Veteran NDP MLA Jinny Sims was acclaimed as her party’s candidate in Surrey-Panorama on Thursday night. She’s seeking re-election when voters go to the polls on Oct. 19.
Sims was elected as NDP MP for Newton-North Delta in 2011, and then NDP MLA for Surrey-Panorama – which she presently serves – in 2017 and again in 2020.
Her April 4 was at Sullivan Hall.
“It’s the first sitting MLA to get the go-ahead to do the nomination,” Sims told the Now-Leader. “In B.C., yes, I was the first one to get approved because I met all the criteria. I can only say for government, for the NDP.”
She said she “lived through” 16 years of Liberal provincial government “and the reason I’ve decided to run again is, I have this motto, that we’ve done lots but there is lots more to do. Really, I still have the passion and the energy for the work and I just love working with people, helping and making a difference.
“For me, we’re in such a good trajectory and people looking from the outside say wow. So I would like to see that trajectory continue and I say to people, because of the very fast growth in Surrey, you know how challenging it is. Nobody, not even government, not even federal, provincial, could have predicted the kind of growth we’ve experienced and that creates extra-ordinary challenges.
“Plus having a deficit from the previous 16 years, trying to make that up, and so I always say we have done loads, lots done, but we still have lots to do. And I want to be part of a team that gets things done.”
As for how the provincial election campaign will play out in Surrey, Sims said, she anticipates the debate “should be about policy and good government policy, but unfortunately with what I see during Question Period, especially in the last two weeks, this is going to be, I think it’s going to be a very loud, very much not a respectful political discourse type of election. That’s just my feeling. Now what would I like to see? I would love to have an election where those who are running, like for this position in Surrey, that we could debate policy, we could agree to disagree without becoming disagreeable in the process.”
She hopes it will be one of “facts, data and science.”
“There is so much misinformation out there that I worry about the future of democracy,” Sims said. “For me, my goal is going to be keep it focused on the issues and what we can do, and keep it a very positive campaign.”
Those issues here will be housing, health care and education, she says. How about the policing transition?
“I’m hoping that that will be resolved very, very soon,” she said of the latter. “It’s time to move on.”
Sims ran unsuccessfully for the office of Surrey mayor, leading the Surrey Forward slate, in the 2022 civic election.