Victoria (federal electoral district)

Victoria is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1904 and since 1925.

The riding was originally chartered as Victoria District for the special byelections held in 1871 upon the province's entry into Confederation. Like the other B.C. ridings with that appellation, however, the "District" was dropped once the temporary ridings were ratified and made "permanent" for the general election of 1872; this was the first in which the Victoria riding (by that name) appeared. From 1905 up until the 1925 election, Victoria was represented by the riding of Victoria City.

Demographics + Panethnic groups in Victoria (2011−2021)Panethnicgroup202120162011 European 93,640 90,880 89,535 East Asian 7,245 7,180 5,435 Indigenous 5,180 4,325 4,035 Southeast Asian 3,820 2,880 2,140 South Asian 3,450 2,390 1,665 African 1,835 1,280 995 Middle Eastern 1,505 1,425 900 Latin American 1,425 980 645 Other 1,135 740 705 Total responses 119,230 112,080 106,055 Total population 123,482 117,133 110,942

Ethnic groups (2006): 85.54% White, 4.05% Chinese, 3.07% Aboriginal, 1.26% South Asian, 1.22% Japanese, 1.15% Filipino, 1.09% Black Languages (2011): 83.93% English, 2.92% Chinese, 1.79% French, 1.40% German Religions (2001): 35.36% Protestant, 15.05% Catholic, 3.94% Other Christian, 1.62% Buddhist, 40.52% No religion Median income (2005): $24,022

Geography It covers the entire city of Victoria, the municipality of Oak Bay and the southeastern portion of the municipality of Saanich. It also includes the University of Victoria.

History This electoral district was created in 1872 when Victoria District riding was abolished. It elected two members to the House of Commons of Canada through Block voting. Of the two it elected in 1872, one (Henry Nathan Jr.) was the first Jewish MP of Canada; the other (William Alexander "Amor De Cosmos" Smith) served as MP while also serving as premier of British Columbia.

In 1878, Sir John A. Macdonald was parachuted into the riding, as he was unelectable in eastern Canada, in the wake of the Pacific Scandal. Macdonald, previously the MP for the Marquette riding in Manitoba, had to run in a by-election as he had been appointed to the cabinet (to serve as prime minister). He chose Victoria, which had not yet held its portion of the 1878 Canadian federal election. Victorians voted for him enthusiastically, as he promised to finally bring about the construction of what became the Canadian Pacific Railway. He did not run for re-election in Victoria, instead securing a safe seat in Ontario in 1882.Canadian Encyclopedia 2005

It was abolished in 1903, and its territory was divided between the new single-member ridings of Victoria City and Nanaimo.

It was re-created in 1924 from the Victoria City riding, electing one member to the House of Commons.

A redistribution in 1966 trimmed the size of the riding slightly, removing parts of Saanich west of Cedar Hill Road and north of Cedar Hill Cross Road.

Victoria was one of two electoral districts in British Columbia that saw no changes to its boundaries proposed following the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution.

Members of Parliament This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

{| class="wikitable" ! Parliament ! Years ! colspan="2" | Member ! Party ! colspan="2" | Member ! Party |- | bgcolor="#F0F0F0" colspan="8" align="center" | VictoriaRiding created from Victoria District |- | bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 2nd | 1872–1874

| Francis James Roscoe | Independent Liberal |- | bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 4th | 1878–1882

| John A. Macdonald | Liberal–Conservative |- | bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 5th | 1882–1887 | rowspan="7" | | rowspan="2" | Noah Shakespeare | rowspan="7" | Conservative | rowspan="8" | | rowspan="3" | Edgar Crow Baker | rowspan="8" | Conservative |- | rowspan="3" bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 6th | align="center" | 1887 |- | 1888–1889 | rowspan="5" | Edward Gawler Prior |- | 1889–1891 | rowspan="5" | Thomas Earle |- | bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 7th | 1891–1896 |- | bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 8th | 1896–1900 |- | rowspan="2" bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 9th | 1900–1902 |- | 1902–1904

Current member of Parliament The current member of Parliament for Victoria is Will Greaves. He is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Riding associations

Riding associations are the local branches of political parties:

PartyAssociation namePresidentVictoria Conservative AssociationTimothy StonhouseVictoria Green Party AssociationBruce G. LivingstoneVictoria Federal Liberal AssociationAllan G. HurdVictoria Federal NDP Riding AssociationLiam Lawson-TattersallVancouver Island Regional PPC AssociationSerryna Whiteside

Election results 1925–present The Victoria riding name was re-established as a one-member seat in 1924.

1925-1984

1872–1902

The Victoria riding was abolished in 1903. Successor ridings were Victoria City and, for western parts of the riding, Nanaimo. This riding elected two members to parliament.

See also List of Canadian electoral districts Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

Notes

References

Citations

General

Expenditures – 2004 Expenditures – 2000 Expenditures – 1997

External links Website of the Parliament of Canada

Victoria (federal electoral district)

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