MP Nathan Cullen says Skeena-Bulkey Valley will keep its name, for now.
After hearing years of complaints from constituents, Cullen had suggested changing the name of the federal riding to Skeena-Pacific NorthWest, to better reflect its huge area beyond the Skeena and Bulkley River valleys. The riding stretches all the way from Haida Gwaii to Fort St. James, Atlin to Bella Bella.
Cullen conducted a pair of online polls on the issue, the second of which showed 64 per cent support for a name change from 662 respondents.
But many people said they felt left out by that process, and wanted more opportunity to consider the options.
鈥淔rankly, I hit 鈥榮end鈥� too quickly and missed the mark on properly inviting constituents in this decision,鈥� Cullen said in a Dec. 6 press release.
Cullen suggested revisiting the issue when Elections Canada reviews all federal riding names and boundaries after the October 2019 election.
鈥淎 lot of people are concerned that our current name reflects less than 30 per cent of the people and geography of our 330,000 km2 riding and I look forward to continuing this conversation over the next two years,鈥� Cullen said.
