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Why the federal candidates are suddenly sucking up to cities in this election campaign

September 23rd, 2015 · 2 Comments

It’s been a rough go for city residents across Canada the last 10 years. There’s been a definite sense that the things they care about are not at the top of the Conservative to-do list. But that has mysteriously changed this election. The prime minister announced some money for the Vancouver public library, for gawd’s sake. His party has also been flinging dollar promises around for transit in Calgary and Toronto. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau announced (on the grounds of the city’s engineering department, of all things) bags of money for the Broadway line. And of course he has something to say on Vancouver’s favourite topic, marijuana. The NDP’s Tom Mulcair has been talking a lot about money for housing. What the heck is this all about?

My latest column in Vancouver magazine looks at why this is happening. It’s not just because there are 30 new, mostly urban, ridings in the country.

 

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2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 peakie // Sep 23, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    Well the library does hold the Federal tower next to it, above the dreadful Library Square pub. Many fed offices there like Parks Canada etc.

    I thought the favourite topic was housing/rental prices, not MJ. And numbers in the easy-to-vote TransLink (roads, bridges, buses, bike routes, etc.) had a low turnout of the younger people who might be psychoactive drug users. Or are the three related at all?

    Oreck did a lot of work in the U.S. political scene as well as various Jewish groups across Canada in Toronto. So I would wonder about her interest back in Vancouver at all.

  • 2 peakie // Sep 24, 2015 at 10:23 am

    “Sucking up” to the most voters, in cheap, densely populated ridings is efficient.

    StatCan says

    Like many other industrialized countries, Canada is a very highly urbanized nation. In 2006, just over 80% of the population was living in urban areas, and roughly two thirds of Canadians were living in a census metropolitan area. The social phenomena, dynamics and issues that affect these large and sometimes very large urban areas touch the everyday lives of many people.
    In a new series of articles, Canadian Social Trends is planning to address a number of subjects related to life in metropolitan areas. We will attempt to shed some light on the differences and similarities between Canada’s major census metropolitan areas (CMAs), focusing on their component neighbourhoods and districts. Specifically, we will contrast neighbourhoods that have…

    http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2008001/article/10459-eng.htm#14

    “The Constitution of Canada requires that the number of seats in the House of Commons be recalculated and the boundaries of federal electoral districts (FEDs) be reviewed after each 10-year census to reflect changes and movements in Canada’s population. This process is known as the redistribution of federal electoral districts. A 2013 Representation Order was proclaimed with 338 federal electoral districts, and reported in the Canada Gazette on October 5, 2013.”

    In BC, the ridings are about 100,000 people (P.E.I. is always an exception being guaranteed same number of MPs as Senators.) The vast north has to be accomdated with smaller populated ridings.

    From smallest

    Skeena–Bulkley Valley 90,586
    Mission–Matsqui–Fraser Canyon 90,871
    Chilliwack–Hope 92,734
    Richmond Centre 93,863
    Pitt Meadows–Maple Ridge 94,111

    to
    Victoria 110,942
    Surrey Centre 111,486
    South Okanagan–West Kootenay 112,096
    West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–
    Sea to Sky Country 112,875
    Esquimalt–Saanich–Sooke 113,004
    Nanaimo–Ladysmith 114,998
    Kamloops–Thompson–Cariboo 118,618
    North Okanagan–Shuswap 121,474