Garry Begg pledged today to champion the needs of people in Surrey-Guildford after being nominated as the BC NDP's candidate in the riding for this fall’s provincial election.

Garry was elected as the MLA for Surrey-Guildford in May 2017 and re-elected in 2020. Prior to this, he served in progressive law enforcement leadership with the RCMP for nearly 40 years where he gained a deep understanding of issues facing people living in Surrey. Garry knows the importance of giving families, kids and schools the tools they need to succeed — now and later in life.

“Surrey is the fastest growing — and soon to be largest — city in BC, which comes with its own set of challenges for people who live here,” said Begg. “I am focused on ensuring the people of Surrey have the housing, education and health care support they need to build a good life here. John Rustad’s Conservative party will hand housing back to big developers and speculators, give tax breaks to the top two percent, and make us pay for it all by cutting health care, education and more. We can’t afford that.”

Since forming government in July 2017, Begg and the BC NDP have taken action on crucial issues that matter to the people of Surrey-Guildford and across the province including:

• Putting people ahead of housing speculators with a speculation tax, updating zoning rules to allow for more townhouses, duplexes, and triplexes, and making it easier and faster for cities to build more homes near transit;
• Connecting people to care by hiring 700 more family doctors, building or expanding hospitals in Burnaby, Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey — and opening a new medical school at SFU Surrey;
• Keeping communities safe by hiring 250 more police officers, giving police more power to address public drug use, cracking down on repeat violent offenders, and taking on organized crime - including seizing Hells Angels clubhouses and other proceeds of crime;
• Getting you around faster by expanding Skytrain routes, adding lanes to Highway 1, and replacing the Pattullo Bridge and Massey Tunnel;
• Adding hundreds of new classroom spaces and creating more to meet the needs of students into the future; and
• Keeping kids safe by taking phones out of classrooms and building new schools.

“Garry has been a tireless advocate for Surrey residents from the moment he was first elected MLA,” said Premier David Eby. “He will continue to work to ensure Surrey builds the new schools, new hospitals and housing to meet the growing needs of people living here.”

Garry Begg will join David Eby and 91 other exceptional BC NDP candidates in this fall’s provincial election, all committed to real action to help people build a good life here in BC.