Yale-Lillooet

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Yale-Lillooet was 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It first appeared in the 1966 General Election, when it superseded the older Lillooet riding, which was one of the province's original twelve ridings, as well as the equally old Yale riding, parts of which were also in Yale-Lillooet. Yale-Lillooet was last contested in the 2005 General Election; in 2009 it was largely replaced by Fraser-Nicola, with the Fraser Canyon portions in the southwest transferred to Chilliwack-Hope and the town of Keremeos in the extreme southeast transferred to Boundary-Similkameen.

Demographics

Population, 2001	37,197
Population Change, 1996–2001	-2.9%
Area (km2)	31,889.62
Pop. Density (people per km2)	1.2

Geography

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

Since creation its shape 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 remained permanently in the riding until its demise.

Its boundary was 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 was Merritt. The riding was heavily mountainous and all its towns were all fairly isolated from each other by terrain and the necessarily difficult roads of the canyons and mountain valleys 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 had 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 peoples were 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.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Over the district's existence, it elected the following members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
28th	1966–1969	rowspan="3" Template:Canadian party colour |	Bill Hartley	New Democrat
29th	1969–1972
30th	1972–1975
31st	1975–1979	rowspan="3" Template:Canadian party colour |	Thomas Waterland	Social Credit
32nd	1979–1983
33rd	1986–1991
34th	1986–1991	Template:Canadian party colour |	James Rabbitt	Social Credit
35th	1991–1996	rowspan="2" Template:Canadian party colour |	Harry Lali	NDP
36th	1996–2001
37th	2001–2005	Template:Canadian party colour|	David Chutter	Liberal
38th	2005–2009	Template:Canadian party colour |	Harry Lali	NDP

Election results

Template:CANelecTemplate:Canadian party colour

B.C. General Election 2001: Yale-Lillooet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
NDP	Victor York	2,817	17.19%		$26,185

• Liberal totals reflect James Rabbitt's personal swing when he was a Social Credit Member.

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