So what about an 11th Province of Vancouver Island?

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There’s an election happening in Nanaimo. The big news is of course that this election could trigger a provincial election if the BC Liberals win. But there is something a little different about this election.

“The Vancouver Island Party“? What do you think of the pitch?

The “party” itself claims to be centrist in nature. But I’d say that that is a little beside the point since if a new province was created it would presumably have every party. The question here is really whether Islanders (I’m intentionally leaving off the “Vancouver”) would gain more than they would lose from becoming the 11th province of Canada like Prince Edward Island.

*The 2016 Stats Canada Census doesn’t have a ‘regional’ profile for just Vancouver Island. However, it does group Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Sunshine Coast together as an “economic region”, I’ve used that in some places below. Unemployment and GDP is from 2017.

	VI (now)	PEI	BC (now)
Area	31,285km2	5,686km2	922,503km2
Population*	759,366	140,204	4,648,055
2011-16 Growth*	5.3	1.9	5.6
Members of Parl.	7	3	40
Senators	—	4	6
Dwellings	383,244	71,119	1,881,969
Unemployment	5.0	9.8	5.4
GDP	$39.5 Billion	$4.8 Billion	$282 Billion
Data from	Stats Canada	Census Profile

GDP Data from the excellent statistics in the 2017 Vancouver Island Economic Alliance report as well as BC Data and PEI Data.

I don’t know if it would be beneficial for the Island to be a separate province. If it were to happen it would need to be a fresh start. It would have to be governed under Proportional Representation. I would advocate a new beginning for Indigenous people’s on the Island (which is why I left off Vancouver) and that could also mean a completely new start of the remaining forest lands in the E&N Land Grant.

There would be a lot to think about, but I maybe it would be worth it. Take the poll. Should it be considered?

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