New Westminster (federal electoral district)

New Westminster
British Columbia electoral district
	Boundaries at abolition
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1871
District abolished	1979
First contested	1872
Last contested	1974

New Westminster was a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1871 to 1979.

This riding was created in 1871 as New Westminster District when British Columbia joined Confederation and returned six members of parliament by special byelections in five electoral districts (with Victoria District returning two members). It was renamed New Westminster in 1872 when the word "district" was dropped from the name of all five electoral districts. The riding was abolished in 1976, when it was redistributed into the ridings of New Westminster—Coquitlam and Burnaby.

History

From being geographically the largest electoral district of the province upon joining confederation to its elimination as a standalone seat just over a century later, the evolution of this namesake electoral district followed the gradual decline in importance of the the Royal City, once the capital of the Colony of British Columbia.

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, allegience 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 geopraphy 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 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

1914 representation order
1933 representation order
1947 representation order
1952 representation order
1966 representation order
1976 representation order (as New Westminster—Coquitlam)

Members of Parliament

While its provincial counterpart returned a premier, a deputy premier, and numerous consequential provincial ministers, including one who served both in federal cabinet while elected an MP elsewhere, not a single MP elected from this seat ever served in federal cabinet. It however returned a few infamous character:

Thomas Robert McInnes, the only Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia ever dismissed from the office
William Garland McQuarrie, a vocal early advocate of racist policies against Asians, long before syuch view became mainstream during the second world war
Thomas Reid, a vocal advocate for the complete removal Canadians of Japanese ancestry, including those born in Canada
George Hahn, after losing the New Westminster seat, sought and lost a byelection while seeking the Social Credit leadership in 1961, resulting in his last place finish in the leadership contest

Parliament	Years		Party
Riding created from New Westminster District
2nd	1872–1874	Hugh Nelson	Liberal–Conservative
3rd	1874–1878	James Cunningham	Liberal
3rd	1878–1878	Thomas Robert McInnes	Independent
4th	1878–1882	Thomas Robert McInnes	Independent
4th	1882–1882	Joshua Homer	Liberal–Conservative
5th	1882–1887	Joshua Homer	Liberal–Conservative
6th	1887–1890†	Donald Chisholm	Conservative
6th	1890–1891	Gordon Edward Corbould	Conservative
7th	1891–1896	Gordon Edward Corbould	Conservative
8th	1896–1900	Aulay MacAulay Morrison	Liberal
9th	1900–1904	Aulay MacAulay Morrison	Liberal
10th	1904–1908	James Buckham Kennedy	Liberal
11th	1908–1911	James Davis Taylor	Conservative
12th	1911–1917	James Davis Taylor	Conservative
13th	1917–1921	William Garland McQuarrie	Government (Unionist)
14th	1921–1925		Conservative
15th	1925–1930		Conservative
16th	1930–1935	Thomas Reid	Liberal
17th	1935–1940
18th	1940–1945
19th	1945–1949
20th	1949–1949
20th	1949–1953	William Mott	Liberal
21st	1953–1957	George Hahn	Social Credit
22nd	1957–1958	George Hahn	Social Credit
23rd	1958–1962	William McLennan	Progressive Conservative
24th	1962–1963	Barry Mather	New Democratic
25th	1963–1965
26th	1965–1968
27th	1968–1972	Douglas Hogarth	Liberal
28th	1972–1974	Stuart Leggatt	New Democratic
29th	1974–1979	Stuart Leggatt	New Democratic
Riding dissolved into New Westminster—Coquitlam and Burnaby

Electoral history

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Stuart Leggatt	15,397	32.85	-8.75
	Progressive Conservative	Marg Gregory	15,193	32.42	+0.46
	Liberal	Carl Miller	14,997	32.00	+6.51
	Social Credit	Ted Adlem	926	1.98	-0.13
	Communist	Rod Doran	190	0.41	-0.01
	Independent	Selmer E. Bean	96	0.20	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Leanne Averbach	68	0.15	–
Total valid votes			46,867	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-4.60

