Garry Begg

Garry Begg
MLA
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia
In office
November 18, 2024 – July 17, 2025
PremierDavid Eby
Preceded byMike Farnworth
Succeeded byNina Krieger
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Surrey-Guildford
Incumbent
Assumed office
May 9, 2017
Preceded byRiding Established
Personal details
BornOntario[1]
Political partyNew Democratic Party
SpouseVal Begg

Garry Begg is a Canadian politician who has served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2017, representing the electoral district of Surrey-Guildford.[2]

Biography

Born in Ontario, Begg had a 38-year career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), eight of which was spent in Surrey;[1][3] he attained the rank of inspector with the force.[4] He previously ran in the 2015 federal election as the federal New Democratic Party's candidate in Fleetwood—Port Kells,[4] but was not elected.[5]

In the 2017 provincial election, he ran in the newly established riding of Surrey-Guildford as a BC NDP candidate against Liberal Amrik Virk, also a former RCMP inspector. Begg defeated Virk to become a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia,[2][3] and served as government caucus whip in his first term.[6][7] He retained his seat in the 2020 provincial election.[8]

Begg faced a tight race against BC Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa in the 2024 election, with initial results indicating that Randhawa was leading by 103 votes.[9] After mail-in and absentee ballots were counted, Elections BC posted updated results on October 28, with Begg winning by 27 votes;[10][11] that figure was later revised to 21 votes.[12] As the margin was less than 1/500th of the total ballots cast, an automatic judicial recount was triggered.[10][11] The recount was completed on November 8, with Begg re-elected by a margin of 22 votes, allowing the NDP to hold on to a majority government.[12][13]

He was named to the Eby ministry on November 18, 2024 to serve as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.[1][7][14] He was succeeded by Nina Krieger in July 2025.[15]

He and his wife Val have two children.[1][6]

Electoral record

Provincial elections

2024 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Guildford
Party Candidate Votes %
New Democratic 8,947 46.83
Conservative Honveer Singh Randhawa 8,925 46.81
Green Manjeet Singh Sahota 824 4.32
Independent Kabir Qurban 370 1.94
Total valid votes 19,066 100.00
Source: Elections BC[16]
2020 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Guildford
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic 10,403 60.59 +10.99 $40,309.39
Liberal Dave Hans 5,139 29.93 −8.21 $42,168.46
Green Jodi Murphy 1,345 7.83 −1.98 $1,281.64
Independent Sam Kofalt 282 1.64 – $1,015.24
Total valid votes 17,169 100.00 –
Total rejected ballots 148 0.85 +0.14
Turnout 17,317 45.69 −10.07
Registered voters 37,905
Source: Elections BC[17][18]
2017 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Guildford
Party Candidate Votes % Expenditures
New Democratic 9,263 49.85 $67,072
Liberal Amrik Virk 7,015 37.76 $71,381
Green Jodi Murphy 1,840 9.90 $,1838
Christian Heritage Kevin Pielak 462 2.49 $1,015
Total valid votes 18,580 100.00
Total rejected ballots 133 0.71
Turnout 18,713 55.76
Registered voters 33,561
Source: Elections BC[19][20]

Federal elections

2015 Canadian federal election: Fleetwood—Port Kells
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Ken Hardie 22,871 46.90 +31.24 $50,601.97
Conservative Nina Grewal 14,275 29.27 -18.56 $77,785.90
New Democratic 10,463 21.46 -11.60 $100,039.24
Green Richard Hosein 1,154 2.37 -0.20 $3,625.85
Total valid votes/expense limit 48,763 100.00   $206,797.64
Total rejected ballots 269 0.55 –
Turnout 49,032 65.25 –
Eligible voters 75,150
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +24.90
Source: Elections Canada[21][22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Honourable Garry Begg". Government of British Columbia. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Saltman, Jennifer; Fumano, Dan (May 10, 2017). "B.C. Election 2017: Brar, NDP take six of nine Surrey ridings". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  3. ^ a b "ELECTION 2017: In Surrey-Guildford, 'a new sheriff in town' as retired Surrey RCMP inspector Begg wins for NDP". Surrey Now-Leader. May 10, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Charlie (July 12, 2015). "Federal NDP candidate Garry Begg appears in RCMP uniform on campaign website". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  5. ^ "Profile - Fleetwood--Port Kells, British Columbia (2004-05-23 - )". Library of Parliament. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Garry Begg - Surrey-Guildford BC NDP". Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Zytaruk, Tom (November 18, 2024). "Two Surrey MLAS in NDP cabinet". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  8. ^ "SURREY-GUILDFORD: NDP's Garry Begg wins again". Surrey Now-Leader. October 25, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  9. ^ Zillich, Tom (October 24, 2024). "Elections BC denies request by NDP's Begg for recount in Surrey-Guildford". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  10. ^ a b "NDP poised to win majority after overturning Conservative lead in critical Surrey riding". CBC News. October 28, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Zillich, Tom (October 29, 2024). "'Surprised, pleased': NDP's Begg reacts to Surrey-Guildford win, judicial recount". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Burns, Anna (November 8, 2024). "It's official: NDP's Begg wins Surrey-Guildford by 22 votes". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  13. ^ "NDP majority holds with 22-vote victory in Surrey-Guildford recount". CBC News. November 8, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  14. ^ "David Eby Cabinet: 2022-Present" (PDF). Legislative Library of British Columbia. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  15. ^ "Oak Bay MLA moved out of jobs portfolio, Victoria MLA steps into public safety". Times Colonist. July 17, 2025. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
  16. ^ "Surrey-Guildford Judicial Recount Complete". Elections BC. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  17. ^ "Statement of Votes — 42nd Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  18. ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  19. ^ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  20. ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  21. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Fleetwood—Port Kells, 30 September 2015
  22. ^ Official Voting Results - Fleetwood—Port Kells
  23. ^ "Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates". Archived from the original on August 15, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.