CBCnews
Canada Votes 2008

Results, Ridings and Candidates

New Westminster - Coquitlam

2008 Results

New Westminster-Coquitlam
Party Candidate Votes Status
Updated: Nov. 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST 214/214 polls
NDP Dawn Black 20,788 Elected
CON Yonah Martin 19,298
LIB Michelle Hassen 5,582
GRN Marshall Smith 3,574
LTN Lewis Dahlby 345
ML Roland Verrier 103

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.

View these results in the interactive map »
Download Riding Map (PDF)

This riding, containing parts of New Westminster and Port Moody, encompasses the area between the Fraser River in the south, Burrard Inlet in the north, the Coquitlam River in the east and 10th Avenue and North Road in the west.

Thirty-one per cent of the riding's residents are immigrants. Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Spanish, German and Italian are among the many languages spoken here.

The primary employers are retail trade, the service sector, manufacturing and construction. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $83,378 and an unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent.

New Westminster-Burnaby was established in 1986. The name changed to New Westminister-Coquitlam-Burnaby in 1996. In 2004, New Westminster-Coquitlam was formed by combining a large swath of New Westminster-Coquitlam-Burnaby with about one-quarter of Port Moody-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam.

Population: 111,231 (2006 census; an increase of 1.8% since 2001)

Political History

The NDP's Dawn Black upset Conservative incumbent Paul Forseth in 2006 after Forseth held this riding for 12 years.

He won under the Reform banner in 1993, edging out his Liberal opponent by 814 votes. In 1997, his margin was 1,848 votes and in 2000 he defeated Liberal Lee Rankin by more than 6,000 votes. In 2004, Forseth squeaked past Steve McClurg of the NDP, with a margin of just 113 votes, to win for the Conservatives.

Before Forseth, the NDP reigned in this region, winning all but one election since 1962. Pauline Jewett was the MP here from 1979 to 1988. Fellow New Democrat Black replaced her in 1988.

New Westminister-Coquitlam-Burnaby:

  • 1997 - REF
  • 2000 - CA

New Westminster-Coquitlam:

  • 2004 - CON
  • 2006 - NDP