A recently concluded reorganization of federal electoral boundaries will see local Member of Parliament Mark Strahl running in the new Chilliwack-Hope riding in the next election.
The readjusted riding will encompass only Chilliwack and Hope.
Strahl's current Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon riding includes the District of Kent, Harrison Hot Springs, Yale, Boston Bar, Lytton, Lillooet, Cache Creek, and Ashcroft.
These communities will be covered by the new Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon riding for the next federal election, anticipated for fall 2015. Pemberton will join the new West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country riding.
Strahl welcomed the final report and maps released last week from the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for British Columbia.
“Chilliwack—Hope is entirely contained within my current riding of Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon,” said Strahl in a release. “I was born and raised in Chilliwack, and my roots in both Chilliwack and Hope are very deep. I’m looking forward to running here in the next election.”
The boundaries of Chilliwack-Hope keep the City of Chilliwack intact, after earlier proposals had split up the city.
"It made sense to keep Chilliwack together, and I'm glad they saw it that way in the end," added Strahl.
The government launched a review of federal electoral boundaries to better reflect population changes, so that each riding contains roughly the same number of people and takes into account the identities, histories and geographic sizes of individual communities.
B.C. gains six new federal seats as a result of the review.
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