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

{| class="wikitable collapsible sortable"

|+ Panethnic groups in Victoria (2011−2021)

! rowspan="2" |Panethnic<br>group

! colspan="2" |2021

! colspan="2" |2016

! colspan="2" |2011

|-

!

!

!

!

!

!

|-

| 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

!

|- class="sortbottom"

| colspan="15" |

|}

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 <br />

Languages (2011): 83.93% English, 2.92% Chinese, 1.79% French, 1.40% German <br />

Religions (2001): 35.36% Protestant, 15.05% Catholic, 3.94% Other Christian, 1.62% Buddhist, 40.52% No religion<br />

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.

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" | Victoria<br />Riding created from Victoria District

|-

| bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 2nd

| 1872–1874

| | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| Henry Nathan, Jr.

| Liberal

| rowspan="3" | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| rowspan="3" | Amor De Cosmos

| rowspan="3" | Liberal

|-

| bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 3rd

| 1874–1878

| | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| Francis James Roscoe

| Independent Liberal

|-

| bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 4th

| 1878–1882

| | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| John A. Macdonald

| Liberal–Conservative

|-

| bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" | 5th

| 1882–1887

| rowspan="7" | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| rowspan="2" | Noah Shakespeare

| rowspan="7" | Conservative

| rowspan="8" | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| 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

| | &nbsp; &nbsp;

| George Riley

| Liberal

|-

| bgcolor="#F0F0F0" colspan="8" align="center" | Riding dissolved into Victoria City and Nanaimo

|-

| bgcolor="#F0F0F0" colspan="8" align="center" | Victoria<br />Riding re-created from Victoria City

|-

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:

{| class="wikitable"

|-

| colspan="2" rowspan="1" align="left" valign="top" | Party

| valign="top" |Association name

| valign="top" |President

|Victoria Conservative Association

|Timothy Stonhouse

|Victoria Green Party Association

|Bruce G. Livingstone

|Victoria Federal Liberal Association

|Allan G. Hurd

|Victoria Federal NDP Riding Association

|Liam Lawson-Tattersall

|Vancouver Island Regional PPC Association

|Serryna Whiteside

|}

Election results

1925–present

The Victoria riding name was re-established as a one-member seat in 1924.

1925-1984

===1872–1902===<!-- This section is linked from List of Prime Ministers of Canada -->

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&nbsp;– 2004
  • Expenditures&nbsp;– 2000
  • Expenditures&nbsp;– 1997
  • Website of the Parliament of Canada