Incumbent MLA: Jodie Wickens (BC NDP | 2024)
Candidates:
BC NDP: Jodie Wickens
BC Conservatives: Ryan Peterson
BC Greens: Valerie Morrison
CentreBC: Kaden Mann
2024 Results:
BC NDP - 50.8%
BC Conservatives - 49.2%
One of 10 two-way races in 2024, the residents of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain will at least have more options on offer this go-around. First created in 2009 when Elections BC drew a line in the City of Coquitlam along the Barnet Highway, this seat was solidly BC Liberal until incumbent MLA Douglas Horne resigned to run federally. The ensuing 2016 by-election saw Jodie Wickens, then executive director of the Autism Support Network, wrest the seat from the BC Liberals. It was foreshadowing for the BC NDP’s surge in the Lower Mainland the next year that swept them into government.
However, Wickens would not sit on the government benches. BC Liberal candidate Joan Isaacs barely managed to oust her by a razor-thin margin of 87 votes in 2017, before being swept away by former federal NDP MP Fin Donnelly in 2020, who crushed her by over 4,000 votes.
Donnelly himself would choose not to seek re-election, leaving room wide open for Wickens to take another kick at the can. She would defeat carpenter Stephen Frolek of the Conservatives by just over 1% - and that was with no Green candidate on the ballot. This time, with both a Green and CentreBC candidate, Wickens is in for the fight of her life.
The riding can be carved into three major parts. Just north of Barnet Highway sits the Coquitlam Town Centre, with a mix of new condo towers built in the wake of the Evergreen Skytrain Line and older low-rise rental apartments. Traditionally, the BC NDP does better just east of Pipeline Road among the older rental stock in River Springs and Oxford Heights, while the BC Conservatives and BC Liberals before them have had more luck in new-build condos.
To the northwest of the Town Centre is Westwood Plateau, located just north of David Avenue. Ground first broke on construction here in the 1990s, with thousands of McMansions lining the streets. Its residents are affluent, but diverse as well - there are well-established Chinese and Korean communities here, along with a growing Persian diaspora. Part of the attraction is the neighbourhood’s position along the slopes of Eagle Mountain, which is said to remind them of the mountainous slopes back home in Iran.
Burke Mountain is the younger counterpart to Westwood Plateau. The area’s building boom is ongoing, with new townhomes and single-family homes still popping up on the streets. This is due to geographical constraints - the Plateau cannot expand west or north due to the steep mountains, while in the Town Centre there is nowhere to go but up. The proof of the neighbourhood’s growth can be seen in the flood of new polling locations east of Coast Meridian Road to accommodate new residents moving in.
The New Democrats will be banking on Wickens’ incumbency advantage and a battle-hardened riding organization to bring home the win. She will face a strong challenge from Ryan Peterson, entrepreneur and chair of the Business Council of British Columbia. His connections will give him a deep fundraising rolodex to draw upon, and no doubt Conservative leadership candidate Iain Black will be burning up the phones behind-the-scenes to avenge his 2025 federal loss and return Conservative representation to the Tri-Cities.
Complicating things will be the presence of Greens and CentreBC. The Greens are fielding animator Valerie Morrison and according to new polling data from Leger, could deprive the BC NDP of a crucial sliver of votes. Meanwhile, Centre seems to take fairly evenly from both the Conservatives and the New Democrats — and the riding’s mix of wealth and high educational attainment means their message of fiscal responsibility will resonate here, but Peterson’s profile may dampen their prospects.
Holding this seat is crucial for the BC NDP’s hopes of retaining a majority, while a Conservative win would show that the party has become respectable enough for the wary suburban moderates of 2024.
Hugh Chan is an International Relations student at the University of British Columbia who sometimes moonlights as a political reporter.
