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含羞草研究社檛 the only ones pondering changes necessitated by the province含羞草研究社檚 rapidly growing population. B.C.含羞草研究社檚 major parties are also gearing up to fill those extra seats with help from voters in urban and suburban settings.

含羞草研究社淲ith six new seats comes the need to recruit more volunteers and staff more campaigns, and, of course, the need to spend more money,含羞草研究社� NDP campaign director Marie Della Mattia said in a statement.

含羞草研究社淏ut when people are excited about your leader and your plan, raising money and recruiting volunteers is much easier.含羞草研究社�

B.C. Conservative campaign director and executive director Angelo Isidorou said more seats means more effort 含羞草研究社� but also more potential gains.

含羞草研究社淕enerally speaking, fewer seats means fewer candidates to recruit,含羞草研究社� Isidorou said in a written response to questions about the new ridings. 含羞草研究社淗owever, some of these redistributed ridings offer the Conservative Party an opportunity to reach more voters in a direct and local way.含羞草研究社�

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.

含羞草研究社淭hese are the areas where the province is growing and the population requires additional representation to maintain that representation-by-population,含羞草研究社� said Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia.

含羞草研究社淪o, that含羞草研究社檚 the general reason why we含羞草研究社檙e seeing this redrawing of the map, and it含羞草研究社檚 worth noting that it really places additional weight on the need for parties to win votes in the urban areas of the province.含羞草研究社�

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.

含羞草研究社淚 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,含羞草研究社� he said.

含羞草研究社淲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.

含羞草研究社淧laces can choose people because places cluster qualities and features 含羞草研究社� that amplify and direct people toward certain voting preferences.含羞草研究社�

While Black said the new seats shouldn含羞草研究社檛 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 含羞草研究社� the BC Greens 含羞草研究社� garnering almost 17 per cent of votes.

含羞草研究社淭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 含羞草研究社� which used to be centre-right 含羞草研究社� has tilted about five percentage points to the left,含羞草研究社� Black said, noting population growth was happening mostly in urban centres.

含羞草研究社淎nd so, this phenomenon whereby people in cities tend to vote, more or less, leaning NDP 含羞草研究社� or Green, for that matter 含羞草研究社� is the reason I believe we含羞草研究社檝e seen this tilt.含羞草研究社�

Black said this demographic trend put an imperative on centre-right parties to speak to urban voters more because 含羞草研究社渢hat含羞草研究社檚 where the ridings are.含羞草研究社�

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.

含羞草研究社淚 think this partly reflects a problem that the Conservatives have to solve, and that is the question of vote efficiency,含羞草研究社� Black said. 含羞草研究社淭he Conservatives, according to the poll data, are running up the popular vote totals enormously 含羞草研究社� well over 50 per cent 含羞草研究社� 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含羞草研究社檚 the path to power.含羞草研究社�

Prest cautioned against assuming an NDP advantage.

含羞草研究社淭hey still need to maintain those links with those voters,含羞草研究社� he said of the party and voters in the new ridings. 含羞草研究社淎nd it also creates opportunities for other parties to try to make inroads, as well.含羞草研究社�

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

含羞草研究社淭here含羞草研究社檚 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,含羞草研究社� Prest said, adding even small boundary changes can make a big difference in a close vote.

含羞草研究社淓very neighbourhood can make a little bit of difference at the margins,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淎nd it is specifically at those ridings where essentially the town or the city meets the country, if you like 含羞草研究社� where the urban meets the suburban or rural areas of the province 含羞草研究社� that (boundary) changes can have a real effect.含羞草研究社