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electoral area
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
n. — British Columbia, Administration
a region not included under the Municipal Act, but administered by the regional district to which it belongs.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — In British Columbia, electoral areas are pieces of land that are "not incorporated under the Municipal Act" and are usually rural or sparsely populated (see the 2005 quotation). An electoral area is managed by an "electoral area director" (see the 2005 quotation). As seen in Chart 2, this term is almost exclusive to British Columbia.
Names of electoral areas are alphabetized; for example, if one regional district has three different electoral areas, they would be labelled as such: [Regional District] A, [Regional District] B, [Regional District] C. An example would be "Electoral Area A," which operates under the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and covers a total of 818 square kilometres of dispersed land (see the 2014 quotation). It includes nine different areas: "University of British Columbia (UBC) lands, the University Endowment Lands (UEL), Bowyer Island, Grebe Islets, Passage Island, Barnston Island, and areas of Howe Sound, Indian Arm and West Pitt Lake" (see Image 1 and the 2014 quotation).
See also ITP Nelson, s.v. "electoral area", which is described as "in British Columbia".
Names of electoral areas are alphabetized; for example, if one regional district has three different electoral areas, they would be labelled as such: [Regional District] A, [Regional District] B, [Regional District] C. An example would be "Electoral Area A," which operates under the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and covers a total of 818 square kilometres of dispersed land (see the 2014 quotation). It includes nine different areas: "University of British Columbia (UBC) lands, the University Endowment Lands (UEL), Bowyer Island, Grebe Islets, Passage Island, Barnston Island, and areas of Howe Sound, Indian Arm and West Pitt Lake" (see Image 1 and the 2014 quotation).
See also ITP Nelson, s.v. "electoral area", which is described as "in British Columbia".
Similar terms, "local electoral area" and "district electoral area", are also used in Ireland (see Chart 1).
Quotations
1978
Electoral Area "H" Notice of Public Meeting
All residents of Electoral Area "H" (North Oyster) are invited to attend a public meeting to be held regarding recreational facilities proposed for the North End Recreation Area of the Cowichan Valley Regional District.
1983
Ministry rejects electoral area
The creation of a new regional electoral area consisting of this community, Nimpkish Heights, Kokish, Beaver Cove and Telegraph Cove has been rejected by the municipal affairs ministry.
1985
The GVRD has 11 distinct and circumscribed functions: air pollution control, defining electoral areas, hospital planning, housing, labor relations, regional parks, sewerage and drainage, solid waste disposal, water, and development services (the euphemism under which planning consultation now is forced to hide).
1987
The average increase in the 23 municipalities and electoral areas that participate in GVRD activities was 8.5 per cent.
1988
James Egan and John Nesbit have been together since 1948. At various times, they have farmed, run a pet and garden supply store and a biological specimen supply service. Since 1964 they have lived on or close to Vancouver Island, where Mr. Egan is now the electoral area director for the District of Comox-Strathcona.
1993
So she said she's written a letter to Premier Ralph Klein asking for changes to the law that would delete a passage saying candidates for municipal council don't have to live in the electoral area they're running in.
2005
All municipalities and electoral areas (areas that are not incorporated under the Municipal Act) are represented on the GVRD board of directors; that is, the board is made up of municipally elected officials who are then appointed by the respective municipal governments to serve on the board. There is no automatic representation by mayors or by councillors receiving the highest number of votes in local elections. The two electoral area directions are elected directly from their areas during municipal elections.
2014
Electoral Area A is the portion of Metro Vancouver that does not lie within any incorporated municipality. It includes University of British Columbia (UBC) lands, the University Endowment Lands (UEL), Bowyer Island, Grebe Islets, Passage Island, Barnston Island, and areas of Howe Sound, Indian Arm and West Pitt Lake. It is unusual for electoral areas, in that it is not a single contiguous area. The dark portion of the map shows the Electoral Area.
References
- ITP Nelson
Images
Image 1. Regions included in Metro Vancouver's Electoral Area "A". Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo: TastyCakes
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 1 Aug. 2012
