01%
	Liberal	Samuel Thomas Dare	2,519	16.00%	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Frederick Craig Munroe	1,691	10.74%	unknown
Total valid votes			15,747	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			127
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Coalition	Byron Ingemar Johnson ⁸	4,900	57.91%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Clifford Augustine Greer	2,967	35.06%	unknown
	Labor-Progressive	Charles Stewart	595	7.03%	unknown
Total valid votes			8,462	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			94
Turnout			%
⁸ 23rd Premier of British Columbia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Arthur Wellesley Gray	3,694	41.74%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Stanley Blake	2,387	26.97%	unknown
	Conservative (historical)	Mary Dorothea McBride	1,923	21.73%	unknown
	Labour	Edward Charles Mills	845	9.55%	unknown
Total valid votes			8,849	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			178
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Arthur Wellesley Gray	4,055	52.02%	unknown
	Conservative (historical)	Thomas Robert Selkirk	1,766	22.66%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Stanley Blake	1,321	16.95%	unknown
	Communist	Edwin Henry Baker	567	7.27%	unknown
	Labour	Edward Charles Mills	86	1.10%	unknown
Total valid votes			7,795	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			116
Turnout			%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Arthur Wellesley Gray	2,694	46.98%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Daniel McGrath	1,476	25.74%	unknown
	Independent	David Whiteside ¹	1,439	25.10%	unknown
	United Front (Workers and Farmers)	Douglas Thomas	125	2.18%	unknown
Total valid votes			5,734	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			67
Turnout			%
¹ Endorsed by the Independent CCF.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Arthur Wellesley Gray ⁶	3.262	56.16%	unknown
	Conservative (historical)	Albert Morris Sanford	2,546	43.84%	unknown
Total valid votes			5,808	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			205
Turnout			%
⁶ "Wells Gray", namesake and instigator of the provincial park of that name in the Cariboo Mountains.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Edwin James Rothwell	1,564	37.61%	unknown
	Conservative (historical)	Albert Morris Sanford	1,310	31.51%	unknown
	Labour	Richard Carter Higgins	693	16.67%	unknown
	Provincial	George Livingstone Cassady	591	14.21%	unknown
Total valid votes			4,158	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

v t e British Columbia provincial electoral districts (2017–2024)
North/Central	Cariboo-Chilcotin Cariboo North Nechako Lakes North Coast Peace River North Peace River South Prince George-Mackenzie Prince George-Valemount Skeena Stikine
Southern Interior	Boundary-Similkameen Columbia River-Revelstoke Kamloops-North Thompson Kamloops-South Thompson Kelowna-Lake Country Kelowna-Mission Kelowna West Kootenay East Kootenay West Fraser-Nicola Nelson-Creston Penticton Shuswap Vernon-Monashee
Fraser Valley / South LM	Abbotsford-Mission Abbotsford South Abbotsford West Chilliwack Chilliwack-Kent Delta North Delta South Langley Langley East Maple Ridge-Mission Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Richmond North Centre Richmond-Queensborough Richmond South Centre Richmond-Steveston Surrey-Cloverdale Surrey-Fleetwood Surrey-Green Timbers Surrey-Guildford Surrey-Newton Surrey-Panorama Surrey South Surrey-Whalley Surrey-White Rock
Vancouver / North LM	Burnaby-Deer Lake Burnaby-Edmonds Burnaby-Lougheed Burnaby North Coquitlam-Burke Mountain Coquitlam-Maillardville New Westminster North Vancouver-Lonsdale North Vancouver-Seymour Port Coquitlam Port Moody-Coquitlam Powell River-Sunshine Coast Vancouver-Fairview Vancouver-False Creek Vancouver-Fraserview Vancouver-Hastings Vancouver-Kensington Vancouver-Kingsway Vancouver-Langara Vancouver-Mount Pleasant Vancouver-Point Grey Vancouver-Quilchena Vancouver-West End West Vancouver-Capilano West Vancouver-Sea to Sky
Vancouver Island	Courtenay-Comox Cowichan Valley Esquimalt-Metchosin Langford-Juan de Fuca Mid Island-Pacific Rim Nanaimo Nanaimo-North Cowichan North Island Oak Bay-Gordon Head Parksville-Qualicum Saanich North and the Islands Saanich South Victoria-Beacon Hill Victoria-Swan Lake
See also	2015 British Columbia electoral redistribution List of British Columbia general elections 2017 general election 2020 general election Defunct districts

