Surrey South byelection set for Sept. 10

The B.C. government has called a byelection for the Surrey South seat left vacant this spring when former Liberal MLA Stephanie Cadieux was appointed Canada's chief accessibility officer.

Voters will head to the polls on Saturday, Sept. 10.

Longtime Surrey RCMP spokesperson Elenore Sturko is running for the Liberals. She announced her candidacy in early May, shortly after the seat opened up. 

She took an unpaid leave of absence from the Mounties to focus on her campaign.

“We’ve been at the doors, I’ve heard from the people in Surrey South,” said Sturko in an interview with CTV News Saturday.

“Their top concerns really are health care, number one I'd say is affordability, and of course crime,” Sturko said.

Sturko also thinks her 13-year-career as a police officer has given her a unique perspective help tackle issues like mental health, drug addiction and public safety.

"When it comes to things like our health-care system, the opioid crisis and even crime issues, we're talking about the safety of the community and people's lives are at stake,” she said.

Community organizer Pauline Greaves will contest the seat for the governing BC NDP.

Greaves has been a resident of South Surrey for nearly three decades and teaches business at Langara College.

She says she’s running to help finish what the B.C. NDP has started.

"My interest is to fight for the projects that have been put on the table,” Greaves said during a media availability Saturday.

Those projects would be the new hospital in Cloverdale and a new toll-free George Massey Tunnel.

The NDP have voiced concerns that if the Liberals win the seat, they would scrap both of those projects.

“They took away the hospital, they sold the land that was supposed to be for the second hospital in Surrey,” said Greaves.

“The Massey Tunnel, they put tolls on, that severely impact on the livelihood of people,” she added.

"People should not have to leave their homes to get care, we should not be sitting in traffic for two hours to get into Vancouver,”

Sturko says the Liberals won’t scrap the hospital, but would like to see some modifications to the current plan.

"Our concern is the 168 beds, lack of a maternity ward, no intensive care -- these are things that the community needs now,” Sturko said.

After the byelection was called Saturday, the BC Green Party announced its candidate: Simon Fraser University student Simran Sarai.

She told CTV News she plans to tackle issues like climate change, affordability and housing.

"It's just astounding that these prices have gone up and that housing has just stayed so unaffordable for so long,” Sarai said.

“My friends and I are trying to plan for the future, and we don't know if we'll be able to stay in B.C. let alone the lower Mainland,”\

Elections BC says candidate nominations close at 1 p.m. on Aug. 20.