Decision BC: Surrey-Newton

In 2009: NDP incumbent Harry Bains won this riding over Liberal Ajay Caleb by over 6500 votes, 69-26%.

History & Geography: One of the three ridings created for the 1986 election when Surrey grew out of its one original riding (White Rock-Cloverdale and Guliford-Whalley were the other two), Surrey-Newton is the smallest of the Surrey ridings, spanning from Scott Road to 152nd Street, going as far north as 80th Avenue and far south as 64th Avenue. It elected former premier Rita Johnston in 1986, but has elected the NDP in every other election except 2001.

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Basic Stats:

• Population: 60115 (11th)

• Size: 14 km (75th)

• Density: 4293.9 people/km (9th)

Did you know?: In 2005, Bains defeated Liberal candidate Daniel Igali, who won an gold medal in wrestling at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Candidates

Liberals-Sukhminder Virk: A lawyer at High Point Law, Virk is the former director of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, serving for three years until the end of last year. He led local efforts to raise money for the Haitian disaster relief efforts, and has lived in Surrey for over 20 years. He has degrees from SFU and a United Kingdom law school.

NDP-Harry Bains: The critic for Transportation and Infrastructure, Bains was first elected in 2005. He was a union official with the Steelworkers for over fifteen years before entering politics. Bains was on Kwantlen’s board of governors in the 1990’s, and has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.

Conservatives-Satinder Singh: A bank employee, Singh works at TD Canada Trust. He has a degree in Maritime Studies at Memorial University, and once pursued a nautical career.

Helping Hand-Alan Saldanha: The leader of the Helping Hand Party, Saldanha was initially a Green Party candidate in the 2011 election, but was removed after he made an offensive post on his Facebook wall. He says the Helping Hand Party would focus on creating a sustainable economy that would help others unconditionally.