The past year wasn't a boring one in Burnaby when it came to politics, both federally and provincially.
Here's a look back at some of the most notable stories from 2024.
Provincial
The largest story involving provincial politics in Burnaby was the 2024 election held in October.
The BC NDP won all five available Burnaby seats with Rohini Arora (Burnaby East), Paul Choi (Burnaby South-Metrotown), Janet Routledge (Burnaby North), Anne Kang (Burnaby Centre) and Raj Chouhan (Burnaby-New Westminster) all being elected to represent the community.
Premier David Eby and the NDP secured another term with a majority government, winning 47 seats while the Conservative Party of BC claimed 44 and the BC Green Party winning two.
Kang, who is serving her third term, was also named to Eby's cabinet, being named Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.
She was also Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training under former Premier John Horgan.
Final counts in Burnaby were as follows:
Burnaby Centre
- BC NDP - Anne Kang - 9.779 votes (57.28 per cent)
- Conservative Party of BC - Dharam Kajal - 7,293 votes (42.72 per cent)
Burnaby East
- BC NDP - Reah Arora - 10,487 votes (51.84 per cent)
- Conservative Party of BC - Simon Chandler - 8,199 votes (40.53 per cent)
- BC Green Party - Tara Shushtarian - 1,543 votes
Burnaby-New Westminster
- BC NDP - Raj Chouhan - 10,644 votes (59.99 per cent)
- Conservative Party of BC - Deepak Suri - 6,160 votes (34.72 per cent)
- Independent - Daniel Kofi Ampong - 940 votes (5.30 per cent)
Burnaby North
- BC NDP - Janet Routledge - 10,724 votes (53.26 per cent)
- Conservative Party of BC - Michael Wu - 8,657 votes (42.99 per cent)
- Independent - Martin Kendell - 754 votes (3.74 per cent)
Burnaby South-Metrotown
- BC NDP - Paul Choi - 7,560 votes (49.33 per cent)
- Conservative Party of BC - Han Lee - 6,372 votes (41.58 per cent)
- BC Green Party - Carrie McLaren - 960 votes (6.26 per cent)
- Unaffiliated - Meiling Chia - 290 votes (1.89 per cent)
- Independent - MichaelAngelo Abc RobinHood - 142 votes (0.93 per cent)
Federal
Perhaps the largest federal politics story involved Burnaby South MP and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh — and it happened two weeks ago.
On Dec. 16, Chrystia Freeland, the former minister of finance and deputy premier, announced she was leaving Trudeau's cabinet amid disagreements with the prime minister.
At a news conference later that morning, Singh called out Trudeau and the Liberals for fighting amongst themselves, calling on Trudeau to immediately resign.
"Right now, Canadians are struggling with the cost of living," the Burnaby MP told reporters in Ottawa.
"I hear it everywhere I go. They can't find a home they can afford; can't buy their groceries. And on top of that, we have [president-elect] Trump threatening tariffs of 25 per cent which [would] put hundreds and thousands of Canadian jobs at risk.
"Instead of focusing on these issues, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are focused on themselves. They're fighting themselves instead of fighting for Canadians.
"For that reason, I'm calling on Trudeau to resign. He has to go."
NDP will bring down Trudeau government
Four days later, after Justin Trudeau had offered no response to calls on him to resign, Singh announced the NDP would table a non-confidence motion against Trudeau and the Liberals when parliament returns.
"The NDP will vote to bring this government down and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them," he said.
"The Trudeau Liberals said a lot of the right things. Then they let people down again and again.
"The Liberals don't deserve another chance. That's why the NDP will vote to bring this government down and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them. No matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government's time is up."
