Yale-Lillooet
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Yale—Lillooet is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It first appeared in the 1966 General Election, when it superseded the older Lillooet riding, which was one of the province's original twelve ridings, as well as the equally-old Yale riding, parts of which are also in Yale—Lillooet.

Demographics

Geography

The riding is largely rural and wilderness in character despite its proximity to the Lower Mainland, it spans the Bridge River-Lillooet, Ashcroft-Thompson Canyon, Fraser Canyon, Nicola and Similkameen Districts.

Since creation in time for the 1996 General Election its shape has remained relatively unchanged despite some minor boundary adjustments, with (e.g.) Ashcroft-Cache Creek joining Cariboo South in some elections and the Similkameen area joined to one of the Okanagan ridings. Its core towns - Lillooet, Lytton, Yale, Boston Bar, Hope, Princeton, Merritt and Spences Bridge have remained permanently in the riding.

Its boundary is roughly described by a quadrangle formed by and including the towns of:

• Gold Bridge-Bralorne
• Hope
• Keremeos
• Cache Creek-Ashcroft

Other towns within the riding are:

• Hedley
• Princeton
• Tulameen
• Coalmont
• Aspen Grove
• Logan Lake
• Lac le Jeune
• Lower Nicola
• Spences Bridge
• Lytton
• Boston Bar-North Bend
• Spuzzum
• Hope
• Lillooet
• Shalalth-Seton Portage
• Fountain
• Pavilion
• Hat Creek

The riding's largest and therefore electorally-dominant population centre is Merritt. The riding is heavily mountainous and all its towns are all fairly isolated from each other by terrain and the necessarily difficult roads of the canyons interconnecting them. Many of the electorate are scattered through smaller communities throughout the region, particularly on Indian Reserves and in recreational property areas of the Bridge River Country, the Nicola-Similkameen and the Fraser Canyon.

Yale-Lillooet has the highest proportion of aboriginal voters in southern British Columbia and one of the highest proportions in the province. All reserves and local bands of the Nlaka'pamux and Nicola First Nations are included within the riding, as well as those of the Upper St'at'imc and the upriver Sto:lo around Hope and Yale.

History

Hope, Yale, Boston Bar, Lillooet, Lytton and Princeton are some of the oldest towns in the province, dating to the founding of the Crown Colony during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Merritt is of slightly later date and was an isolated ranching town until the opening of the Coquihalla Highway in the mid-1980s, which caused its population to boom.

The riding has traditionally been a swing riding with both strong conservative and liberal elements in its politics, and is also considered a bellwether riding although not always winding up in Government benches. The major industries are forestry and transportation-oriented services and tourism and recreation.

Member of Legislative Assembly

Its MLA is Harry Lali. He was first elected in 2005. He represents the New Democratic Party of British Columbia.

Election results

External links

• BC Stats - 2001 (pdf)
• Results of 2001 election (pdf)
• 2001 Expenditures (pdf)
• Results of 1996 election
• 1996 Expenditures (pdf)
• Results of 1991 election
• 1991 Expenditures
• Website of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia