Surrey-Newton (provincial electoral district)

For the federal electoral district, see Surrey—Newton (federal electoral district).

Surrey-Newton

British Columbia electoral district
Location in Surrey
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
MLA	Jessie Sunner New Democratic
First contested	1991
Last contested	2024
Demographics
Population (2001)	58,340
Area (km²)	12
Pop. density (per km²)	4,861.7
Census division(s)	Metro Vancouver
Census subdivision(s)	Surrey

Surrey-Newton is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.

The riding was first created out of the two-member Surrey district, which had been in existence since 1966, and first returned members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in the 1986 election. Surrey had always been a battleground between the NDP and Social Credit, trading back and forth between the two parties. The riding was represented by Premier Rita Johnston, who was a prominent Cabinet minister in the Vander Zalm government between 1986 and 1991.

In 1991, Penny Priddy defeated Johnston in a realigning election that saw Social Credit experience massive defeats all across the province. During the NDP government from 1991 to 2001, Priddy emerged as a prominent Cabinet minister in portfolios such as Women's Equality, Tourism and Culture, Health, Labour and Children and Families.

Although the riding was won by the Liberals during their 2001 landslide victory, it has been a relatively safe NDP seat since the 2005 election. The riding is home to a large South Asian community, whose population grew tremendously in the city Surrey starting in the early 1990s. The shift towards the NDP can largely be attributed to the party's inroads in the Indo-Canadian community.

Demographics

Population, 2001	50,281
Population change, 1996–2001	16.4%
Area (km2)	21
Population density (people per km2)	2,388

Geography

1999 redistribution

Surrey-Newton has its entire southern half removed.

Member of the Legislative Assembly

Its MLA is Jessie Sunner. She was first elected in 2024. She represents the New Democratic Party of British Columbia.

Surrey-Newton
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Surrey prior to 1986
34th	1986–1991		Rita Johnston	Social Credit
35th	1991–1996		Penny Priddy	New Democratic
36th	1996–2001
37th	2001–2005		Tony Bhullar	Liberal
38th	2005–2009		Harry Bains	New Democratic
39th	2009–2013
40th	2013–2017
41st	2017–2020
42nd	2020–2024
43rd	2024–present		Jessie Sunner

Election results

Graph of provincial election results in Surrey-Newton (minor parties are combined into "Others")

2024 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Tegjot Bal
	Freedom	Amrit Birring
	Unaffiliated	Japreet Lehal
	Independent	Joginder Singh Randhawa
	New Democratic	Jessie Sunner
Total valid votes				–
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Registered voters
Source: Elections BC

2020 provincial election redistributed results
Party		%
	New Democratic	62.4
	Liberal	29.9
	Green	7.5

2020 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Harry Bains	8,893	62.64	+5.27	$39,066.98
	Liberal	Paul Boparai	3,911	27.55	−2.38	$0.00
	Green	Asad Syed	1,393	9.81	+2.83	$6,482.79
Total valid votes			14,197	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			111	0.78	+0.11
Turnout			14,308	47.91	–10.23
Registered voters			29,867
Source: Elections BC

2017 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Harry Bains	9,744	57.31	+0.89	$41,769
	Liberal	Gurminder Singh Parihar	5,099	29.99	−8.08	$73,162
	Green	Richard Krieger	1,172	6.89	–	$225
	No affiliation	Balpreet Singh Bal	988	5.81	–	$8,768
Total valid votes			17,003	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			114	0.67	−0.42
Turnout			17,117	58.14	+5.58
Registered voters			29,442
Source: Elections BC

2013 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Harry Bains	9,788	56.42	−12.51	$90,282
	Liberal	Sukhminder S. Virk	6,604	38.07	+2.25	$86,997
	Conservative	Satinder Singh	674	3.89	–	$3,660
	Helping Hand	Alan Saldanha	282	1.63	–	$250
Total valid votes			17,348	100.00
Total rejected ballots			191	1.09
Turnout			17,539	52.56
Source: Elections BC

2009 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Harry Bains	10,709	68.93	+11.04
	Liberal	Ajay Caleb	4,011	25.82	−9.07
	Green	Trevor Loke	759	4.89	+0.17
	Communist	George Gidora	58	0.37	–

2005 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Harry Bains	10,741	57.89
	Liberal	Daniel Igali	6,473	34.89
	Green	Dan Deresh	876	4.72
	Democratic Reform	Harry Grewal	268	1.44
	Work Less	Gordon Scott	123	0.66
	Platinum	Jeff Robert Evans	72	0.39
Total			18,553	100.00

B.C. General Election 2001: Surrey-Newton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Tony Bhullar	6,750	49.45%		$51,429
	NDP	Param Grewal	3,949	28.93%		$32,318
	Green	David Walters	1,673	12.26%	–	$2,471
	Unity	Paul Joshi	498	3.65%		$4,578
	Marijuana	Stephen Kawamoto	364	2.20%		$394
	Reform	Margaret Bridgman	159	0.96%		$1,285
Total valid votes			13,649	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			92	0.67%
Turnout			13,741	65.51%

B.C. General Election 1996: Surrey-Newton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	NDP	Penny Priddy	13,969	49.54%		$42,833
	Liberal	Indra Thind	9,788	34.71%		$54,778
	Progressive Democrat	Ian Brown	1,841	6.53%	–	$100
	Reform	Liaqat Bajwa	1,244	4.41%		$12,184
	Family Coalition	Bill Stilwell	577	2.05%	–	$890
	Green	Maureen A. MacDonald	340	1.21%	–	$100
	Conservative	John Keith Bannister	217	0.77%		$931
	Social Credit	Neil Maharaj	174	0.62%	–	$3,600
	Natural Law	Shane Laporte	48	0.17%		$118
Total valid votes			28,198	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			244	0.86%
Turnout			28,442	71.33%

B.C. General Election 1991: Surrey-Newton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	NDP	Penny Priddy	10,193	42.28%		$47,584
	Social Credit	Rita Johnston	7,796	32.33%	–	$126,919
	Liberal	A. Charles McKinney	5,923	24.57%		$1,942
	Green	Paul George	197	0.82%	–	$2,740
Total valid votes			24,109	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			638	2.58%
Turnout			24,747	76.28%

External links

• BC Stats - 2001
• Results of 2001 election (pdf)
• 2001 Expenditures
• Results of 1996 election
• 1996 Expenditures
• Results of 1991 election
• 1991 Expenditures
• Website of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia