The BC NDP is seeking to reverse its Surrey slump after losing ground in the most important electoral region in the province.
Premier David Eby admits his government failed to appeal to wide swaths of Surrey voters in the Oct. 19 election, particularly on the issues of health care and cost-of-living.
“I wanted to see, in Surrey, much better results,” Eby told CKNW host Jas Johal this week.
“I wanted to see us not within hundreds of votes in communities … it's a message for us, it's a message we need to be in Surrey, engaging with people on the ground, face-to-face in the Valley where people are feeling these pressures acutely and they're looking for action that they can feel in their lives on these critical issues. That's what I take away from these results.”
The NDP lost a cabinet minister (Rachna Singh) and two MLAs (Mike Starchuk and Jinny Sims) in the election. It went from holding six of nine seats in Surrey in 2020, to four of 10 seats this election. Even in the ridings it did win, most of the margins were narrow and within a few hundred votes.
New Democrats would have slumped to as low as three seats in Surrey if not for Surrey-Guilford’s Garry Begg, who narrowly flipped his riding by 27 votes during the final count process.
Not only did the party lose ground, it failed to connect with Surrey voters. The NDP spent considerable effort highlighting past social media posts of Surrey South Conservative candidate Brent Chapman, who called Muslims “little inbred walking, talking, breathing time bombs.”
Despite New Democrats and some Muslim leaders labelling Chapman racist, voters elected him to office anyway.
“To have people like Brent Chapman elected, obviously we’ve got work to do in Surrey,” Eby told RedFM host Harjinder Thind this week.
“We can’t have people promoting hate being elected. And I feel a huge responsibility to deliver for the people of Surrey and to get those seats back and make sure that we’re representing Surrey in a way that people are excited about.”
Surrey is the fastest-growing region in a fast-growing province. New Democrats, who accused the previous BC Liberal government of failing to keep up with population growth, find themselves now accused of the same thing on schools, hospitals and housing.
An NDP promise in 2017 to eliminate all school portables in the region — a visible sign of government underinvestment — has failed to materialize and quietly been abandoned.
Conservative Leader John Rustad scored points in the campaign by promising Surrey a new children’s hospital, with the first pediatric intensive care unit outside of Vancouver.
The Conservative promise to scrap SOGI (the sexual orientation and gender identity learning module) in schools found support in the Indo-Canadian community, where many parents don’t want children taught certain sexual subjects in classrooms. It may also have cost Singh, the education minister, her seat in Surrey North.
Rustad had spent significant time in the area in the lead-up to the campaign, attending small gatherings and even family weddings when invited. More than 80 per cent of his campaign time was in Surrey during the election.
Surrey-Guildford’s Begg admitted this week the NDP needs to do some work to repair local relationships with Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, whom the NDP fought for several years over local policing. New Democrats also sparred with her predecessor, Doug McCallum, over expanding SkyTrain to the region.
RedFM host Thind asked Eby if Surrey voters who backed the Conservatives will face repercussions from the NDP, now that Eby has regained a one-seat majority government.
“That’s not how we run politics in the NDP, Mr. Thind,” said Eby. “When the voters send us a message, we hear it, and we respond in good faith.”
Except for the voters in Surrey South, who elected Chapman. Eby said repeatedly in interviews this week he would not work with Chapman as part of a “bright line” against what he calls racists. It’s unclear where that leaves voters in Surrey South who seek to raise local issues through their MLA.
Eby said the issues that plague the province, such as cost-of-living, transit, hospitals and crime, are all “particularly acute” in Surrey.
“If people would think that this election result would mean that we back off from Surrey or from most challenges — that's vastly not the case,” he said.
“We're going to be full-on in ensuring that we're addressing those issues in that community up the Valley.”
Expect New Democrats to bury the hatchet with Locke and redouble investments in Surrey, even with a bare-minimum majority government. The future of the NDP and its hopes of restoring itself to its former glory depend on reversing the Surrey slump.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 16 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
