Rural areas from the former Abbotsford riding will now be part of Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon.
Photograph by: Submitted photo , Abbotsford Times
The federal ridings of Abbotsford and Mission have been extensively redrawn with new changes planned for Canada's electoral map.
The existing electoral district of Abbotsford has been divided with most of the urban portion of the riding remaining within the new boundaries.
However, a good portion of the rural area north of the City of Abbotsford has been incorporated into the new electoral district of Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon, which straddles the Fraser River.
The new Abbotsford riding is bounded on the west by Mt. Lehman Road north to Maclure Road and runs in an easterly direction along Bateman, Straiton, McKee and Sumas Mountain roads and along the Sumas River east until Boundary Road.
The City of Abbotsford's rural areas east of Bradner Road, south of Highway 1 and east of Mount Lehman Road will be absorbed into the Fort Langley-Aldergrove riding.
Mission is being dropped from its current riding that includes Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge.
The new riding of Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon crosses the Fraser River to absorb the rural areas north of the Abbotsford riding bounded on the west by Brander Road and the Sumas River in the east.
The new constituency will also stretch across an expansive geographical area to include Kent and Harrsion Hot Springs and then up through the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, absorbing the towns of Ashcroft, Lytton and Cache Creek, and into the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District including Subdivisions A and B and the Municipality of Lillooet.
The changes to the electoral map were made to keep about 100,000 residents in each riding.
Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission MP Randy Kamp said although Mission, the largest population in the new electoral district, will be well served in the new riding, it will be challenging for the elected MP to meet the demands created by the mix of demographics and large geographical area in the new constituency.
Kamp said it makes sense for him to continue to represent the Pitt-Meadows-Maple Ridge riding as he was born in and lives in Maple Ridge.
"But I'm a little disappointed because I enjoyed representing Mission," he said.
The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission of B.C. report was tabled in Parliament on Jan. 28 for study by MPs who can file objections to the plan in coming weeks.
Constituents should raise concerns about the electoral map with their MPs.
- For more information on the proposed federal ridings visit www.federal-redistribution.ca.
