SURREY, B.C. - When voters in Surrey-White Rock head to the polls on October 24, the OneBC name on the ballot will belong to one of the most experienced executives running anywhere in Surrey. Amanda James – known as AJ – is Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs at Eteros Technologies, a homegrown Canadian manufacturing company headquartered in Surrey.
James grew up in Richmond and has lived in Surrey-White Rock for the past nine years. Over the last decade she has helped build Eteros from the inside, across sales and customer relationships, marketing and partnerships, legal and corporate affairs, human resources, regulatory compliance, and government relations. It is the kind of experience she says you only get by doing the work: winning business, managing risk, dealing with government, and keeping a manufacturer able to hire, ship, and grow from British Columbia.
Before that, she held senior regional roles with the federal government, including accountability for a real-property portfolio of more than six million square feet across B.C. and Yukon, and a budget exceeding $200 million. She also founded her own advisory firm, working with public and private sector clients on strategy, process improvement, and people decisions. She holds a B.Sc. from UBC and an M.Sc. from the University of London.
Her campaign argument grows directly out of that background. She says ten years helping a Canadian manufacturer grow from this region has made one thing obvious: without a change in course, there will not be a bright future for manufacturers – or for entrepreneurs more generally – in B.C. or Canada. Government’s job, in her view, is not to pick winners. It is to create an environment where private businesses can invest, hire, and compete. Capital returns, she argues, only when taxes, regulation, permitting, and the rule of law make B.C. a place worth building in again.
She is running with OneBC, the new provincial party formed in June 2025 by former BC Conservative MLAs and led by interim leader Dallas Brodie of Vancouver-Quilchena. The party is running 34 candidates provincewide, and her platform matches it: lower taxes, less red tape, and one set of rules for everyone who lives here.
Away from work, she is enrolled in KPU’s Technical Apparel program, an outlet for a long-standing interest in fashion, textiles, and making things well. She loves a tough crossword, riding her bike, and playing tennis.
Surrey-White Rock is a rematch. In 2024, Conservative Trevor Halford won with 14,667 votes, 1,968 ahead of NDP candidate Darryl Walker at 12,699, with Libertarian Damyn Tassie at 671. The 2026 ballot has six names: Halford for the Conservatives, Walker for the NDP, Waqas Rana for CentreBC, Christine Kinnie for the Greens, James for OneBC, and Kevin Diakiw as an independent.
Advance voting in Surrey-White Rock runs October 16 to 21, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Bayridge Elementary School, the Elks Lodge Hall 431 on George Street, and Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. General voting day is Saturday, October 24.
Photo: OneBC (1bc.ca/candidates/ajames)
Sources: 1bc.ca; Elections BC; Wikipedia (2024 riding results)
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