Chandigarh:- Fifteen candidates of Punjabi origin have won seats in the British Columbia (B.C.) provincial elections. According to Canadian media reports, 12 of them belong to the Conservative Party and three to the NDP. The Conservative Party swept all 10 seats in Surrey. According to a report by Surrey Now-Leader, “A blue wave has officially swept through Surrey and White Rock.”
In these elections, Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal retained his Surrey North seat, which he had won in 2024 by defeating NDP minister Rachna Singh. Dr. Harjit Dhaliwal defeated NDP candidate Jessie Sunner in Surrey-Newton. Gary Purewal defeated incumbent NDP MLA Jagrup Brar in Surrey-Fleetwood, a seat Brar had held since 2004. Gary Thind defeated incumbent NDP MLA Garry Begg in Surrey-Guildford. Thind had also won a school trustee seat in Surrey’s municipal elections a week earlier. In addition, Zeeshan Wala defeated NDP candidate Amna Shah in a closely contested race in Surrey City Centre, while Jessie Sahota won in Surrey-Serpentine River.
Other Conservative winners include Harman Bhangu, Jody Toor, Steve Kooner, Monica Mohan, Pavneet Singh and Deep Sandhu. Raj Chouhan, Nikki Sharma and Rohini Arora won for the NDP. However, Canadian mainstream media have not yet confirmed these nine names.
In the October 24 election for the 93-seat Legislative Assembly, after 99 per cent of the votes had been counted, the Conservatives won 64 seats, the NDP 27 and the Greens two. This is the Conservatives’ first majority government in the province since 1928. NDP leader David Eby resigned, taking responsibility for the defeat. Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson said, “B.C. is definitely blue.” Final results are expected in early November, which could lead to changes in the figures.
