Greater Vancouver

Vancouver Metropolitan Area in 2018

Federally, the electorates in the Greater Vancouver region elect Conservative, New Democratic, and Liberal Members of Parliaments. After the 2011 election, the Conservatives and NDP emerged as the two strongest parties in the region, with Conservative support concentrated in the suburbs around Vancouver (e.g. North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond, and south Surrey), and NDP support strongest on the east side of Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster and north Surrey.

In 2011, the Liberals were reduced to two seats, both located in Vancouver. However, in the past, Liberal support has been strong in the Lower Mainland. Following the 1993 election, the Liberals held every seat but one in the City of Vancouver.

Greater Vancouver, like the rest of British Columbia, is divided between the BC Liberals and the BC NDP. While the BC Liberals are not formally affiliated with any federal party, they tend to draw support from those who vote for either the Liberal Party of Canada or the Conservative Party of Canada, while the BC NDP provide a centre-left alternative, and is formally affiliated with the New Democratic Party of Canada. Polling from the 2013 provincial election showed that supporters of the BC Liberals were almost evenly split between federal Liberals and federal Conservatives. Despite this trend, former NDP Premier Ujjal Dosanjh ran federally for the Liberals in the 2004 election, and some NDP supporters have drifted to the Greens in recent years.

In terms of political geography, Greater Vancouver is not as polarized between urban core and suburban areas as metropolitan areas in other parts of the country are. However, the BC NDP tends to draw greater support from ridings on the east side of Vancouver, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities, and parts of Surrey. By contrast, the BC Liberals are stronger on the west side of Vancouver, the North Shore, the Fraser Valley, and have held every seat in Richmond since 1991. Ridings in Central Vancouver, like Vancouver-Fairview and Vancouver-Point Grey, and Surrey tend to be swing ridings, with close races between the two parties. Vicki Huntington, an Independent member of the Legislative Assembly, has represented the riding of Delta South since 2009.

Since the mid 1980s, Greater Vancouver also has been the home of every BC Premier. In fact, between 1986 and 2013, the Premier of BC has always represented a Vancouver-area riding in the Legislature, except for a brief period when the NDP selected a new Premier following Glen Clark's resignation in 1999.

Due to the region's ethnically diverse population, there is also diverse government representation. Federally, there are five MPs of visible minority origin: three of South Asian descent, one of Chinese descent, and one of Trinidadian descent. Provincially, there are six South Asian, three Chinese, one Japanese, and one Filipino MLAs.

The Greater Vancouver region has many "electoral firsts". Rosemary Brown was the first black woman elected to political office, becoming an MLA in 1972, and the first woman and first black person to run for a party leadership in 1975. Emery Barnes, a football player elected to the Legislature alongside Rosemary Brown in 1972, and stayed in that capacity until 1996, serving as the Speaker from 1994. Former Indo-Canadian Premier Ujjal Dosanjh was the first non-white premier of the province, while Douglas Jung was the first Chinese-Canadian to become a Member of Parliament. Yonah Martin is the first Korean-Canadian to hold federal public office. Jenny Kwan was the first Chinese-Canadian provincial cabinet minister in Canada. Naomi Yamamoto and Mable Elmore are respectively the first Japanese and Filipino MLAs in the province. Furthermore, Stephanie Cadieux is the first quadriplegic MLA, while Svend Robinson was the first openly gay Canadian MP.