By the numbers:
Population: 52,335
Median age: 40
Average number of children per home: 1.2
Average number of persons per family: 3.1
Total number of occupied private dwellings: 16,500
English as mother tongue: 20,445
– source: Elections B.C., based on 2011 census
BACKGROUND:
This is the first election cycle for the fledgling riding of Richmond-Queensborough. The riding was created two years ago by merging the old riding of Richmond East with the eastern tip of Lulu Island known as Queensborough.
The intention was to balance the populations in New Westminster and East Richmond – the Royal City had 25 per cent more voters than the provincial average of 55,000 and East Richmond had too few. The solution? Cut Queensborough from New West and lump it in with the Hamilton neighbourhood of Richmond, most of East Richmond and a small part of the South Arm community. The new riding would have an estimated population of 55,627, while the New Westminster riding would have 61,422. (According to 2011 census information available through Elections B.C., the new riding actually has a population of 52,335 while New Westminster has a population of 58,850.)
DEMOGRAPHICS:
The area has an abundance of housing stock perfect for the “missing middle.” According to data from the 2011 census, less than half the private homes in Richmond-Queensborough were single-family detached. The remainder included low-rise apartments, semi-detached homes, row houses, duplexes, movable dwellings and other single attached homes. Plus the median age in the riding is 40 with a hefty number of kids. In fact, 24 per cent of the population is the infant-to-19-years-old demographic, and in 2011, there were 14,900 families living in the riding – that’s 28 per cent of the population.
Another interesting thing to note is the diversity in Richmond-Queensborough. Less than half the population reported English as their mother tongue, according to the 2011 census information provided by Elections B.C. The majority of people, instead, identified their mother tongue as something other than English – the top six languages spoken in Richmond-Queensborough? Punjabi, Filipino (Tagalog), Hindi and several Chinese languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin and others that were unspecified.
HOT ISSUES:
Been to Queensborough lately? The neighbourhood is booming like no other in the Royal City. The population in Queensborough alone has ballooned from 2,000 in 1990 to 7,100 in 2011, according to census data. Properties that once housed farm animals, are being sold and redeveloped into townhouse complexes, condo developments, row houses and duplexes. Eventually, Queensborough will run out of land, sure, but that’s still far off considering the number of small farms that still remain in the southwest portion of the neighbourhood. Plus interest in Queensborough has grown over the years and is likely pushing up prices, which will eventually price many families out.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
In the 2013 election, New Westminster NDP candidate Judy Darcy won eight of the 14 polling stations in Queensborough. Darcy went on to win the New Westminster seat with 48 per cent of the votes. Over in Richmond East, B.C. Liberal candidate Linda Reid won the race with nearly 55 per cent of votes. While we’d like to be optimistic and say whichever candidate wins in Queensborough will win the riding, it just isn’t true. Richmond dominates the new riding with more than a majority of polling stations. But this doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the towel. If residents east of Boundary Road can get their voices heard, they may be able to influence the vote. And once the ballots are cast and the dust settles, you can bet folks will expect the new MLA to stay abreast of what’s going on in the ‘Boro. Oh, and you can be sure we’ll be watching closely as well.
