Victoria is a federal

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, that has been represented in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

from 1872 to 1904 and since 1925. The riding was originally chartered as

Victoria District Victoria District was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1871 to 1872. History It was created at the time of that province's entry into Confederation in 1871. ...

for the special byelections held in 1871 upon the province's entry into

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. But, like the other B.C. ridings with that appellation, 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

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
Languages (2011): 83.93% English, 2.92% Chinese, 1.79% French, 1.40% German
Religions (2001): 35.36% Protestant, 15.05% Catholic, 3.94% Other Christian, 1.62% Buddhist, 40.52% No religion
Median income (2005): $24,022

Geography

It covers the entire city of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, the municipality of

Oak Bay Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordere ...

and the southeastern portion of the municipality of Saanich. It also includes the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

Riding associations

Riding association An electoral district association (french: association de circonscription enregistrée), commonly known as a riding association (french: association de comté) or constituency association, is the basic unit of a political party at the level of the ...

s are the local branches of the national political parties:

History

This electoral district was created in 1872 when

riding was abolished. It elected two members to the

through

Block voting Block voting or bloc voting refers to electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected at once and a group (voting bloc) of voters can force the system to elect only their preferred candidates. Block voting may be used at large (in a si ...

. Of the two it elected in 1872, one was the first Jewish MP of Canada; the other served as MP while also serving as premier of the province. In 1878, Sir

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

was parachuted into the riding, as he was unelectable in eastern Canada, in the wake of the

Pacific Scandal The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Colum ...

. Macdonald, previously the MP for the Marquette riding in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, 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 federal election. Victorians voted for him enthusiastically, as he promised to finally bring about the construction of what became the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

. He did not run for re-election in Victoria, instead securing a safe seat in Ontario in 1882.Canadian Encyclopedia 2005 It was abolished in 1903, and split into Victoria City and

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

ridings. 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 A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

: {, class="wikitable" , - bgcolor="CCCCCC" ! Parliament ! Years ! colspan="2" , Member ! Party ! colspan="2" , Member ! Party , - , bgcolor="#F0F0F0" colspan="8" align="center" , Victoria
''Riding created from''

, - , bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" , 2nd , 1872–1874 , , , Henry Nathan, Jr. ,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

, rowspan="3" , , rowspan="3" ,

Amor De Cosmos Amor De Cosmos (born William Alexander Smith; August 20, 1825 – July 4, 1897) was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second premier of British Columbia. Early life Amor De Cosmos was born William Alexander Smith ...

, rowspan="3" ,

, - , bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" ,

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, 1874–1878 , , ,

Francis James Roscoe Francis James Roscoe (December 28, 1830 – December 20, 1878) was a Canadian entrepreneur and Member of Parliament. Francis Roscoe was born in Liverpool, England, the son of W.S. Roscoe, was educated at University College and the University ...

, Independent Liberal , - , bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" , 4th , 1878–1882 , , ,

, Liberal–Conservative , - , bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" , 5th , 1882–1887 , rowspan="7" , , rowspan="2" ,

Noah Shakespeare Noah Shakespeare (January 26, 1839 – May 13, 1921) was a Canadians, Canadian politician from British Columbia noted for his involvement in the anti-Chinese movement. Shakespeare was born in Staffordshire, Staffordshire, England, arriving ...

, rowspan="7" ,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

, rowspan="8" , , rowspan="3" , Edgar Crow Baker , rowspan="8" ,

, - , rowspan="3" bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" , 6th , align="center" , 1887 , - , 1888–1889 , rowspan="5" ,

Edward Gawler Prior Edward Gawler Prior, (21 May 1853 – 12 December 1920) was a mining engineer and politician in British Columbia. Early life Prior was born in Dallowgill, Yorkshire, England, and worked as a mining engineer in England until 1873. He then m ...

, - , 1889–1891 , rowspan="5" ,

Thomas Earle Thomas Earle may refer to: * Thomas Earle (American politician), American journalist and politician *Thomas Earle (Canadian politician) Thomas Earle (September 27, 1837 – July 13, 1911) was a Canadian businessman and Conservative politicia ...

, - , bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" ,

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

, 1891–1896 , - , bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" ,

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, 1896–1900 , - , rowspan="2" bgcolor="whitesmoke" align="center" ,

9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

, 1900–1902 , - , 1902–1904 , , , George Riley ,

, - , bgcolor="#F0F0F0" colspan="8" align="center" , ''Riding dissolved into'' Victoria City ''and''

, - , bgcolor="#F0F0F0" colspan="8" align="center" , Victoria
''Riding re-created from'' Victoria City , -

Current Member of Parliament

The current Member of Parliament for Victoria is

Laurel Collins Laurel Collins (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Victoria in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2019 Canadian federal election. Prior to her election in the House of Commons, she was a cit ...

of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

, a former sociology instructor at the

, and Victoria City Councillor.

Election results

1925–present

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

1925-1984

1872–1902

The Victoria riding was abolished in 1903. Successor ridings were Victoria City and, for western parts of the riding,

. This riding elected two members to parliament.

References

*
Expenditures – 2004

Expenditures – 2000

Expenditures – 1997

Notes

External links

* Website of th
Parliament of Canada
{{coord, 48.4, N, 123.3, W, display=title British Columbia federal electoral districts on Vancouver Island Politics of Victoria, British Columbia Saanich, British Columbia British Columbia federal electoral districts