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Stuart Leggatt	19,181	41.60	+1.86
	Progressive Conservative	Maurice Mulligan	14,739	31.96	+20.24
	Liberal	Greg Basham	10,992	25.49	-19.03
	Social Credit	Ted Adlem	971	2.11	-1.29
	No affiliation	Rod Doran	192	0.42	–
	No affiliation	Victor Reid	36	0.08	–
Total valid votes			46,111	100.0
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		-9.19

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Douglas Hogarth	18,083	44.52	+20.30
	New Democratic	Clive B. Lytle	16,144	39.74	-3.83
	Progressive Conservative	Frederick Young Craig	4,761	11.72	-3.96
	Social Credit	Grayden B. McRae	1,382	3.40	-13.12
	Communist	Robert C. McLaren	251	0.62	–
Total valid votes			40,621	100.0
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+12.06

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Barry Mather	27,574	43.57	+6.61
	Liberal	Chris Brown	15,330	24.22	-2.53
	Social Credit	Joe Unwin	10,458	16.52	+1.99
	Progressive Conservative	Walter C. MacDonald	9,925	15.68	-6.09
Total valid votes			63,287	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+4.57

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Barry Mather	23,609	36.96	-2.22
	Liberal	F.H. Jackson	17,086	26.75	+3.97
	Progressive Conservative	W.A. McLennan	13,908	21.77	-0.12
	Social Credit	Jack Burrows	9,280	14.53	-1.62
Total valid votes			63,883	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-3.10

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Barry Mather	23,827	39.18	+15.39
	Liberal	F.H. Jackson	13,855	22.78	+13.81
	Progressive Conservative	William A. McLennan	13,311	21.89	-19.83
	Social Credit	Myrtle Everett	9,822	16.15	-5.27
Total valid votes			60,815	100.0
	New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+0.79
Change for the New Democrats is based on the results of the Co-operative Commonwealth in the previous election.

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	William A. McLennan	21,202	41.72	+20.39
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Douglas Stout	13,220	26.01	+2.22
	Social Credit	Frederick George Hahn	10,886	21.42	-14.05
	Liberal	Alex Stewart	4,559	8.97	-9.13
	Labor–Progressive	Charles M. Stewart	958	1.88	–
Total valid votes			40,825	100.0
	Progressive Conservative gain from Social Credit		Swing		+9.08

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Frederick George Hahn	16,916	35.47	+4.47
	Co-operative Commonwealth	W. Jack Jones	11,344	23.79	-3.64
	Progressive Conservative	Ted Kuhn	10,172	21.33	+12.46
	Liberal	Hugh McGivern	8,632	18.10	-12.80
	Canadian Democrat	Gerry Goeujon	628	1.32	–
Total valid votes			47,692	100.0
	Social Credit hold		Swing		+4.06

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Frederick George Hahn	10,770	31.00	–
	Liberal	William Malcolm Mott	10,735	30.90	-4.31
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ron Irvine	9,258	27.43	+4.15
	Progressive Conservative	William McFerran Adrain	3,083	8.87	-3.51
	Labor–Progressive	Leo Albert Brady	896	2.58	+0.01
Total valid votes			34,742	100.0
	Social Credit gain from Liberal		Swing		+17.66

Canadian federal by-election, 24 October 1949 On Thomas Reid being called to the Senate, 7 September 1949
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Malcolm Mott	8,727	35.21	-7.21
	Independent	Elmore Philpott	6,583	26.56	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ronald William Irvine	5,769	23.28	-5.17
	Progressive Conservative	Leslie James Christmas	3,068	12.38	-13.06
	Labor–Progressive	Maurice Rush	637	2.57	–
Total valid votes			24,784	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-16.88

1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Reid	13,904	42.42	+8.62
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ronald William Irvine	9,326	28.45	-0.75
	Progressive Conservative	Leslie James Christmas	8,338	25.44	-1.14
	Social Credit	William Cameron McCallum	1,207	3.68	+0.33
Total valid votes			32,775	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		+4.68

v t e 1945 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Reid	14,158	33.80	−10.52
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Albert Thomas Alsbury	12,229	29.20	+0.68
	Progressive Conservative	George Oswald Twiss	11,133	26.58	−0.59
	Liberal–Progressive	Harold John Griffin	2,640	6.30	–
	Social Credit	George Anderson Pollock	1,403	3.35	–
	Democratic	Spencer Herbert Broatch	315	0.75	–
Total valid votes			41,878	100.00
	Liberal hold		Swing		−5.60