v t e British Columbia provincial electoral districts (2001–2009)
North / Central	Bulkley Valley-Stikine Cariboo North Cariboo South North Coast Peace River North Peace River South Prince George-Mount Robson Prince George North Prince George-Omineca Skeena
Southern Interior	Columbia River-Revelstoke East Kootenay Kamloops Kamloops-North Thompson Kelowna-Lake Country Kelowna-Mission Nelson-Creston Okanagan-Westside Okanagan-Vernon Penticton-Okanagan Valley Shuswap West Kootenay-Boundary Yale-Lillooet
Fraser Valley / South LM	Abbotsford-Clayburn Abbotsford-Mount Lehman Chilliwack-Kent Chilliwack-Sumas Delta North Delta South Fort Langley-Aldergrove Langley Maple Ridge-Mission Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Richmond Centre Richmond East Richmond-Steveston Surrey-Cloverdale Surrey-Green Timbers Surrey-Newton Surrey-Panorama Ridge Surrey-Tynehead Surrey-Whalley Surrey-White Rock
Vancouver / North LM	Burnaby-Edmonds Burnaby North Burnaby-Willingdon Burquitlam Coquitlam-Maillardville New Westminster North Vancouver-Lonsdale North Vancouver-Seymour Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain Port Moody-Westwood Vancouver-Burrard Vancouver-Fairview Vancouver-Fraserview Vancouver-Hastings Vancouver-Kensington Vancouver-Kingsway Vancouver-Langara Vancouver-Mount Pleasant Vancouver-Point Grey Vancouver-Quilchena West Vancouver-Capilano West Vancouver-Garibaldi
Vancouver Island / South Coast	Alberni-Qualicum Comox Valley Cowichan-Ladysmith Esquimalt-Metchosin Malahat-Juan de Fuca Nanaimo Nanaimo-Parksville North Island Oak Bay-Gordon Head Powell River-Sunshine Coast Saanich North and the Islands Saanich South Victoria-Beacon Hill Victoria-Hillside
See also:	2001 general election 2005 general election 2008 electoral redistribution Defunct districts

v t e British Columbia provincial electoral districts (1979–1991)
North / Central	Atlin Cariboo ‡ North Peace River Omineca Prince George North Prince George South Prince Rupert Skeena South Peace River
Southern Interior	Boundary-Similkameen ‡ Columbia River Kamloops ‡ Kootenay Nelson-Creston Okanagan North Okanagan South ‡ Rossland-Trail Shuswap-Revelstoke Yale-Lillooet
Fraser Valley / South LM	Central Fraser Valley ‡ Chilliwack Delta ‡ Dewdney ‡ Langley ‡ Richmond ‡ Surrey (2) †
Vancouver / North LM	Burnaby-Edmonds Burnaby North Burnaby-Willingdon Coquitlam-Moody Maillardville-Coquitlam New Westminster North Vancouver-Capilano North Vancouver-Seymour Vancouver Centre (2) Vancouver East (2) Vancouver-Little Mountain (2) Vancouver-Point Grey (2) Vancouver South (2) West Vancouver-Howe Sound
Vancouver Island / South Coast	Alberni Comox Cowichan-Malahat Esquimalt-Port Renfrew Mackenzie Nanaimo ‡ North Island Oak Bay-Gordon Head Saanich and the Islands ‡ Victoria (2)
See also:	List of British Columbia general elections 1979 general election 1983 general election 1986 general election Defunct districts
‡ – from 1986–1991, was a 2-seat constituency † – from 1986–1991, was broken into 3 single-seat constituencies Surrey-Guildford-Whalley Surrey-Newton Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale

Triple-member district (1886–1890)

Single-member district (1916–2024)

2020

2018 electoral reform referendum

2017

2013

2009

2005

2001

1996

1991

1986

1983

1979

1975

1972

1969

1966

1963

1960

1956

1953

1952

1949

1945

1941

1937

1933

1928

1924

1920

1916

1886

1883 by-election

1882

1878

1875

1871

Related Articles

v t e British Columbia provincial electoral districts (1966–1979)
North / Central	Atlin Cariboo Fort George North Peace River Omineca Prince Rupert Skeena South Peace River
Southern Interior	Boundary-Similkameen Columbia River Kamloops Kootenay Nelson-Creston North Okanagan Revelstoke-Slocan Rossland-Trail South Okanagan Shuswap Yale-Lillooet
Lower Mainland	Burnaby-Edmonds Burnaby North Burnaby-Willingdon Chilliwack Coquitlam Delta Dewdney Langley New Westminster North Vancouver-Capilano North Vancouver-Seymour Richmond Surrey Vancouver-Burrard (2) Vancouver Centre (2) Vancouver East (2) Vancouver-Little Mountain (2) Vancouver-Point Grey (2) Vancouver South (2) West Vancouver-Howe Sound
Vancouver Island / South Coast	Alberni Comox Cowichan-Malahat Esquimalt Mackenzie Nanaimo Oak Bay-Gordon Head Saanich and the Islands Victoria (2)
See also:	List of British Columbia general elections 1966 general election 1969 general election 1972 general election 1975 general election Defunct districts

v t e British Columbia provincial electoral districts (1941–1956)
North / Central	Atlin Cariboo Fort George Omineca Peace River Prince Rupert Skeena
Southern Interior	Columbia Cranbrook Fernie Grand Forks-Greenwood Kamloops Kaslo-Slocan Lillooet Nelson-Creston North Okanagan Revelstoke Rossland-Trail Shuswap Similkameen South Okanagan Yale
Lower Mainland	Burnaby Chilliwack Delta Dewdney New Westminster North Vancouver Vancouver-Burrard Vancouver Centre Vancouver East Vancouver-Point Grey
Vancouver Island / South Coast	Alberni Comox Cowichan-Newcastle Esquimalt Mackenzie Nanaimo and the Islands Oak Bay Saanich Victoria City
See also:	List of British Columbia general elections 1941 general election 1945 general election 1949 general election 1952 general election 1953 general election Defunct districts