Riding profile: Brar looks to hold Ridge as Liberals send in Bob Hans

By Tom Zytaruk

Can Jagrup Brar hold the Ridge?

That's the big question Surrey-Panorama Ridge voters will answer in the provincial election on May 17.

Brar, a one-time power forward for India's national basketball team, easily swept Liberal rival and well-known Surrey schoolboard trustee Mary Polak off the Ridge during a byelection last October by 6,662 votes to 4,160. Adriane Carr, leader of B.C.'s Green Party, trailed in third with 1,052 votes.

The byelection was held to fill the MLA seat vacated by Liberal Gulzar Cheema after he resigned to run, though unsuccessfully, in the past federal election.

Since Brar's big win - in what was thought to be a Liberal stronghold - pundits have been debating whether fellow NDP candidates will enjoy similar success in other ridings across the province, or if his win simply held with tradition, since governing-party MLAs are usually defeated in byelections.

The incumbent MLA was re-acclaimed NDP candidate for the Ridge on March 31. His main opponent will be Liberal candidate Bob Hans, a local businessman who won his party's nomination last Thursday.

Hans has a trucking business and has lived in Surrey for 25 years. He figures the election will be fought on the state of the economy, jobs, and the construction of more roads and bridges.

Why does he think he's the best candidate?

"I'm just a common-people approachable person," he said.

All candidates have until 1 p.m. May 4 to get registered for the election.

Brar said he's been knocking on doors for a month already.

"I believe in a very clear, smooth and meaningful campaign," he said. "It will be clean from my side."

His five months as MLA has been "a short time," he said. Nevertheless, during that time, he says, his accomplishments include successfully lobbying for more cash for the Fraser Health Authority toward improving emergency services.

A big issue in the election will be health care, he said.

"The wait list has gone up almost 33 per cent in general," he said. "We are going to work toward reducing the list."

He said an NDP government would also freeze university tuition fees and then work on bringing them down.

"We are going to freeze where it is," he said.

posted on 04/25/2005