New Westminster—Burnaby

New Westminster—Burnaby straddles two cities in the heart of Metro Vancouver, taking in all of New Westminster west of 8th Street and the southern portion of Burnaby below the Kingsway and Trans-Canada Highway corridor. The riding is one of the most densely populated and transit-connected districts in the Lower Mainland, served by multiple SkyTrain stations on the Expo and Millennium lines.

Candidates

Peter Julian (NDP) — Born and raised in New Westminster, Julian was first elected to Parliament in 2004 and had represented the area continuously since then. After attending New Westminster Secondary School, he worked as a manual labourer and factory worker before earning a political science degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal. He later served as Executive Director of the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and held the role of NDP House Leader in Parliament.

Will Davis (Liberal) — A standup comedian, father of five, and Coquitlam resident, Davis brought a varied professional background spanning media, small business, and charity work to his campaign. He argued it was time for the riding to elect a representative in government.

Megan Veck (Conservative) — A former communications manager who had worked as a legislative assistant to Conservative MP Mark Warawa, Veck was 24 years old at the time of the election. She focused her campaign on the environment and the cost of living in the Lower Mainland.

Suzanne de Montigny (Green Party) — An author and former teacher, de Montigny was motivated to enter politics by the urgency of climate change. She emphasized inclusion and representation for all community voices during her campaign.

Minor candidates included Hansen Ginn (People's Party), Neeraj Murarka (Libertarian), Ahmad Passyar (Independent), and Joseph Theriault (Marxist-Leninist).

About the Riding

New Westminster, founded in 1859 as the original capital of the Colony of British Columbia, is one of western Canada's oldest cities. Its Fraser River waterfront has been transformed by high-rise residential development, and the city's SkyTrain stations on the Expo Line connect it to Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey. Housing affordability was the riding's defining political issue, driven by intense condominium and rental construction that nonetheless failed to keep pace with demand. Royal Columbian Hospital—one of two Level 1 trauma centres in British Columbia and the province's oldest hospital, founded in 1862—was undergoing a major expansion and redevelopment. Douglas College's main campus in New Westminster serves thousands of students. The Burnaby portion of the riding includes residential neighbourhoods along the SkyTrain corridor and parts of the Edmonds commercial area. New Westminster's historic downtown along Columbia Street blends heritage buildings with new mixed-use development. The riding's labour movement history runs deep—New Westminster was a stronghold of trade unionism in the early twentieth century, and organized labour in healthcare, education, and public-sector unions remained a significant political force. Homelessness, the opioid crisis, and transit infrastructure were additional concerns for voters in 2019.