Tight race expected in Surrey-Cloverdale riding

If there’s one thing two rival candidates running in the riding of Surrey-Cloverdale can agree on this election, it’s that they are in for a tight race. 

“Oh, it’s extremely tight. I think this is really a tight race,” said the Conservative’s Elenore Sturko.

The NDP’s Mark Starchuk agrees.

“I think the race is going to be close. I think where it’s going to be won is on the doorsteps,” he said.

And it’s on those doorsteps, that both candidates have been trying to win over voters.

“We’ve knocked on thousands of doors,” Sturko explained.

She’s been pounding the pavement for months, meeting face to face with residents of the riding.

Starchuk has been doing the same.

“Its going very well. The doors have become very receptive over these last few days,” he said.

Both candidates also agree that the biggest issue voters are raising is health care. But that’s where the agreement stops.

Sturko said she continues to hear stories of "people who have trouble accessing health care or feel they’ve received substandard care, as a result of long waiting lists. And they’re interested in talking to us about our plan to expand health care.”

Starchuk, on the other hand, has been reminding voters of what the NDP has done to try and improve health care.

“We promised a new hospital to come to Cloverdale, along with the regional cancer centre. It’s been under construction for the past year, so we are actually saying and doing the things we said we would be getting done,” he explained.

Surrey-Cloverdale was a riding long-held by the former B.C. Liberals, but in the last election, the NDP won it. Since then, the boundaries of the riding have been redrawn.

Just how that shift might affect the outcome on voting day, remains to be seen.

But both candidates believe they have a lot to offer voters.

“My priority this week is to make sure that people in this constituency know what’s at risk. We know what we’ve delivered, we know what we’re delivering on,” said Starchuk.

Sturko sees things much differently, saying that after seven years of the NDP, B.C. is in worse shape.

“Right now, the vehicle for change is the Conservative Party of B.C., and I’m hearing from people they’re just interested in seeing a change,” she said.

Whether voters want change or not, will be decided on election day which is this Saturday.

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