New Westminster—Burnaby

New Westminster—Burnaby straddles two cities in the heart of Metro Vancouver, encompassing all of New Westminster west of 8th Street and the southern portion of Burnaby below Kingsway and the Trans-Canada Highway corridor. With a population of approximately 114,700, it is one of the most densely populated and ethnically diverse ridings in British Columbia. New Westminster—founded in 1859 as the original capital of the Colony of British Columbia—sits on the north bank of the Fraser River and has undergone intensive high-rise redevelopment along its waterfront and around its SkyTrain stations. The riding is served by multiple SkyTrain stations on the Expo and Millennium lines, making it one of the best transit-connected districts in the Lower Mainland. Ethnically, the population is approximately 50.7% white, 20.2% Chinese, 10.6% South Asian, 4.3% Filipino, and 2.9% Korean, with smaller Latin American, Black, Japanese, and Southeast Asian communities.

Candidates

Peter Julian (NDP) Born and raised in New Westminster, Julian is a fourth-generation resident of the community. 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, where the organization won consecutive Canadian Consumers' Choice Awards. First elected in 2004, Julian served continuously as MP for the area and held the role of NDP House Leader. He co-founded the Save St. Mary's Hospital Community Coalition and helped build the BC Disability Employment Network.

Rozina Jaffer (Liberal) A criminal lawyer and former frontline social worker, Jaffer holds a Bachelor of Social Work from UBC and a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School. She spent over 10 years in medical social work before completing her law degree and practising as a staff lawyer for Legal Aid Ontario. A five-year New Westminster resident, she served on the city's multicultural advisory committee and volunteered with the Ismaili Muslim community supporting newcomer settlement.

Paige Munro (Conservative) Born in New Westminster and raised along the New Westminster–Burnaby border, Munro attended Cariboo Hill Secondary in French immersion, earned a BA from McGill University, and completed an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, with her thesis focused on Canadian security and foreign policy. She operates a small security risk analysis business and is notable as the youngest Canadian to make the shortlist for the Mars One project and the youngest Canadian woman to summit the Matterhorn.

David Macdonald (Green Party) Macdonald represented the Green Party of Canada in the riding, running on the party's platform of climate action, social justice, and democratic reform.

About the Riding

New Westminster—Burnaby's urban character makes housing affordability its central political issue. The riding's proximity to downtown Vancouver, combined with excellent SkyTrain connectivity, has driven intense condominium and rental development—particularly around New Westminster's waterfront, where former industrial land along the Fraser River has been converted into residential towers. Despite the construction boom, vacancy rates have remained low and average rents have climbed steeply, putting pressure on low- and middle-income residents. Homelessness and the opioid crisis have been visible concerns, especially along Columbia Street in downtown New Westminster.

The riding contains significant institutional anchors. Royal Columbian Hospital—one of two Level 1 trauma centres in British Columbia and the province's oldest hospital, founded in 1862—underwent a major expansion and redevelopment project that broke ground in 2017, adding a new acute care tower. Douglas College's main campus in New Westminster serves thousands of students. The Burnaby portion of the riding includes portions of the Metrotown commercial district and residential neighbourhoods along the SkyTrain corridor.

New Westminster's historic downtown, centred on Columbia Street, has experienced a revitalization that blends heritage buildings with new mixed-use development. The city's cultural life includes the Massey Theatre, the New Westminster Museum, and the annual Hyack Festival. The riding's labour movement history runs deep: New Westminster was a stronghold of trade unionism in the early 20th century, and organized labour—particularly in health care, education, and public-sector unions—remains a significant political force.