The 38th British Columbia general election will be held on May 17, 2005, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia (B.C.), Canada.
Under amendments to the B.C. Constitution Act passed in 2001, B.C. elections are now held on fixed dates: the second Tuesday in May every four years. An early election may be held should the government lose the confidence of the Legislative Assembly; this is unlikely as the current Liberal administration of Premier Gordon Campbell enjoys a massive majority.
Held in conjunction with this election will be the British Columbia electoral reform referendum, which will ask voters whether or not they support the proposed electoral reforms of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. If approved, the new electoral system would be implemented for the British Columbia general election in 2009 .
Political Parties
- See also: List of British Columbia political parties
Principal Parties
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Leader: Gordon Campbell
The BC Liberals won 77 of 79 seats in the 2001 election. The party currently holds 72 seats. One member elected as a Liberal now sit as a member of Democratic Reform British Columbia; one member elected as a Liberal now sit as an independent; the party lost one by-election to the opposition New Democratic Party; and two former Liberal seats are now vacant.
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Leader: Carole James
The NDP saw its legislative caucus reduced from a majority to just two seats in the 2001 election. It added a seat to bring the total to three in a January 2005 by-election. Carole James, new to provincial politics and without a seat in the legislature, now leads the party.
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Smaller Parties
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Leader: Adriane Carr
The Green Party ran 72 candidates in 2001, winning 12 percent of the vote but no seats in the legislature. Some have argued that the Green Party support peaked in 2001, drawing on dissatisfied NDP voters, and they will remain incapable of winning a seat in 2005 under the First-Past-the-Post system; others believe that if there are four or more competitive parties in this election that they may elect a handful of members. The Greens may benefit if the 2009 election is conducted using the proposed BC-STV system.
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Minor parties
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Leader: vacant
BC Unity finished fourth in 2001, winning slightly over 3% of the vote with a slate of 56 candidates. It stood poised to potentially benefit from right-of-center voters disenchanted with Campbell, but instead fell victim to serious internal division following a failed merger with the BC Conservative Party which in turn prompted party leader Chris Delaney 's resignation. It was unable to find an accpetable interim leader and will instead wait until the fall for a full leadership convention. No candidates have appeared on the party's website or Elections BC lists, but it has contented nonetheless it has "several" candidates who will soon be announced.
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Leader: Marc Emery
The BC Marijuana Party was the only party other than the Liberals and NDP to run candidates in all 79 districts in 2001. Although no candidate ist has been released yet, they will reportedly run approximately 40 candidates in this election, likely the largest slate amongst minor parties. Party founder Marc Emery is running against Solicitor General Rich Coleman , a hardline anti-drug advocate, in staunchly conservative Abbotsford.
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Leader: Conrad Schmidt
The WLP is a anti-materialist political movement that hopes to achieve socialist and green ends through, among other things, the promotion of a four-day work-week. The 2005 BC election marks the debut in Western politics of any registered party expressly driven by the ideology of voluntary simplicity. It has nominated 11 candidates thus far, all in urban ridings.
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Other parties contesting this election
- The British Columbia Party (current leader: Grant Mitton ) has nominated 1 candidate thus far: Summer Davis, in Surrey-Tynehead.
Other parties that may contest this election
British Columbia has Canada's least restrictive elections laws with regard to political party registration, and consequently there are currently nearly 50 parties registered with Elections BC, by far the most of any jurisdiction in the country. Many of these parties did not contest the 2001 election and are unlikely to contest this election.
1 Reform's president and a number of its members have joined the new Democratic Reform British Columbia party as of January 15, 2005.
Timeline
Pre-campaign period
- December 14, 2004 - Liberal Finance Minister Gary Collins abruptly resigns from cabinet and the legislature despite having been named co-chair of the Liberal re-election campaign a month earlier. The move requires Premier Campbell to undertake a minor cabinet shuffle.
- January 31, 2005 - Liberal MLA and former cabinet minister Sandy Santori resigns from his seat in the Legislature.
- February 15, 2005 - New Liberal Finance Minister Colin Hansen introduces what is widely viewed as an "election budget " which promised $1.3 billion in new spending, tax cuts and a surplus.
- March 11, 2005 - Attorney-General Geoff Plant announces that he will not seek re-election.
- March 29, 2005 - The consortium of television stations organizing the leaders' debate announces that the leaders of the Liberal, New Democratic and Green parties will be invited to participate in the debate.
- April 13, 2005 - The NDP and Green Party release their platforms in Victoria.
