- Incumbent: Nathan Cullen (NDP | 2020)
- Candidates:
- NDP: Nathan Cullen
- Conservative: Sharon Hartwell
- Green: Gamlakyeltxw Wilhelm Marsden
- Christian Heritage: Rod Taylor
- Results:
- NDP – 52%
- Liberal – 26%
- Christian Heritage – 12%
- Rural – 11%
- Description:
- The largest and least populated riding in all of British Columbia, Bulkley Valley-Stikine is host to a whole suite of familiar faces. MP-turned-MLA Nathan Cullen is seeking a second term in the riding, and given growing Conservative strength in the region, this may be his toughest contest yet.
- Bulkley Valley-Stikine is a mix of remote communities and small towns, dotted across the northwest of British Columbia. Telkwa has always been a repository of right-wing votes in the riding, with the Christian Heritage Party’s Rod Taylor breaking 20% in the small town. The Conservatives hope to blunt his local roots there by fielding former Mayor of Telkwa Sharon Hartwell, who ran under the BC Liberals in 2013. If CPBC can force Taylor below into the single digits across the riding, she may be able to pull off an upset.
- To win re-election, Cullen should hope to win not just Telkwa, but Smithers as well - the largest population centre in the riding. Further cushioning NDP chances here are the party’s strength among Indigenous voters living on reserves like Kitwanga and Witset, who make up 30% of the riding’s population and routinely net the NDP hundreds of votes.
- Challenging that habit will be Wilhelm Marsden for the Greens, hereditary chief of the Kitwancool Ganeda clan. Hailing from Gitanyow, Marsden has risen to prominence as an activist against the planned Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline. Depending on the attitudes of the various First Nations communities in the riding, Marsden could potentially scoop up some support and slash into Cullen’s margins there.
- While the NDP has had traditional strength in the riding, keep in mind the BC Liberals have won it before - and not just in their 2001 landslide, but 2005 as well! Granted, that was when Houston and Burns Lake were still in the riding, now reallocated into Nechako Lakes right next door. Given rising Conservative fortunes up north though, Cullen may find himself on shifting sands.
Hugh Chan is a second year student at UBC studying International Relations and Data Science. You can find more coverage of the 2024 BC election as well as politics across East Asia and the Anglosphere at https://x.com/shxnhugh.
