Surrey-Fleetwood up for grabs
Fassbender, Brar duke it out over schools, taxis and tolls
Just a few minutes standing outside of Coyote Creek Elementary in Surrey, and Jagrup Brar has already secured the support of several voters.
Betty Ann Norman, who lives nearby, comes to give the former NDP MLA her name and address so he can help her determine where to vote.
The 71-year-old takes a glance at a nearby campaign sign for incumbent Liberal Peter Fassbender and scoffs: “He does not impress me.”
For Brar, it’s part of a near-daily ritual outside Surrey schools, which he said has helped him tap into voter dissatisfaction over crowded classrooms and the proliferation of portables in the fastest-growing region of Metro Vancouver. Both parties have promised more school funding for the area.
“Education is a huge issue,” said Brar, 56, Tuesday. “There are 7,000 kids in portables.”
In Surrey-Fleetwood, every vote is going to count.
It’s one of the closest races in one of the most important election battlegrounds in the Lower Mainland. The road to forming government is helped significantly by winning this riding.
NDP Leader John Horgan held a rally in nearby Surrey-Panorama on Tuesday evening.
Fassbender is one of Liberal Leader Christy Clark’s top cabinet ministers, most recently holding the dual portfolios of community development and TransLink.
But Fassbender is also fighting for his political life. He defeated Brar by only 265 votes in 2013. Since then, the boundaries have changed, swinging as many as 700 votes in Brar’s favour.
“You know what? That doesn’t worry me, because I’m working hard and the new areas I’ve gone into I’ve had great response from the community,” said Fassbender, 70.
“I don’t get worried about tough, or not tough, I focus on the issues.”
Fassbender has name recognition from his time in cabinet and a long career in local politics, including serving as mayor of the City of Langley. He’s a veteran campaigner, with a background in advertising and marketing.
“We have less portables today in Surrey than when the NDP was in power,” he said.
“I know everybody wants their child in the main school building, but it’s the quality of the teaching that goes on in the portable that’s really the most important thing. I would love to see a day where we didn’t have a manufactured classroom. I don’t think it’s realistic in a community like this, that’s growing as fast as it is.”
Fassbender is also the Liberal point-person on the issue of ridehailing companies, such as Uber. While popular for many, Uber’s arrival in B.C. potentially means job losses in the taxi industry and plummeting values on taxi licences that some drivers purchased using loans and mortgages.
Fassbender can’t afford to lose the votes from angry Surrey taxi drivers. He said he’s been out proactively engaging the industry, telling them the Liberal plan introduced in March — which includes dropping geographic restrictions on existing cabs and streamlining licensing and insurance so Uber can start operating in December — could yet be changed.
“What I’ve said to them clearly is we’re listening to you, we’ve heard your concerns, if we are honoured with being re-elected as government we will sit down with you and talk about what the options are to deal with your concerns, but also recognizing that change is upon us,” Fassbender said.
He said that’s at least more honest than the NDP’s plan for Uber, which is basically a promise to hold discussions after they win. Both sides are promising to create a “level playing field” for traditional taxis and ride-hailing services.
Fassbender and Brar are also jockeying for support among Surrey-Fleetwood’s sizable and influential Indo-Canadian community, which is concerned about taxis and reforms for the trucking industry at the Port of Vancouver. Both candidates have pledged to support transferable trucking licences so drivers can switch companies while retaining their trucking tags.
Bridge tolls are also a key issue in the largely suburban riding. The Liberals propose a $500 per motorist annual cap for tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges, costing the province $30 million. The NDP proposes to scrap tolls entirely, funding the approximate $200 million annual cost by drawing down the Liberals’ $500-million Prosperity Fund.
“It’s very popular,” Brar said of the NDP pitch.
Not so, insists Fassbender. “I’m hearing at the doors people are pleased that we’ve decided to cap it, and they also get the fact that eliminating (tolls) completely is an economic disaster waiting for a place to happen … I believe the taxpayers of British Columbia know when it comes to infrastructure and services, nothing is free.”
The Greens are running Tim Binnema, an engineering manager. But even he admits that in this riding it’s a two-party race.
“Everyone knows there’s two very strong incumbents,” he said. “So the chances for the Green party aren’t great. But the chances of a strong increase in the Green vote is there, and that’s what I’m hoping for.”
I would love to see a day where we didn’t have a manufactured classroom. I don’t think it’s realistic in a community like this.