6 new provincial ridings recommended for B.C.

Langford, B.C. is shown. (CTV News)

The BC Electoral Boundaries Commission has just released its final report on evolving electoral districts in the province, and has recommended adding six new ridings.

The proposed ridings are for areas where rapid population growth is projected, and would bring the total number of ridings in B.C. up from the current 87 to a total of 93.

Four of those new ridings are recommended in the Lower Mainland, one is proposed for Vancouver Island and one is recommended in the Interior.

"Our proposal to increase the number of electoral districts reflects our growing province," said commission chair Justice Nitya Iyer in a release Monday.

"We do not recommend reducing the number of ridings in more sparsely populated areas of the province because doing so would undermine effective representation," she said.

The new ridings are recommended in Burnaby, Langley, Surrey, Langford, as well as in the Interior region "to better balance populations in the fast-growing communities of West Kelowna, Kelowna, Lake Country and Vernon," according to the commission's report.

In addition to introducing six new ridings, the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission recommends changing the boundaries of 72 electoral districts, and changing the names of 41 ridings to better represent how local residents view the borders of their communities.

On Vancouver Island, for example, the commission recommends changing the names of the Nanaimo and Nanaimo-North Cowichan ridings to Nanaimo-Gabriola Island and Nanaimo-Lantzville.

The commission says that by adding six new ridings and adjusting the boundaries of 72 existing electoral boundaries, the weight of votes in the province's least populated riding "will no longer be four times more than the weight of a vote in the province’s most densely populated riding."

Instead, the difference will be closer to three to one, according to the commission.

"We learned a great deal from our initial and final public consultations," said Iyer. "In total, we held 63 public meetings in 44 communities and received more than 2,000 submissions."

"We wish to thank wholeheartedly the many British Columbians who took the time to share their views with us," she said. "Your input was invaluable in shaping our understanding of our complex and diverse province."

An interactive map showing all of B.C.'s ridings, including the six new proposed ones, can be found on the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission website.