- Incumbent: Fin Donnelly (NDP | 2020)
- Candidates:
- NDP: Jodie Wickens
- Conservative: Stephen Frolek
- 2020 Results:
- NDP – 54%
- Liberal – 37%
- Green – 9%
- Description:
- The most right-leaning seat in the Tri-Cities quartet, Coquitlam-Burke Mountain is shaping up to be yet another close contest. With popular former MP and incumbent NDP MLA Fin Donnelly retiring, former MLA Jodie Wickens is stepping up to avenge her 2017 loss. 8 years after gaining the seat for the NDP in a by-election and 7 years after losing it by a mere 87 votes, Wickens will be hoping that the lack of a Green lets her defeat Conservative businessman and former soldier Stephen Frolek 1-on-1.
- Even with some of the most NDP polls removed from Eagle Ridge, the stretch of polls between Johnson and Oxford just south of David Avenue are the strongest for the NDP. Residents here tend to be more working and middle class, with houses here being a mix of single-family, town homes, and condos. There’s also a sizable Korean presence here along with some students commuting to SFU and Douglas College. As a general rule of thumb, the polls closest to the Skytrain station and the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall tend to be the most left-leaning, which explains why the main battleground in the riding is Westwood Plateau. North of David Avenue and west of Pipeline Road, this ritzy neck of the woods has seen quite a bit of real estate development since the 1990s, with younger families moving into the community to get away from sky-high prices in the core of Metro Vancouver. There’s also been an influx of Persians into the community lately too. As for the right, they tend to draw most of their support from Burke Mountain, which attracts wealthier professionals looking to give their kids plenty of time outdoors with plentiful amenities.
- For Frolek, his challenge will be making inroads back into some of these socially liberal, fiscally moderate households that may be turned off by Rustad’s harder edge. Wickens will have to reintroduce herself to voters, convince unhappy Greens to turn out, and ensure that the NDP can still play for keeps in suburban neighbourhoods feeling the cost of living crunch.
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.
