SURREY, B.C. - Garry Thind has spent more than a decade winning elections in Surrey, just not provincial ones. The Conservative Party of BC candidate in Surrey-Guildford has served as a Surrey School Board trustee since 2014 and is currently the board’s vice-chair, and he is now asking voters to send him to Victoria in the riding decided by the smallest margin in British Columbia last election.
Thind has called Surrey home for more than 27 years, living, working and raising his family in the city. On the school board, his party biography says, he has chaired committees including the Learning Liaison Committee, Traditional Schools, District Principal Selection, Secondary Vice-Principal Selection, the ELL Consortium and the Budget Committee, work he says has given him deep experience in governance, policy and accountability. He also sits on the External Advisory Board of Western Community College in Surrey.
His service record runs well beyond education. Thind is a past president of the Rotary Club of Surrey and leads the B.C. region for the Pingalwara Society of Ontario, a charitable organization. Since 2002, he has helped raise more than $5.4 million for charitable and community causes. Professionally, he brings more than 14 years of management experience and more than 13 years in sales and marketing, and works full-time as a Realtor with Century 21 Coastal Realty in Surrey.
This is not his first provincial run. In 2020, Thind carried the BC Liberal banner in Surrey-Fleetwood, finishing second to the NDP’s Jagrup Brar. He now runs under the Conservative banner in a neighbouring riding, with a top-three list built on affordability and safety: a real path to home ownership, family doctors for every British Columbian, and safer streets, including ending what he calls catch and release for offenders. In his first 100 days, he says, he would start by protecting and funding health care, finding family and emergency room doctors, and stopping ER closures.
The target is tempting. Surrey-Guildford’s NDP incumbent, Garry Begg, held the seat in 2024 with 8,947 votes to Conservative Honveer Singh Randhawa’s 8,925, a margin of just 22 votes confirmed by judicial recount. Thind’s closing message to voters is blunt: “British Columbians and Surrey residents want change… let’s send him a message on October 24th, and vote for change.”
Advance voting in Surrey-Guildford runs October 16 to 21, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Holly Elementary School (10719 150 Street, open October 16 to 21), Ellendale Elementary School (14525 110A Avenue, open October 17 to 18), Fraser Wood Elementary School (10650 164 Street, open October 17 to 18), and North Surrey Secondary School (15945 96 Avenue, open October 17 to 18). General voting day is Saturday, October 24.
Photo: Garry Thind campaign (Conservative Party of BC, conservativebc.ca)
Sources: conservativebc.ca; Elections BC; Surrey Now-Leader candidate questionnaire via europesays.com
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