Old rivals are vying for political office in Surrey-Fleetwood.
Jagrup Brar, who was the NDP MLA for Surrey-Panorama Ridge from 2004 to 2009, and held Surrey-Fleetwood from 2009 until 2013, when Liberal Peter Fassbender defeated him, is hoping to return the favour on May 9.
It is Brar’s fifth provincial election campaign, and Fassbender’s second. Before running for provincial office, Fassbender served as a city councillor in Langley from 2002 to 2005 and as mayor of the City of Langley from 2005 to 2013.
Brar started as the NDP MLA for Surrey-Panorama Ridge but migrated from that to run for office in Surrey-Fleetwood in 2009, when he became the riding’s first-ever MLA with 49.29 per cent of the vote.
As Liberal MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood, Fassbender served as minister of education, and minister of community, sport, cultural development and minister responsible for TransLink.
In the 2013 election he took 45.65 per cent of the popular vote, defeating runner-up Brar by 265 votes.
This riding is unique in that the three candidates who ran in the 2013 election are also running this time around. Longtime Fleetwood resident Tim Binnema of the BC Green Party will also again be seeking office in Surrey-Fleetwood. According to his website, Binnema works as a manager of engineering and is a member of the Applied Science Technologies and Technicians of B.C.
Surrey-Fleetwood is a suburban riding that was established under the Electoral Districts Act in 2008. It has a population of 60,477 and its average age is 37.7 years old. It is 17 square kilometres in size and for 55.24 per cent of its residents, English is a second language.