Abbotsford South Explained

Province:British Columbia
Prov-Status:active
Prov-Created:2008
Prov-Election-First:2009
Prov-Election-Last:2020
Prov-Rep:Bruce Banman
Prov-Rep-Party:Conservative
Demo-Census-Date:2006
Demo-Pop:49590
Demo-Area:211.10
Demo-Cd:Fraser Valley Regional District
Demo-Csd:Abbotsford

Abbotsford South is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, established by the Electoral Districts Act, 2008. It came into effect in the 2009 provincial general election.

History

This riding has been represented by the following members of the Legislative Assembly:

Member of the Legislative Assembly

On account of the realignment of electoral boundaries, most incumbents did not represent the entirety of their listed district during the preceding legislative term. John van Dongen, British Columbia Liberal Party was initially elected during a 1995 election to the Abbotsford-Clayburn riding and has represented them until 2013. He unsuccessfully ran for re-election in the newly created riding of Abbotsford South and lost to Darryl Plecas.

Starting in 2012, the riding has established a unique trend of MLAs switching political parties between elections, with John van Dongen, Darryl Plecas, and Bruce Banman all leaving the Liberal Party (now BC United) and either sitting as independents or joining the Conservative Party. Van Dongen lost re-election after leaving the Conservatives in turn, while Plecas did not stand for re-election.