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Canada Votes 2008

Results, Ridings and Candidates

Nanaimo - Alberni

2008 Results

Nanaimo-Alberni
Party Candidate Votes Status
Updated: Nov. 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST 322/322 polls
CON James Lunney 28,959 Elected
NDP Zeni Maartman 19,687
GRN John Fryer 7,467
LIB Richard Pesik 5,586
CHP Frank Wagner 186
ML Barbara Biley 154

Unofficial results were updated at the time shown following judicial recounts in six ridings. For more recent results, visit Elections Canada. The CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. External links will open in a new window.

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This is a largely rural riding spanning central Vancouver Island from the Pacific Ocean to the Strait of Georgia. Most of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve runs along the western boundary. The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District is here, as is part of Nanaimo Regional District and that section of Powell River Regional District south of Sabine Channel. Communities include Port Alberni, Parksville and Qualicum Beach, along with Nanaimo north of Wellington Road.

More than 16 per cent of residents are immigrants and about seven per cent are aboriginal. Seniors 65 or over make up 22 per cent of the population. Seventeen per cent of those over age 25 have a university certificate or degree.

Retail trade, construction, manufacturing, and the service sector are the riding's economic engines. CFB Comox is a major employer and tourism also plays an important role. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $70,480 and an unemployment rate of 6.8 per cent.

Nanaimo-Alberni existed from 1976 to 1986. It was re-established in the 1996 redistribution from portions of Comox-Alberni and Nanaimo-Cowichan.

Population: 121,434 (2006 census; an increase of 7.5% since 2001)

Political History

James Lunney of the Conservatives won this seat again in 2006, with slightly more than 41 per cent of the vote. There were seven candidates running and Lunney came almost 6,000 votes ahead of New Democrat Manjeet Uppal. Lunney sent the NDP's Scott Fraser down to defeat in 2004.

Lunney won in 2000 with the Canadian Alliance, defeating Liberal Hira Chopra by more than 15,000 votes. In the previous election, the Reform's Bill Gilmour won by a similar margin. Gilmour had come to power in Comox-Alberni in 1993.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Comox-Alberni was a New Democrat stronghold. In 1974, it went to Liberal Hugh Anderson. Then, in 1979 and 1980, Ted Miller took the seat back for the NDP. In 1984, Tory Ted Schellenberg took over, to be replaced in 1988 by the NDP's Bob Skelly.

Nanaimo-Alberni:

  • 1997 - REF
  • 2000 - CA
  • 2004, 2006 - CON