Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge

Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge sits at the eastern edge of Metro Vancouver where the Fraser River meets the Pitt River, roughly 40 kilometres east of downtown Vancouver. The riding encompasses the City of Pitt Meadows and the City of Maple Ridge, two communities separated by the Pitt River but linked by the Lougheed Highway and the Golden Ears Bridge. With a 2021 population of 116,916, the riding blends suburban residential development with a substantial agricultural footprint—over 86% of Pitt Meadows lies within the British Columbia Agricultural Land Reserve, producing blueberries, cranberries, horticultural crops, and dairy products. The Pitt River and the Fraser River naturally isolate Pitt Meadows from the rest of the Lower Mainland, lending the community a small-town character despite its proximity to Vancouver. Maple Ridge, the larger of the two municipalities at 90,990 residents, stretches northward into the foothills of the Coast Mountains and includes the shores of Alouette Lake and Golden Ears Provincial Park.

Candidates

Marc Dalton (Conservative) Born at Canadian Forces Base Baden-Soellingen in Germany to a military family, Dalton is of French-Canadian and Métis heritage. He taught French immersion and social studies in the Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows School District for 17 years before entering politics. Dalton served two terms as a BC Liberal MLA for Maple Ridge–Mission beginning in 2009, then won the federal seat for the Conservatives in 2019, defeating Liberal incumbent Dan Ruimy by more than 3,000 votes.

Phil Klapwyk (NDP) A community and labour leader, Klapwyk represents over 15,000 professionals as a union leader in the British Columbia film industry. He and his wife also operated a small café in the community, giving him firsthand experience with the challenges faced by small business owners.

Ahmed Yousef (Liberal) A Maple Ridge city councillor in his third year on council at the time of the election, Yousef holds degrees in political science and international relations. Born in Egypt, he worked for the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi before immigrating to Canada and settling in Maple Ridge in 2010, where he owns a food export business.

Juliuss Hoffmann (PPC) A self-employed resident of Maple Ridge, Hoffmann is a first-time political candidate who operates a small farm in the community.

About the Riding

The riding's economy reflects a transition from its agricultural roots toward suburban commuter patterns. Many residents travel westward into Vancouver, Burnaby, or the Tri-Cities for work, and rapid population growth—Maple Ridge grew by roughly 12% between 2011 and 2021—has intensified pressure on transportation infrastructure. The Lougheed Highway and the Golden Ears Bridge are the primary east–west arterials, and traffic congestion was a persistent campaign issue. The West Coast Express commuter rail line provides service from Maple Ridge to downtown Vancouver, but frequency and capacity have not kept pace with the riding's growth.

Housing affordability was a dominant concern heading into the 2021 election. Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows experienced sharp increases in housing prices, driven in part by buyers priced out of Vancouver's core. The median household income in the riding hovered around $90,000, and the gap between local incomes and local home prices widened considerably during the pandemic-era real estate boom. Rental vacancy rates remained extremely low, pushing rents upward and straining lower-income households.

The agricultural sector, while diminished in employment share, remains culturally and economically significant. Pitt Meadows is home to the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport, a general aviation facility, and the surrounding farmland produces some of British Columbia's most productive blueberry and cranberry harvests. Flooding risk is an ongoing concern—Pitt Meadows sits on a floodplain at the confluence of two rivers, and the community depends on an aging system of dikes and pump stations for flood protection. The November 2021 atmospheric river event, which devastated parts of the Fraser Valley, underscored the vulnerability of low-lying agricultural land throughout the riding.