Burnaby-Lougheed will be a riding to watch in the 2020 election.
The NDP won it in the last two elections, but the BC Liberals have held it as recently as 2013.
Incumbent Katrina Chen, who served as minister of state for child care in the last NDP government, won the riding in 2017 by more than 11 per cent.
But previous contests have been more competitive. In 2013 the NDP won the riding by less than three per cent, while in 2009 former BC Liberal cabinet minister Harry Bloy won the riding by more than three per cent.
Chen is running for re-election, and her handling of the child care file, one of the NDP’s key priorities, looks likely to be a campaign issue.
The BC Liberals have nominated Tariq Malik, a former president of the Vancouver Bangladesh Cultural Association.
The riding is also home to the Trans Mountain Pipeline’s Westridge Marine Terminal, and as such has been a target for the BC Greens, though the party failed to make a significant breakthrough in either of the last two elections.
This will be a key Metro Vancouver riding the BC Liberals will seek to pick up if they hope to form government.
Candidates
BC NDP: Katrina Chen
BC Liberals: Tariq Malik
Swing riding meter
Out of 87 ridings, this race was the 23rd closest in the province based on winning percentage in 2017.
Chen won by 11.1 per cent, making it the 10th closest riding of the 41 ridings won by the NDP.
2017 election results
BC NDP: Katrina Chen — 9,846 votes (48.06%)
BC Liberal: Steve Darling — 7,700 votes (36.96%)
BC Greens: Joe Keithley — 2,837 votes (13.77%)
Independent: Sylvia Gung — 134 votes (0.64%)
Libertarian: Neeraj Muraka — 109 votes (0.57%)
Find full B.C. 2020 provincial election coverage here.
