2005 Candidates (as received from Elections B.C.):
- Robert Broughton, Green Party of BC
- Greg Calcutta, The Platinum Party
- Joyce Murray, BC Liberal Party
- Chuck Puchmayr, New Democratic Party of B.C.
District Profile:
This riding shares the borders of the city of New Westminster, bounded by the Fraser River on the south, the Brunette River on its northern edge, and 10th Avenue West in the southwest. New Westminster acts as a port and service centre for the agriculture and forestry industry in the Fraser Valley, and the Douglas College campus is also in the riding. Retail trade and manufacturing are the top two employers. The average family income, at $64,171, is just under the B.C. average; unemployment, at 7.8 per cent, is slightly below as well. Immigrants account for 28 per cent of the residents here; visible minorities, 25 per cent. Almost 10 per cent of the population is of South Asian origin, while 7 per cent each are Chinese and Filipino.
Political History:
The incumbent in New Westminster is Liberal Joyce Murray, the minister of management services. In 2001 she unseated then-incumbent Graeme Bowbrick of the NDP by more than 4,000 votes. It was the first loss by a New Democrat here in 50 years. From 1952-69 that party's Rae Eddie was MLA, followed for the next 17 years by fellow New Democrat Dennis Cocke. Then the NDP's Anita Hagen took over, winning comfortably in 1986 and '91. Bowbrick's victory in 1996 was by more than 1,800 votes over Liberal Helen Sparkes.
In 2001, voter turnout in New Westminster was 71.1 per cent – just above the provincial average.
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