Darryl Walker has been elected the mayor of White Rock.
The former president of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union finished with just over 30 per cent of the vote, defeating nine-year councillor Grant Meyer of the White Rock Coalition.
Incumbents Helen Fathers and David Chesney were re-elected to council. Christopher Trevelyan, Erika Johanson, Scott Kristjanson, and Anthony Manning of the Democracy Direct White Rock party. Three incumbents from the White Rock Coalition failed to be re-elected.
Candidates
Mayor
Tom Bryant
Judy Higginbotham
Grant Meyer
Mike Pearce
Darryl Walker
Garry Wolgemuth
Council
Michael B Armstrong
Moti S Bali
David J Chesney (incumbent)
Helen Fathers (incumbent)
Andy Gibney
Heather R Hildred
Erika Johanson
Zachary Johnson
Ernie G Klassen
Megan S Knight (incumbent)
Scott H Kristjanson
Christian J Lane
Bill E Lawrence (incumbent)
Fiona A MacDermid
Anthony R Manning
Mia I Pedersen
Jeffery K Simpson
Lynne Sinclair (incumbent)
Balbir K Thind
Christopher J Trevelyan
Ken R Wuschke
Nerissa J Yan
Boundary
The City of White Rock is nestled between South Surrey to the north and Boundary Bay to the south in Metro Vancouver. It stretches from 136th Street in the west to 160th Street in the east.
Population (2016)
19,952.
History
Present-day White Rock sits on what has been the traditional territory of the Coast Salish Semiahmoo First Nations people for thousands of years. A large white boulder on the beach, from which the community draws its name, has long been a key Indigenous landmark and served as a navigation point for early settlers.
European settlement began in earnest in the early 1900s with the construction of the Great Northern Railway line and a cluster of cottages along the waterfront, along with a post office, waterworks, schools and a hospital.
Following the Second World War, the community grew outward from the beach. White Rock, then a ward of Surrey, was incorporated in 1957 over conflict with the city over service levels.
White Rock’s iconic pier was reconstructed in 1977, and the waterfront community’s identity was revitalized in the 1980s in concert with a high-profile sand castle competition that would draw hundreds of thousands to the area in summer.
Retail and services drive the local economy today, though the community serves primarily as a residential, retirement and recreation community.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$132,736/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – municipal/B.C.
83.10 (-0.30)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – municipal/B.C.
27.70 (-28.79)/74.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Gordie Hogg (Liberal)
Provincial
Tracy Redies (BC Liberal)
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