SURREY — With Canada's federal election 2015 comes some big geographical changes for ridings related to Surrey, North Delta and White Rock. We will now have six MPs in this area, as opposed to four.
So of the six new ridings B.C. is gaining, we have two of them.
Before this campaign, the local electoral map was divided into Newton-North Delta, South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale, Surrey North and Fleetwood-Port Kells. But in this coming election, these ridings will slip into history, with only Fleetwood-Port Kells maintaining its name though its boundaries have changed.
The new ridings are Cloverdale-Langley City, Delta, South Surrey-White Rock, Surrey-Newton and Surrey Centre.
Election day is Oct. 19.
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Delta
North Delta, which used to be part of Newton-North Delta, currently held by NDP MP Jinny Sims, has broken away from Surrey to be part of an expansive new riding taking in the entire municipality of Delta.
Incumbent Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay will square off against Liberal candidate and human rights lawyer Carla Qualtrough in the Delta riding, as well as NDP candidate Jeremy Leveque, who works in health care. Anthony Edward Devellano is running for the Green Party.
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Cloverdale-Langley City
In Cloverdale-Langley City, it's Conservative candidate Dean Drysdale (former Langley township councillor) against Liberal candidate John Aldag, who has had a lengthy career with Parks Canada, the NDP's Rebecca Smith and Green candidate Scott Anderson, who works with Bosa Construction.
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Surrey-Newton
Surrey-Newton is a rectangular box with simply defined boundaries, from 88th Avenue in the north to Highway 10 in the south, and 120th Street is its western boundary, and 144th Street its east.
In Surrey-Newton, NDP MP incumbent Jinny Sims will take on old rival and Liberal candidate Sukh Dhaliwal, former Liberal MP, and Conservative candidate Harpreet Singh, a television show host. For the Greens, Pamela Sangha is seeking the seat.
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Surrey Centre
Surrey Centre embraces a large part of the city's north end, including Royal Heights, Bridgeview, Whalley and parts of Guildford. This replaces Surrey North, currently held by NDP MP Jasbir Sandhu. It shares boundaries with the Delta riding at 120th Street and 96th Avenue down to the Fraser River, with Surrey Newton to the south, along 88th Avenue east to 148th, where its eastern border shared with Fleetwood-Port Kells jogs north to 100th Avenue, then east to 152nd Street up to Highway 1, and along the highway to the northerly limit of the city.
In Surrey Centre Conservative candidate and businessman Sucha Thind will attempt to unseat incumbent NDP MP Jasbir Sandhu, as will Liberal Randeep Sarai. Also seeking the seat is the Green Party's Jeremiah Veneault, the Communist Party's Iqbal Kahlon and the Christian Heritage Party's Kevin Pielak.
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Fleetwood-Port Kells
There looks to be a battle royale brewing between incumbent Conservative MP Nina Grewal and NDP candidate Garry Begg, a retired senior Surrey RCMP officer, in Fleetwood-Port Kells. Ken Hardie is running under the Liberal banner in this riding. For the Green Party, Richard Hosein is running.
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South Surrey-White Rock
Finally, former Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts will be carrying the Conservative flag in South Surrey-White Rock, competing for the MP seat in that riding against NDP candidate and environmental lawyer Pixie Hobby, and Green candidate Larry Colero, who has taught graduate-level business ethics at UBC and SFU. Former Surrey city councillor Judy Higginbotham is the riding's Liberal candidate. Also running is the Libertarian Party's Bonnie Hu and the Progressive Canadian Party's Brian Marlatt.