News1130 Riding Profile Series next week

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Recent polls suggest the race between the New Democrats and the Liberals is tightening up, leading some observers to believe this election will be a battle for every single vote.

“Suddenly this becomes much more of a ground war and so it’s going to depend on who wins what ridings and how many ridings,” explains Dennis Pilon, Associate Professor of Political Science at York University.

Starting Monday, News1130 will profile some of the key local ridings that could decide who forms the next government.

One of the key races is in Vancouver-Point Grey, where the incumbent is none other than the Premier herself, Christy Clark.  The Liberal leader narrowly won the constituency in a byelection two years ago over the NDP’s David Eby.

“The New Democrats did win it with Darlene Marzari [in 1986 and 1991], a very popular [Vancouver] city councillor.  If the Premier were to go down in flames in Point Grey that would really say something about where the electorate was,” notes Pilon.

Another hot race involving a party leader we will look at is Langley, where BC Conservative boss John Cummins hopes to unseat Liberal Mary Polak, who has held the riding for two terms.

One of the keys for the NDP is making inroads in areas like North Vancouver-Lonsdale, that have long been held by the Liberals.

Pilon recalls the riding was once known for being quite blue collar.  “But of course as the wealth of that area has come up and housing has gone up in value, we’ve seen North Vancouver-Lonsdale become a more conservative kind of place.”

Naomi Yamamoto is the Liberal incumbent here, facing some strong opposition from the NDP’s Craig Keating, a long time North Vancouver City Councillor.

Jeff Sprague was the BC Conservative candidate, but as News1130 first told you, he stepped down early in the campaign due to a ‘personal incident.’

Be sure to tune in all next week, as we will profile two ridings daily, starting at 6 a.m.