1940 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Reid	15,287	44.32	+7.47
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Albert Thomas Alsbury	9,837	28.52	-7.37
	National Government	Thomas Robert Selkirk	9,372	27.17	+3.05
Total valid votes			34,496	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		+7.42

1935 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Reid	9,977	36.85	-19.01
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Edwin Henry Baker	9,716	35.89	–
	Conservative	John Hanna Nicholls Morgan	6,531	24.12	-20.02
	Reconstruction	Charles Frederick Millar	850	3.14	–
Total valid votes			27,074	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-27.45

v t e 1930 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Reid	13,293	55.86	+16.97
	Conservative	William Garland McQuarrie	10,502	44.14	+1.36
Total valid votes			23,795	100.00
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+7.80
Source: lop.parl.ca

1925 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Garland McQuarrie	7,714	42.78	-0.68
	Liberal	Arthur Wellesley Gray	7,013	38.89	+11.47
	Labour	Rose Mary Louise Henderson	3,305	18.33	-10.79
Total valid votes			18,032	100.0
	Conservative hold		Swing		-6.08

1921 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Garland McQuarrie	5,520	43.46	-28.46
	Labour	Richard Parmater Pettipiece	3,699	29.12	–
	Liberal	John Reid	3,482	27.42	-0.66
Total valid votes			12,701	100.0
	Conservative hold		Swing		-28.79

v t e 1917 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Government (Unionist)	William Garland McQuarrie	7,380	71.92	+6.22
	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)	Duncan Alexander McRae	2,882	28.08	−6.22
Total valid votes			10,262	100.00
	Government (Unionist) hold		Swing		+6.22

1911 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Davis Taylor	3,542	65.70	+7.21
	Liberal	John Oliver	1,849	34.30	-7.21
Total valid votes			5,391	100.0
	Conservative hold		Swing		+7.21

1908 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Davis Taylor	2,846	58.49	+9.92
	Liberal	Robert Jardine	2,020	41.51	-9.92
Total valid votes			4,866	100.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+9.92

1904 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Buckham Kennedy	1,866	51.43	-0.70
	Conservative	James Davis Taylor	1,762	48.57	+0.70
Total valid votes			3,628	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-0.70

1900 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Aulay MacAulay Morrison	1,772	52.13	-2.50
	Conservative	Edgar Dewdney	1,627	47.87	+2.50
Total valid votes			3,399	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-2.50

1896 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Aulay MacAulay Morrison	1,758	54.63	+30.73
	Conservative	Richard McBride	1,460	45.37	-30.73
Total valid votes			3,218	100.0
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+30.73

1891 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	G.E. Corbould	1,694	76.10
	Liberal	E.S. Scoullor	532	23.90
Total valid votes			2,226	100.0

Canadian federal by-election, 19 June 1890 On the death of Donald Chisholm, 5 April 1890
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Gordon Edward Corbould	acclaimed

1887 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Donald Chisholm	533	69.13
	Conservative	T.J. Trapp	238	30.87
Total valid votes			771	100.0

1882 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal–Conservative	J.A.R. Homer	acclaimed

Canadian federal by-election, 9 March 1882 On the resignation of Thomas Robert McInnes, 12 December 1881
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal–Conservative	J.A.R. Homer	acclaimed

1878 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Thomas Robert McInnes	388	56.48
	Unknown	James Robinson	299	43.52
Total valid votes			687	100.0

Canadian federal by-election, 25 March 1878 On the resignation of James Cunningham, 22 January 1878
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Thomas Robert McInnes	acclaimed

1874 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	James Cunningham	162	53.29
	Liberal–Conservative	J.A.R. Homer	142	46.71
Total valid votes			304	100.0

1872 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal–Conservative	Hugh Nelson	acclaimed

External links

Riding history from the Library of Parliament
Expenditures - 2004
Expenditures - 2000
Expenditures – 1997
Website of the Parliament of Canada

References