B.C. election 2017: Surrey-Whalley riding

The NDP’s Bruce Ralston first won this riding in 2005, and has held it ever since.

From 1985 to 2001, it belonged to NDP’s Joan Smallwood, and has only been held by the BC Liberals once in the past 30 years, after the 2001 wipe-out.

In 2013, Ralston more than doubled the vote total of his Liberal challenger (61 per cent – 29 per cent).

In 2009 Ralston’s margin of victory was even higher.

In short, this is one of the safest NDP seats in Metro Vancouver.

Candidates

BC Liberals’ Sargy Chima is described on her website as a “longtime public servant and active community volunteer.” Chima is the sister of former federal cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal.

NDP’s Bruce Ralston was first elected in 2005. Ralston most recently served as the Critic for Natural Gas Development, Trade, Immigration, and Multiculturalism.
A lawyer, Ralston served as Surrey city councillor from 1988-1993.

Green Party’s Rita Fromholt is a former Project Manager and Business Analyst in the Vancouver tech sector. Fromholt has been involved in political campaigns on both the provincial and federal levels, with the Green party, the NDP and the federal Liberals. She is also part of Al Gore’s Climate Leader Corps.

Communist Party of BC’s candidate is George Gidora. There is still a Marxist-Leninist party in B.C. They are running six candidates in 2017.

2017 Stats: Surrey-Whalley

Population (2014): 58,668 (30th)
Population Deviation from Average: 10.4 per cent
Area: 27 sq km (66th)
Pop Density: 2,172.9 (22nd)
Average Age: 37.5 years (79th)
English as Second Language: 45.90 per cent (20th)

Top 3 Second Languages:
Panjabi (Punjabi) – 13.56 per cent
Hindi – 4.59 per cent
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) – 4.10 per cent