Burnaby—Seymour

Burnaby—Seymour
British Columbia electoral district
Boundaries at abolition
Defunct federal electoral district
LegislatureHouse of Commons
District created1966
District abolished1976
First contested1968
Last contested1974

Burnaby—Seymour was a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada 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

1974 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Marke Raines 18,063 36.58 -0.61
Progressive Conservative Jim Nielsen 17,574 35.59 +12.60
New Democratic Nels Nelson 13,472 27.28 -10.51
Communist Eric Waugh 167 0.34 –
Marxist–Leninist Jack Maley 60 0.12 –
No affiliation André Doucet 42 0.09 –
Total valid votes 49,378 100.0  
Liberal gain from New Democratic Swing -6.60
1972 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic Nels Nelson 18,274 37.79 -7.10
Liberal Ray Perrault 17,985 37.19 -8.04
Progressive Conservative John Ratel 11,119 22.99 +14.88
Social Credit John B. MacDonald 694 2.91 +1.14
Independent Bob Thompson 133 0.28 –
No affiliation Eric Waugh 120 0.25 –
No affiliation Lorette Glasheen 36 0.07 –
Total valid votes 48,361 100.0  
New Democratic gain from Liberal Swing +0.47
1968 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Ray Perrault 17,891 45.23
New Democratic Tommy C. Douglas 17,753 44.89
Progressive Conservative Charles MacLean 3,206 8.11
Social Credit Ron Price 702 1.77
Total valid votes 39,552 100.0  
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