Nechako Lakes (provincial electoral district)

Nechako Lakes is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada. It was established by the Electoral Districts Act, 2008, came into effect upon the dissolution of the British Columbia Legislature in April 2009, and was first contested in the 2009 election. The district includes the northern communities of Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Houston, and surrounding areas.

Nechako Lakes

British Columbia electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
MLA	John Rustad Conservative
District created	2008
First contested	2009
Last contested	2024

Geography

As of the 2020 provincial election, Nechako Lakes comprises almost the entire area within the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, located in central British Columbia. Communities in the electoral district consist of Vanderhoof, Houston, Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Fraser Lake, and Granisle. Notable regional communities not in this electoral district include Smithers and Telkwa, which are part of the Bulkley Valley-Stikine electoral district.^[1]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Nechako Lakes's MLA is John Rustad of the Conservative Party of British Columbia.^[2] He was initially elected to the Prince George-Omineca riding, a predecessor of Nechako Lakes.

Nechako Lakes
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Prince George-Omineca Riding created from Omineca and Prince George South
35th	1991–1996		Len Fox	Social Credit
36th	1996–2001		Paul Nettleton	Liberal
37th	2001–2005
38th	2005–2009		John Rustad
Nechako Lakes
39th	2009–2013		John Rustad	Liberal
40th	2013–2017
41st	2017–2020
42nd	2020–2022
	2022–2023			Independent
	2023–2024			Conservative
43rd	2024–present

Election results

v t e 2024 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	John Rustad	7,851	67.45	–	$33,284.32
	New Democratic	Murphy Abraham	3,167	27.21	-7.13	$11,629.69
	Green	Douglas Gook	622	5.34	–	$535.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			11,640	99.79	–	$71,700.08
Total rejected ballots			25	0.21	–
Turnout			11,665	63.37	+13.46
Registered voters			18,407
	Conservative gain from BC United		Swing		N/A[n 1]
Source: Elections BC[3][4]

1. Swing cannot be calculated as BC United did not run a candidate in this riding.

v t e 2020 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Rustad	4,611	52.24	−2.15	$17,423.82
	New Democratic	Anne Marie Sam	3,031	34.34	+4.53	$9,236.20
	Christian Heritage	Dan Stuart	413	4.68	–	$991.53
	Libertarian	Jon Rempel	403	4.57	+0.32	$0.00
	Independent	Margo Maley	368	4.17	–	$1,280.76
Total valid votes/expense limit			8,826	99.38	–	$66,123.96
Total rejected ballots			55	0.62	–0.06
Turnout			8,881	49.91	–9.15
Registered voters			17,794
	Liberal hold		Swing		–3.34
Source: Elections BC[5][6]

v t e 2017 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Rustad	5,307	54.39	+0.6	$43,487
	New Democratic	Anne Marie Sam	2,909	29.81	+2.16	$14,578
	Green	Douglas Norman Gook	878	9.00	+3.85	$163
	Libertarian	Jon Rempel	438	4.49	–	$3,100
	Independent	Al Trampuh	226	2.31	–
Total valid votes			9,758	100.00
Total rejected ballots			67	0.68
Turnout			9,825	59.06
Registered voters			16,636
Source: Elections BC[7]

v t e 2013 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Rustad	5,324	53.79	–1.97	$75,052
	New Democratic	Sussanne Skidmore-Hewlett	2,737	27.65	–7.64	$56,108
	Conservative	Dan Brooks	1,253	12.66	–	$52,518
	Green	Colin Hamm	510	5.15	–1.15	$1,599
	Advocational	Beverly Bird	74	0.75	–	$3,009
Total valid votes			9,898	100.0
Total rejected ballots			42	0.42
Turnout			9,940	58.46
	Liberal hold		Swing		+2.84
Source: Elections BC[8]

2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum
Side		Votes	%
	No	4,141	53.32
	Yes	3,626	46.68

v t e 2009 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Rustad	4,949	55.76	$60,522
	New Democratic	Byron Goerz	3,133	35.29	$7,480
	Green	Gerard Riley	559	6.30	$350
	Refederation	Mike Summers	235	2.65	$1,110
Total valid votes			8,876	99.25
Total rejected ballots			67	0.75
Turnout			8,943	54.80
Source: Elections BC[9]

See also

• List of British Columbia provincial electoral districts
• Canadian provincial electoral districts