Campaign period
- April 19, 2005 - The writ of election is dropped, dissolving the Legislature and beginning the official campaign period.
- April 20, 2005 - The NDP becomes the first party to complete a province-wide nomination slate.
Opinion polls
Below are the most recent polls from organizations polling in British Columbia
- Robbins SCE Research , 2005 - Mar 12 - Mar 21: Lib 43%, NDP 38%, Green 13%, DRBC 7% [2]
Another source of predictions of the election outcome is the University of British Columbia's Election Stock Market [4]. Investors in the UBC-ESM trade on the outcome of the provincial election in separate markets for the seat share and popular vote share of individual parties. Two additional winner-take-all markets cover the formation of a majority government and the outcome of the electoral reform referendum.
Candidates
The deadline for candidate registration is Wednesday, May 4, 2005, at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
Names in bold indicate party leaders and cabinet ministers. Name in italics have yet to be formally nominated by their party. Incumbents denoted with a dagger (†) are not seeking re-election.
Northern British Columbia
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Bulkley Valley-Stikine
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|Dennis MacKay
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|Doug Donaldson
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|Nipper Kettle
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|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Dennis MacKay
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|North Coast
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|Bill Belsey
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|Gary Coons
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|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Bill Belsey
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Peace River North
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|Richard Neufeld
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|Brian Churchill
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|Clarence Apsassin
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|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Richard Neufeld
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Peace River South
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|Blair Lekstrom
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|Pat Shaw
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|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Blair Lekstrom
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Prince George-Mount Robson
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|Shirley Bond
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|Wayne Mills
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|Don Roberts
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|Paul Nettleton (Ind.)
|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Shirley Bond
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Prince George North
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|Pat Bell
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|Deborah Poff
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|Denis Gendron
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|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Pat Bell
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Prince George-Omineca
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|John Rustad
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|Chuck Fraser
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|Andrej DeWolf
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|Erle Martz
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|bgcolor="gainsboro"|
|Paul Nettleton
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|bgcolor=whitesmoke|Skeena
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|Roger Harris
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|Robin Austin
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|Patrick Hayes
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|bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|Roger Harris
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Kootenay, Columbia and Boundary
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Columbia River-Revelstoke
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| Wendy McMahon
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| Norm MacDonald
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| Wendy McMahon
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| East Kootenay
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| Bill Bennett
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| Erda Walsh
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| Marty Uri
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| Bill Bennett
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| Nelson-Creston
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| Blair Suffredine
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| Corky Evans
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| Luke Crawford
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| Blair Suffredine
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| West Kootenay-Boundary
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| Pam Lewin
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| Katrine Conroy
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| Donald Pharand
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| Barry Chilton (Con)
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| vacant
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Okanagan and Shuswap
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Kelowna-Lake Country
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| Al Horning
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| John Pugsley
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| Kevin Ade
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| Alan Clarke
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| John Weisbeck †
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| Kelowna-Mission
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| Sindi Hawkins
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| Nicki Hokazono
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| Paddy Weston
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| Sindi Hawkins
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| Okanagan-Vernon
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| Tom Christensen
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| Juliette Cunningham
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| Erin Nelson
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| Tom Christensen
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| Okanagan-Westside
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| Rick Thorpe
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| Joyce Procure
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| Angela Reid
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| Janice Money
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| Rick Thorpe
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| Penticton-Okanagan Valley
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| Bill Barisoff
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| Garry Litke
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| Bill Barisoff
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| Shuswap
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| George Abbott
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| Calvin White
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| Beryl Ludwig (Con)
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| George Abbott
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Thompson and Cariboo
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Cariboo North
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| Steve Wallace
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| Bob Simpson
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| John Wilson †
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| Cariboo South
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| Walt Cobb
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| Charlie Wyse
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| Simon Moses
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| Walt Cobb
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| Kamloops
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| Claude Richmond
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| Doug Brown
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| Frank Stewart
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| Claude Richmond
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| Kamloops-North Thompson
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| Kevin Krueger
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| Mike Hanson
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| Grant Fraser
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| Kevin Krueger
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| Yale-Lillooet
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| Lloyd Forman
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| Harry Lali
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| Mike McLean
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| Arne Zabel
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| Dave Chutter †
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Fraser Valley
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Abbotsford-Clayburn
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| John van Dongen
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| Michael Nenn
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| Kenneth Montgomery Keillor (FP)
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| John van Dongen
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| Abbotsford-Mount Lenham
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| Mike de Jong
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| Taranjit Purewal
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| Mike de Jong
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| Chilliwack-Kent
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| Barry Penner
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| Rollie Keith
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| Barry Penner
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| Chilliwack-Sumas
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| John Les
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| John-Henry Harter
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| Norm Siefken
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| John Les
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| Fort Langley-Aldergrove
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| Rich Coleman
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| Shane Dyson
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| Jamie Ager
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| Marc Emery (Mar.)
