Here’s how it all went down in Monday’s election, by the numbers, in Surrey’s five federal ridings.
First, the total population of Cloverdale-Langley City, Fleetwood-Port Kells, Surrey-White Rock, Surrey Centre and Surrey Newton in this 2019 election was 573,426, when combining the figures for the five ridings as tallied by Elections Canada.
It must be noted this number also embraces White Rock and Langley City.
The total number of electors was 394,193, with a voting turnout on election day of 241,855.
All told, the Liberals received the most votes of all – a total of 92,532 – in these five ridings combined, compared to 80,087 for the Conservatives, 50,260 for the NDP, 13,988 for the Green Party, 4,213 for the People’s Party of Canada, 376 for the Christian Heritage Party, 272 for an Independent, and 127 for the Communists.
Surrey Centre’s voter turnout, incidentally, was the second lowest in the province, at 53.6 per cent.
The worst was Richmond Centre, with a turnout of 51.9 per cent.
The highest in B.C. was in Saanich-Gulf Islands, at 73.1 per cent.
The highest voter turnout in Surrey was in South Surrey-White Rock (67.89 per cent) followed by Cloverdale-Langley City (63.99 per cent), Surrey-Newton (60.46 per cent) and Fleetwood-Port Kells (59.8 per cent).
And these are the local results, riding by riding:
Cloverdale-Langley City
Tamara Jansen, Conservative, 20,772 votes (37.7 per cent)
John Aldag, Liberal, 19,470 votes (35.4 per cent)
Rae Banwarie, NDP, 10,389 votes (18.9 per cent)
Caelum Nutbrown, Green, 3,502 votes (6.4 per cent)
Ian Kennedy, People’s Party, 925 votes (1.7 per cent)
Population: 117,640. Number of electors: 86,045. Voter turnout on election day: 55,058 (63.99 per cent). Total number of valid votes: 55,058.
Fleetwood-Port Kells
Ken Hardie, Liberal, 18,149 votes (37.7 per cent)
Shinder Purewal, Conservative, 16,347 (33.9 per cent)
Annie Ohana, NDP, 10,293 votes (21.4 per cent)
Tanya Baertl, Green, 2,324 votes (4.8 per cent)
Mike Poulin, People’s Party, 1,081 votes (2.2 per cent)
Population: 116,958. Number of electors: 80,593. Voter turnout on election day: 48,194 (59.8 per cent). Total number of valid votes: 48,194.
South Surrey-White Rock
Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, 24,044 votes (42.1 per cent)
Gordon Hogg, Liberal, 21,319 votes (37.3 per cent)
Stephen Crozier, NDP, 6,558 votes (11.5 per cent)
Beverly Pixie Hobby, Green, 4,361 votes (7.6 per cent)
Joel Poulin, People’s Party, 838 votes (1.5 per cent)
Population: 104,051. Number of electors: 84,138. Voter turnout on election day: 57,120 (67.89 per cent). Total number of valid votes: 57,120.
Surrey Centre
Randeep Singh Sarai, Liberal, 15,266 votes (37.4 per cent)
Sarjit Singh Saran, NDP, 11,166 votes (27.4 per cent)
Tina Bains, Conservative, 10,413 votes (25.5 per cent)
John Werring, Green Party, 2,505 votes (6.1 per cent)
Jaswinder Singh Dilawari, People’s Party, 700 votes (1.7 per cent)
Kevin Pielak, Christian Heritage Party, 376 votes (0.9 per cent)
Jeffrey Breti, Independent, 272 votes (0.7 per cent)
George Gidora, Communist, 127 votes (0.3 per cent)
Population: 120,172. Number of electors: 76,170. Voter turnout on election day: 40,825 (53.6 per cent). Total number of valid votes: 40,825.
Surrey-Newton
Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, 18,328 votes (45.1 per cent)
Harjit Singh Gill, NDP, 11,854 votes (29.2 per cent)
Harpreet Singh, Conservative, 8,511 votes (20.9 per cent)
Rabaab Khehra, Green, 1,296 votes (3.2 per cent)
Holly Verchére, People’s Party, 669 votes (1.6 per cent)
Population: 114,605. Number of electors: 67,247. Voter turnout on election day: 40,658 (60.46 per cent). Total number of valid votes: 40,658.
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Nationally, the Liberal Party of Canada lost their majority but will form a strong minority government with 157 seats, receiving 5,915,950 votes (33.1 per cent). The Conservatives received more votes – 6,155,662 (34.4 per cent) but won less seats (121).
The Bloc Québecois won 32 seats, with 1,376,135 votes. Next was the NDP, winning 24 seats but more than double the number of votes the Bloc received, at 2,849,214.
The Green Party won three seats, receiving 1,162,361 votes, and the People’s Party of Canada was shut out seat-wise despite receiving 292,703 votes nationally.
The total voter turnout across Canada was 17,890,264 of 27,126,166 registered electors, or 65.95 per cent.
Comparatively, the highest voter turnout for a federal election in Canada’s history was 79.4 per cent in 1958 and the lowest was 58.8 per cent, in 2008.
Voter turnout nationally in 2015 was 68.5 per cent, and 61.1 per cent in 2011. Locally, voter turnout in the 2015 federal election was 61.78 per cent in Surrey Centre, 69.06 per cent in Surrey-Newton, 74.73 per cent in South Surrey-White Rock, 69.40 per cent in Cloverdale-Langley City and 65.25 per cent in Fleetwood-Port Kells.
What Canadians are left with, in this next parliament, is a minority Trudeau government. It’s the 14th federal minority government Canada has had since 1873.
Like father, like son. Trudeau’s dad Pierre headed a minority Liberal government from 1972 to 1974. This was followed by Joe Clark’s minority Progressive Conservative government (1979 to 1980), Paul Martin’s minority Liberal government (2004 to 2006), and Stephen Harper led two Conservative minority governments, from 2006 to 2008, and from 2008 to 2011.
While minority governments generally operate under the ever-present threat that a vote of no confidence will sooner or later be pursued by opposition parties, in Trudeau’s present case it will probably be later.
“It’ll last, I guess, for a while because the other parties don’t have the funds to carry on another campaign,” predicts Dr. Cara Camcastle, a SFU political science professor who specializes in Canadian politics, party ideologies and policies, and election analysis.
Dr. Cara Camcastle
“The population is probably tired out right now. And there’s still quite a bit of alienation, and antipathy towards Trudeau, so he might wait awhile, and that blows over a bit.”
Dhaliwal is by far the most experienced sitting MP in Surrey today, embarking on his fourth – though not consecutive – term. He has been a part of government caucus in a majority setting, and in opposition during minority governments.
Does he think this next parliament is going to be marked by political distraction as opposed to getting things done?
“I hope not, because the reason is very simple, and the opposition has to pay attention,” he said. “They were focusing on Justin Trudeau; Justin Trudeau was focusing on people and that is going to be his focus and that is going to be our focus moving forward, and that’s what we’re going to do, and people will understand.”
Sukh Dhaliwal
“If they try to create a mess, try to go against the will of the people that have given him the challenge to run the country, people will be able to come out and make that noise, and the opposition will have to listen to it.”
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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