Poll update for Skeena-Bulkley election

With the election less than three weeks away, New Democratic Party (NDP) incumbent Taylor Bachrach leads the riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley by a big margin.

As of Aug. 29, Bachrach has a projected 50.5 per cent of the vote with a 7.7 point margin of error according the most recent poll by 338Canada.com, which includes polling updates for all 338 federal districts in Canada.

Conservative candidate Claire Rattée is in second place with 29.9 per cent of the projected vote with a 6.7 margin of error, Lakhwinder Jhaj from the Liberal party, who was just recently named the candidate on Aug. 20, is in third at 10.7 per cent with a 4.3 margin of error. Adeana Young, who represents the Green Party has a projected 4.6 per cent of the votes, Jody Craven of the Peoples Party of Canada trails all at 4.3 per cent.

Leader of the Christian Heritage Party Rod Taylor is also on the ballot, but projections are not available for his share of the vote on 338Canada.com or other polling prediction websites. In 2019, Taylor received 3.3 per cent of the total vote. He also represented the party in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 federal elections in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, never eclipsing four per cent of the ballots.

The riding has long been held by the NDP. Former NDP MP Nathan Cullen held the seat from 2004-2019 until he stepped down. Bachrach was elected to replace him in the 2019 election, winning with roughly 41 per cent of the vote, while Rattée who is also a second time candidate finished in second with 33 per cent.

In 2015, Cullen won by a landslide with 51 per cent of the total votes according to Elections Canada.

Bachrach was previously mayor of Smithers for two-and-a-half years, and him introduction into politics was as a councillor in Telkwa from 2009-2011.

Voter turnout will be a question throughout B.C., as it was an issue in the 2020 Provincial Election. Only 54.5 per cent of the province cast their ballot in 2020, which was a record low turnout. Though a lot of that can be attributed to the pandemic restrictions which have loosened since, there is still significant fear regarding the COVID-19 variants.

READ MORE: Meet the Candidates for Skeena-Bulkley Valley

Looking at the bigger picture, the Conservative Party has a slight projected lead. 338Canada has them ahead in 142 ridings, 170 seats are needed to win a majority government.