Work crews have been busy in the British Columbia legislature over the summer, prying apart desks in the historic chamber and piling them up in hallways as they tried to work out how to fit in six more seats.

The renovation, with an estimated budget of $300,000, including new red carpet, was needed to accommodate 93 members of the legislature who will be sitting there after the Oct. 19 provincial election.

The carpenters and carpet layers weren香蕉视频直播檛 the only ones pondering changes necessitated by the province香蕉视频直播檚 rapidly growing population. B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 major parties are also gearing up to fill those extra seats with help from voters in urban and suburban settings.

香蕉视频直播淲ith six new seats comes the need to recruit more volunteers and staff more campaigns, and, of course, the need to spend more money,香蕉视频直播� NDP campaign director Marie Della Mattia said in a statement.

香蕉视频直播淏ut when people are excited about your leader and your plan, raising money and recruiting volunteers is much easier.香蕉视频直播�

B.C. Conservative campaign director and executive director Angelo Isidorou said more seats means more effort 香蕉视频直播� but also more potential gains.

香蕉视频直播淕enerally speaking, fewer seats means fewer candidates to recruit,香蕉视频直播� Isidorou said in a written response to questions about the new ridings. 香蕉视频直播淗owever, some of these redistributed ridings offer the Conservative Party an opportunity to reach more voters in a direct and local way.香蕉视频直播�

The six additional seats are all in major population centres in southern B.C.

Four are in the Metro Vancouver communities of Langley, Surrey, Burnaby and Vancouver, one is in the Victoria suburb of Langford, and another is in the urban core of Kelowna.

香蕉视频直播淭hese are the areas where the province is growing and the population requires additional representation to maintain that representation-by-population,香蕉视频直播� said Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia.

香蕉视频直播淪o, that香蕉视频直播檚 the general reason why we香蕉视频直播檙e seeing this redrawing of the map, and it香蕉视频直播檚 worth noting that it really places additional weight on the need for parties to win votes in the urban areas of the province.香蕉视频直播�

David Black, an associate professor of communication and culture at Royal Roads University, said it would be a mistake to automatically assume the new urban seats will favour left-leaning parties such as the NDP.

Black said geographical factors create regional political leanings in places such as the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan, where centre-right parties have been favoured.

香蕉视频直播淚 think this pattern holds in the sense that Langley and Kelowna are not the same as Burnaby, Surrey or even Langford, given how close Langford is to Greater Victoria,香蕉视频直播� he said.

香蕉视频直播淲hat we know from the political science literature is that where you live has a lot to do with how you vote. We think of the left-right spectrum as a political scale, but it is as much geographical as it is ideological.

香蕉视频直播淧laces can choose people because places cluster qualities and features 香蕉视频直播� that amplify and direct people toward certain voting preferences.香蕉视频直播�

While Black said the new seats shouldn香蕉视频直播檛 be seen as automatically conferring advantage to the NDP, the trend over decades in B.C. showed a provincial electorate moving left, on average.

He said the best evidence of that came in the 2017 provincial election, when the NDP held on to 40 per cent of the popular vote despite another left-leaning party 香蕉视频直播� the BC Greens 香蕉视频直播� garnering almost 17 per cent of votes.

香蕉视频直播淭he fact that the NDP was able to hold 40, even losing that much on their left with the Green Party at 17 (under former leader Andrew Weaver), suggests to me that this axis 香蕉视频直播� which used to be centre-right 香蕉视频直播� has tilted about five percentage points to the left,香蕉视频直播� Black said, noting population growth was happening mostly in urban centres.

香蕉视频直播淎nd so, this phenomenon whereby people in cities tend to vote, more or less, leaning NDP 香蕉视频直播� or Green, for that matter 香蕉视频直播� is the reason I believe we香蕉视频直播檝e seen this tilt.香蕉视频直播�

Black said this demographic trend put an imperative on centre-right parties to speak to urban voters more because 香蕉视频直播渢hat香蕉视频直播檚 where the ridings are.香蕉视频直播�

He said in an interview in mid-August that while poll numbers for the Conservatives had surged, seat projections on tracking sites still indicated a sizable advantage to the New Democrats due to the number of urban ridings.

香蕉视频直播淚 think this partly reflects a problem that the Conservatives have to solve, and that is the question of vote efficiency,香蕉视频直播� Black said. 香蕉视频直播淭he Conservatives, according to the poll data, are running up the popular vote totals enormously 香蕉视频直播� well over 50 per cent 香蕉视频直播� in the north, but there are relatively few ridings up there whereas the NDP is more competitive in the cities where of course there are more ridings. That香蕉视频直播檚 the path to power.香蕉视频直播�

Prest cautioned against assuming an NDP advantage.

香蕉视频直播淭hey still need to maintain those links with those voters,香蕉视频直播� he said of the party and voters in the new ridings. 香蕉视频直播淎nd it also creates opportunities for other parties to try to make inroads, as well.香蕉视频直播�

The new district boundaries had also meant vast changes in electorate composition for some existing ridings, compared with the last election.

香蕉视频直播淭here香蕉视频直播檚 going to be, I think, a certain amount of reacquainting necessary for voters when they come to pay attention to who is running to represent them in the election,香蕉视频直播� Prest said, adding even small boundary changes can make a big difference in a close vote.

香蕉视频直播淓very neighbourhood can make a little bit of difference at the margins,香蕉视频直播� he said. 香蕉视频直播淎nd it is specifically at those ridings where essentially the town or the city meets the country, if you like 香蕉视频直播� where the urban meets the suburban or rural areas of the province 香蕉视频直播� that (boundary) changes can have a real effect.香蕉视频直播