In 2009: Incumbent Mary Polak won this riding for the Liberals, defeating NDP candidate Kathleen Stephany by over 4500 votes, 57-36%.
History & Geography: Created in 1966, the riding has had the same general boundaries since the 1991 election, when Aldergrove-Fort Langley was split off from it. It spans the City of Langley, along with everything south of it between 196th and 232nd Street. Langley voted Social Credit for seven straight elections, and has voted for the Liberals the last five. Many of the low-cost apartments in the city centre and areas around Kwantlen University lean towards the NDP, but the rest of the riding is solidly Liberal.
Basic Stats:
Population: 64020 (7th)
Size: 94 km (49th)
Density: 681.1 people/km (36th)
Candidates
Liberals-Mary Polak: The Minister of Transportation, Polak was first elected in 2005. She previously served as a member of the Surrey School Board, where she spearheaded a charge to keep three books depicting same-sex families out of classrooms. She lost a 2004 byelection in Surrey-Panorama Ridge to Jagrup Brar.
NDP-Andrew Mercier: A delivery driver, Mercier is just 26. He recently graduated with a political science degree from the University of New Brunswick and is a lifetime Langley resident. He served as served as campaign manager for Langley candidate Piotr Majkowski in the 2011 federal election.
Conservatives-John Cummings: The leader of the Conservative Party, Cummings was a Reform/Alliance/Conservative MP for Delta-Richmond East from 1993 to 2011. He has said that he does not plan on spending much time campaigning in Langley, instead travelling the province to campaign on behalf of Conservative candidates.
Greens-Wally Martin: A small businessman, Martin is the co-owner of a local Bed and Breakfast. The former “Environmentalist of the Year” in Langley, Martin was the local coordinator of the HST campaign.
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