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| Rich Coleman
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| Langley
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| Mary Polak
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| Dean Morrison
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| Kathleen Stephany
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| Lynn Stephens †
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| Maple Ridge-Mission
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| Randy Hawes
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| Jenny Stevens
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| Bill Walsh
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| Randy Hawes
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| Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
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| Ken Stewart
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| Michael Sather
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| Mike Gildersleeve
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| Rick Butler
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| Ken Stewart
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Surrey
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Surrey-Cloverdale
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| Kevin Falcon
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| Ted Allen
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| Pierre Rovtar
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| Joseph Vollhoffer
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| Kevin Falcon
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| Surrey-Green Timbers
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| Brenda Locke
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| Sue Hammell
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| Ravi Chand
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| Brenda Locke
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| Surrey-Newton
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| Daniel Igali
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| Harry Bains
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| Harry Grewal
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| Gordon Scott (WLP)
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| Tony Bhullar
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| Surrey-Panorama Ridge
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| Bob Hans
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| Jagrup Brar
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| Romeo De La Pena
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| Joginder Randhawa
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| Tony Bhullar (?) (Ind.)
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| Jagrup Brar
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| Surrey-Tynehead
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| Dave Hayer
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| Barry Bell
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| Guy Durnin
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| Bob Dechaux
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| Summer Davis (BCP)
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| Dave Hayer
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| Surrey-Whalley
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| Barb Steele
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| Bruce Ralston
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| Roy Whyte
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| Elayne Brenzinger
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| Elayne Brenzinger
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| Surrey-White Rock
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| Gordon Hogg
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| Moh Chelali
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| Ashley Hughes
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| Ron Dunsford
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| David James Evans (Con)
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| Gordon Hogg
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Richmond and Delta
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Delta North
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| Jeannie Kanakos
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| Guy Gentner
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| John Hague
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| Reni Masi †
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| Delta South
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| Val Roddick
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| Dileep Athaide
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| Vicki Huntington (Ind.)
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| Val Roddick
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| Richmond Centre
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| Olga Ilich
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| Dale Jackaman
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| Greg Halsey-Brandt †
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| Richmond East
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| Linda Reid
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| Gian Sihota
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| Michael Wolfe
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| Graham Norton
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| Linda Reid
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| Richmond-Steveston
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| John Yap
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| Kay Hale
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| Geoff Plant †
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Vancouver's Eastern Suburbs
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Burnaby-Edmonds
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| Patty Sahota
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| Raj Chouhan
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| Suzanne Deveau
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| Patty Sahota
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| Burnaby North
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| Richard Lee
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| Pietro Calendino
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| Richard Brand
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| Matthew Laird
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| Richard Lee
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| Burnaby-Willingdon
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| John Nuraney
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| Gabriel Yiu
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| Tony Kuo
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| John Nuraney
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| Burquitlam
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| Harry Bloy
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| Bart Healey
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| Harry Bloy
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| Coquitlam-Maillardville
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| Richard Stewart
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| Diane Thorne
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| Michael Hejazi
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| Richard Stewart
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| New Westminster
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| Joyce Murray
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| Chuck Puchmayr
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| Robert Broughton
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| Joyce Murray
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| Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain
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| Greg Moore
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| Mike Farnworth
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| Bill Aaroe
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| Karn Manhas †
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| Port Moody-Westwood
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| Iain Black
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| Karen Rockwell
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| Chris Simms
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| Arthur Crossman (Ind.)
James Filippelli (YPP)
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| Christy Clark†
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Vancouver
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Vancouver-Burrard
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| Lorne Mayencourt
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| Tim Stevenson
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| Janek Kuchmistrz
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| Ian McLeod
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| Lisa Voldeng (WLP)
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| Lorne Mayencourt
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| Vancouver-Fairview
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| Virginia Greene
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| Gregor Robertson
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| Hamdy El-Rayes
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| Evan MacNeil (WLP)
Scott Yee (Ind.)
