Government

South Surrey-White Rock byelection could come down to the wire

Four federal byelections will take place across the country on December 11, and the lone B.C. contest is slated to be the closest. Called after Conservative MP Dianne Watts resigned her seat to run for leadership of the BC Liberal Party, the vote will see former Harper-era cabinet minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay battle former...

By The Editors /

Four federal byelections will take place across the country on December 11, and the lone B.C. contest is slated to be the closest.

Called after Conservative MP Dianne Watts resigned her seat to run for leadership of the BC Liberal Party, the vote will see former Stephen Harper–era cabinet minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay battle ex–provincial cabinet minister Gordon Hogg, who decided not to run in the recent B.C. election. 

Watts narrowly beat Judith Higginbotham in the 2015 federal election, registering fewer than 1,500 votes more than her Liberal competitor. 

Watts, the former mayor of Surrey, has always had a high profile in the area, while Findlay lost her Delta seat in 2015 to Carla Qualtrough, now minister of public services and procurement. Hogg represented Surrey–White Rock in the B.C. legislature from 1997 until this May. 

Rounding out the candidates are the New Democratic Party’s Jonathan Silveira and the BC Green Party’s Larry Colero.