The Liberals scored a big win in Metro Vancouver during Monday’s federal election, with Ernie Klassen unseating Conservative incumbent Kerry-Lynne Findlay in South Surrey-White Rock.
The suburban riding has been mostly held by Conservatives since it was formed in 2015, and the South Surrey-White Rock area has been represented by right-of-centre MPs for much of the last few decades.
However, White Rock Coun. Ernie Klassen managed to win the seat handily for the Liberals on Monday, with preliminary results showing a 50.5 per cent vote share compared to Findlay’s 45.7 per cent.
Klassen says that deteriorating Canada-U.S. relations were the most significant factor in his win, given that White Rock is a border community.
Liberals have managed to flip the South Surrey-White Rock riding, which was held by the Conservative Party in the last two elections. As Sohrab Sandhu reports, the new MP, Ernie Klassen, says the last provincial election was an important factor in his victory.
But both Klassen and a previous Tory MP for the riding say that Findlay’s association with her husband, Brent Chapman, a B.C. Conservative MLA whose 2017 conspiracy theories about mass shootings were unearthed by a radio host last year, likely played a role in the upset.
For his part, Klassen says he hopes to focus on housing affordability for seniors, public safety and the relationship with the U.S. when he gets to Ottawa.
“I believe that the whole issue of the United States and its relationship, that has been broken basically from what we have seen over hundreds of years with our neighbour — that definitely was the overriding issue,” he told CBC News.
Findlay did not respond to CBC News’ requests for comment on this story.
Provincial election drama
During the provincial election campaign in 2024, Chapman’s 2015 Facebook posts — where he called Palestinian children “walking, talking, breathing time bombs” — were also dredged up.
Chapman later apologized for the social media posts, and despite numerous calls to remove him from the ballot, he was elected provincially in Surrey South.
Warning: This story contains offensive comments. B.C. Conservative candidate Brent Chapman is apologizing for previous comments he made on social media about Palestinians, in which he referred to them as “inbred.” The comments were posted to Facebook in 2015, before Chapman entered politics, and were shared on social media Wednesday by CKNW Radio host Jas Johal.
Findlay had held the seat for the Conservatives since the 2019 election, winning again in 2021.
Former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts, who held the seat from 2015 to 2017, said that the controversy around Chapman spilled over to Findlay and had an impact on her loss.
“Ernie Klassen … he’s a great community leader. He is on council. He’s very well known in the riding,” she told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC’s On The Coast.
“I’ve known Ernie for many, many years, and I know he’ll do a good job for the community, I have no doubt in my mind.”
On The Coast8:23What former B.C. Conservative MP takes away from federal election results
Dianne Watts, a former Conservative MP for South Surrey-White Rock, weighs in on the federal election with host Gloria Macarenko.
Former White Rock mayor Gordie Hogg was the MP from 2017 to 2019, the only previous time the Liberals flipped the seat from the Conservatives.
Some voters who spoke to CBC News also said that Findlay may not have done enough to shore up support in what was considered a safe Tory riding.
“I didn’t see very many lawn signs for her,” said Judd Anderson.
“I’m not sure if she did her work ahead of time to engage people,” said his wife, Claudia.
The Andersons said they believe that a Liberal minority government may not last, and say the country could have an election again within the next year.
