Submitted. Today, Member of Parliament Ed Fast announced his intention to again seek the Conservative nomination for the new riding of Abbotsford in the next federal election. The announcement follows the re-founding meeting of Abbotsford’s Conservative Association, which took place last Friday.
“I look forward to continuing to represent the great people of Abbotsford,” said Fast. “I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as Abbotsford’s MP and as Canada’s Minister of International Trade, and have benefitted greatly from the encouragement, support, advice and constructive criticism I have received from our residents.”
Recent changes to electoral boundaries arose when British Columbia was allocated an additional six seats in the House of Commons effective as of the next general election in 2015. This will result in Abbotsford being split into and becoming part of three newly-configured ridings, namely Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon, Langley-Aldergrove, and Abbotsford.
The new Abbotsford riding is generally comprised of that portion of the City of Abbotsford to the north of the U.S. border, south of MacLure/Upper MacLure Rd., east of Mt. Lehman/Bradner Rd., and west of the Vedder canal. More information about the new ridings can be obtained at www.redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca
Prior to being elected to Parliament in 2006, Fast served five years as an Abbotsford School Trustee and nine years as a member of Abbotsford City Council.
Backgrounder:
Every 10 years, after a national census is conducted, the number of electoral districts and their boundaries are revised to reflect population shifts and growth. Abbotsford’s electoral district has subsequently changed as a result of the redistribution process.
Redistribution of the federal electoral districts is a key democratic exercise. It allows for changes and movements in Canada’s population to be reflected in House of Commons representation. The work was carried out by electoral boundaries commissions working independently in each province to propose new boundaries, consult with Canadians, and create the new electoral map for each respective province.
More on this process along with the new map for Abbotsford’s electoral boundaries can be found here.
Commissions are not required for Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut since each territory is a single electoral district.