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| vacant
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| Vancouver-Fraserview
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| Wally Oppal
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| Ravinder Gill
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| Doug Perry
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| Ken Johnston †
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| Vancouver-Hastings
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| Laura McDiarmid
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| Shane Simpson
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| Ian Gregson
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| Dennise Brennan (WLP)
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| Joy MacPhail†
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| Vancouver-Kensington
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| Patrick Wong
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| David Chudnovsky
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| Cody Matheson
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| Charles Boylan (PF)
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| Patrick Wong
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| Vancouver-Kingsway
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| Rob Nijjar
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| Adrian Dix
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| Stuart MacKinnon
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| Robert Rous
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| Rob Nijjar
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| Vancouver-Langara
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| Carole Taylor
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| Anita Romaniuk
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| Doug Warkentin
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| Charlie Latmer (WLP)
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| Val Anderson †
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| Vancouver-Mount Pleasant
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| Juliet Andalis
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| Jenny Kwan
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| Raven Bowen
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| Imtiaz Popat
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| Niki Westman (WLP)
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| Jenny Kwan
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| Vancouver-Point Grey
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| Gordon Campbell
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| Mel Lehan
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| Damien Kettlewell
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| Graham Jarvis
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| Tom Walker (WLP)
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| Gordon Campbell
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| Vancouver-Quilchena
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| Colin Hansen
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| Jarrah Hodge
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| Lorinda Earl
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| Colin Hansen
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North Shore and Sunshine Coast
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| North Vancouver-Lonsdale
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| Katherine Whittred
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| Craig Keating
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| Terry Long
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| Matt Wadsworth
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| Christine Ellis (WLP)
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| Katherine Whittred
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| North Vancouver-Seymour
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| Daniel Jarvis
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| Cathy Pinsent
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| John Sharpe
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| Daniel Jarvis
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| Powell River-Sunshine Coast
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| Maureen Clayton
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| Nicholas Simons
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| Adriane Carr
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| Harold Long†
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| West Vancouver-Capilano
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| Ralph Sultan
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| Terry Platt
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| Lee White
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| Ben West (WLP)
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| Ralph Sultan
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| West Vancouver-Garibaldi
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| Joan McIntyre
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| Lyle Fenton
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| Dennis Perry
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| Ted Nebbeling†
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Vancouver Island
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Alberni-Qualicum
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| Gillian Trumper
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| Scott Fraser
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| Jennifer Fisher-Bradley
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| Gillian Trumper
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| Comox Valley
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| Stan Hagen
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| Andrew Black
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| Chris Aikman
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| Don Davis
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| Mel Garden (RefedBC)
Bruce O'Hara (WLP)
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| Stan Hagen
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| Cowichan-Ladysmith
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| Graham Bruce
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| Doug Routley
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| Cindy-Lee Robinson
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| Brian Johnson
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| Jeremy Harold Smyth (FP)
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| Graham Bruce
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| Nanaimo
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| Mike Hunter
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| Leonard Krog
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| Doug Catley
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| Linden Shaw (RefedBC)
Brunie Brunie (Ind.)
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| Mike Hunter
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| Nanaimo-Parksville
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| Ron Cantelon
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| Carol McNamee
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| Judith Reid†
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| North Island
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| Rod Visser
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| Claire Trevena
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| Phillip Stone
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| Dan Cooper
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| Lorne James Scott (Ind.)
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| Rod Visser
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Greater Victoria
| Electoral District
| Candidates
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| Incumbent
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| BC Liberal
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| NDP
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| Green
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| DRBC
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| Other
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| Esquimalt-Metchosin
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| Tom Woods
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| Maurine Karagianis
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| Jane Sterk
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| Graeme Rodger
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| Arnie Hamilton †
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| Malahat-Juan de Fuca
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| Cathy Basskin
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| John Horgan
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| Klaus Solterbeck
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| Tom Morino
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| Brian Kerr †
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| Oak Bay-Gordon Head
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| Ida Chong
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| Charley Beresford
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| Stephen Hender
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| Lyne England
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| Ida Chong
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| Saanich North and the Islands
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| Murray Coell
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| Christine Hunt
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| Ken Rouleau
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| Ian Bruce
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| Murray Coell
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| Saanich South
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| Susan Brice
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| David Cubberley
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| Brett Hinch
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| Kerry Steinemann (Ind.)
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| Susan Brice
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| Victoria-Beacon Hill
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| Jeff Bray
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| Carole James
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| John Miller
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| David McCaig
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| Benjamin McConchie (Ind.)
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| Jeff Bray
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| Victoria-Hillside
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| Sheila Orr
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| Rob Fleming
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| Steve Filipovic
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| Jim McDermott
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| Katrina Herriot (WLP)
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| Sheila Orr
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Results
Results by party
Results by region
External links
Last updated: 06-04-2005 11:29:12
