Burnaby—Seymour

Burnaby—Seymour
British Columbia electoral district
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature House of Commons
District created 1966
District abolished 1976
First contested 1968
Last contested 1974

Burnaby—Seymour was a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1979.

This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Burnaby—Coquitlam, Burnaby—Richmond and Coast—Capilano ridings. The riding originally consisted of the eastern part of North Vancouver plus areas of Burnaby north of the Grandview Highway and Edmonds Avenue, west of Sperling and north of Pandora Street. That is, North Vancouver east of Lynn Creek plus the Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill, Brentwood and Deer Lake neighbourhoods of Burnaby.

The riding's first election, in 1968, is notable for being a showdown between the former leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party, Ray Perrault, and federal New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas. Given that the North Shore portions of the riding were largely affluent and upper middle class in character and normally a Liberal bastion, Douglas' strong showing is not so surprising given the working-class and labour background of much of even the better-off parts of the riding in Burnaby.

When this riding was redistributed in 1976, the resulting Burnaby riding consistently returned NDP candidates - this was Svend Robinson's longtime seat. North Vancouver—Burnaby returned a Progressive Conservative member (Chuck Cook) since its creation until it was abolished in 1987, as did its successor riding, the seat of North Vancouver until Reform Party member Ted White took over the seat on Cook's retirement.

In provincial politics, the equivalent area of North Vancouver was among the last holdouts of the provincial Liberal Party prior to it losing its support base to the Social Credit Party in the early 1980s. Jim Nielsen, who first unsuccessfully ran for the Progressive Conservative Party in Burnaby—Seymour in 1974 was subsequently elected in the 1975 provincial election as the MLA for Richmond. He was appointed as a cabinet minister and remained the MLA for Richmond until his resignation from provincial politics in 1986.

Members of Parliament

Parliament Years Member Party
Riding created from Burnaby—Coquitlam,
Burnaby—Richmond and Coast—Capilano
28th  1968–1972     Ray Perrault Liberal
29th  1972–1974     Nels Nelson New Democratic
30th  1974–1979     Marke Raines Liberal
Riding dissolved into Burnaby and North Vancouver—Burnaby

Election results

Canadian federal election, 1974
Party Candidate Votes%∆%
LiberalMarke Raines 18,063 36.58 -0.61
Progressive ConservativeJim Nielsen 17,574 35.59 +12.60
New DemocraticNels Nelson 13,472 27.28 -10.51
CommunistEric Waugh 167 0.34 –
Marxist–LeninistJack Maley 60 0.12 –
No affiliationAndré Doucet 42 0.09 –
Total valid votes 49,378100.0  
Liberal gain from New Democratic Swing -6.60
Canadian federal election, 1972
Party Candidate Votes%∆%
New DemocraticNels Nelson 18,274 37.79 -7.10
LiberalRay Perrault 17,985 37.19 -8.04
Progressive ConservativeJohn Ratel 11,119 22.99 +14.88
Social CreditJohn B. MacDonald 694 2.91 +1.14
IndependentBob Thompson 133 0.28 –
No affiliationEric Waugh 120 0.25 –
No affiliationLorette Glasheen 36 0.07 –
Total valid votes 48,361100.0  
New Democratic gain from Liberal Swing +0.47
Canadian federal election, 1968
Party Candidate Votes%
LiberalRay Perrault 17,891 45.23
New DemocraticTommy C. Douglas 17,753 44.89
Progressive ConservativeCharles MacLean 3,206 8.11
Social CreditRon Price 702 1.77
Total valid votes 39,552100.0  
This riding was created from parts of Burnaby—Coquitlam, Burnaby—Richmond and Coast—Capilano, which elected two New Democrats and a Liberal (Coast—Capilano). Tommy Douglas was the incumbent from Burnaby—Coquitlam.

Successor ridings

The riding was abolished in 1976. Successor ridings were:

See also

External links

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