Voters have elected a BC Liberal majority government to guide the province over the next four years, much to the surprise of pollsters and almost every pundit.
In Surrey and Delta, the Liberals appear to have added two MLAs to their ranks, giving the area six Liberal MLAs, three NDP MLAs and independent Vicki Huntington in Delta South, who was re-elected by a comfortable margin.
Newcomer Peter Fassbender, who was ahead in Surrey-Fleetwood, and Amrik Virk, who won Surrey-Tynehead, may get a shot at cabinet seats.
Coun. Marvin Hunt, who easily won Surrey-Panorama, will also be an important member of the government.
As details of the vote were still being finalized as this was written, it’s hard to dig deep into the results. Suffice it to say though, many Surrey and Delta residents voted for economic stability, which they felt was best provided by a Liberal government.
The final few weeks of the election were framed in the traditional us-versus-them approach that is the hallmark of B.C. elections. For more than 60 years, it has been the NDP (and predecessor CCF) versus the free enterprise coalition, which has gone by several names but always has the same basic philosophy – “We’re the best alternative to keeping the NDP/CCF/socialists (the names change, depending on the particular speaker) out.”
Surrey has been a classic battleground for these two competing forces, going back to the formation of the CCF in B.C. in 1933. At that time, Surrey was part of the larger Delta riding, which included Richmond, Delta, Surrey and Langley.
Surrey had been a Liberal stronghold in most elections since the party system came to B.C. in 1903, with Delta farmer John Oliver serving as the longtime MLA (and premier from 1918 to 1927).
The CCF won in Delta in 1933, and in 1937, Len Shepherd was elected as the CCF MLA, with strong support from North Surrey (where he lived). He was re-elected in 1941.
In the 1945 and 1949 elections, Delta went over to the coalition government, and in 1952 it was one of just 19 ridings to go with the fledgling Social Credit Party.
The riding’s representation was doubled to two MLAs before the 1956 election. In 1960, in one of the closest battles between Social Credit and the CCF, it went CCF, with Jim Rhodes and Camille Mather elected as the two MLAs.
In 1963, they were defeated by Socreds Ernie Lecours and Hunter Vogel. Before the 1966 election, the province finally recognized that the fast-growing area was severely under-represented in Victoria, and the old Delta riding was split into four ridings – Richmond, Delta, Surrey and Langley.
The NDP candidate, Ernest Hall, was elected in Surrey (the riding boundaries did not include most of South Surrey and part of Cloverdale) in 1966 and held the seat until 1975. He won it again when it was a two-member riding in 1979.
In 1966, the other three new ridings went Socred.
In 1972, three of the four ridings went NDP as Dave Barrett became B.C.’s first NDP premier, with only Langley staying Socred. In 1975, all four ridings went Socred.
When Surrey became a two-member riding in 1979, one Socred (Bill Vander Zalm) and Hall were elected, making it the only two-member riding in the province with a representative from each major party.
By 1991, redistribution created numerous single-member ridings.
Now it’s 2013. The area represented by one lone Social Credit MLA, Tom Irwin, in 1953 is now represented by 15 MLAs – eight in Surrey, two in Delta, two in Langley and three in Richmond.
Irwin was one of 48 MLAs in the B.C. legislature at that time. The current 15 MLAs have much more clout, as they are part of an 85-member House.
Does that mean the South Fraser region will get more attention from the new government? That remains to be seen.
Frank Bucholtz writes Thursdays for the Peace Arch News. He is the editor of the Langley Times.