By Cheryl Jahn

A picture of two Northern ridings

Apr 28, 2025 | 2:48 PM

Northern BC – They are two vastly different ridings, both of which dribble into Prince George.

Cariboo-Prince George consists of the Cariboo Regional District, bits of the Bulkley-Nechako Regional Distirct, the District of Vanderhoof, Tabor lake and Nechako in the Fraser-Fort George Regional District. In Prince George, the boundaries commence at the intersection of the western limit of the city with the Nechako River moving to Highway 97 and souther along the highway to the Fraser River.

The land mass of this riding is 83,000 square kilometres. And according to the 2011 census, it has a population of 108,252. That 1.3 people per square kilometres of whom 84,116 are eligible to vote.

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“We try to seek some proportionality with the aim in mind at having one person, one vote. But since Canada isn’t some square grid where people living equally in all the parts of it we have to try to grab larger places with smaller populations to get that closer proportionality of votes,” says Jason Morris, UNBC Political Analyst.

Now, the Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies riding is a different matter altogether. Communities include Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek,Tumbler Ridge and the part of Prince George north of the Nechako River and east of the Fraser River. Even with a population of 107,382, according to the 2011 census, it is a whopping 243,000 square kilometres in size. That’s less than one person per kilometre with 75-thousand eligible voters.

“We tend to think at these election times that the politicians and wannabe politicians are all out there trying to get the vote. And we’re telling everybody to play their part. But in fact, in large ridings like this, it’s hard to find the voters in this big riding that we’re looking at. There’s less than half a person per square kilometre. But if you go to Vancouver Center, which is downtown Vancouver, per square kilometre, there are more than 12,000 people. It seems like there are voters all over the place there.”

But when you have larger ridings, each vote carries a little more weight.

“The larger ridings tend to have fewer people, and that means that their vote counts a little bit more than, say, somebody who lives in the West End or Kitsilano in Vancouver.”

So if you haven’t hit the polls yet, it’s time to make your vote count in either Cariboo-Prince George or Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies.