SURREY, B.C. - Few names on the October 24 ballot carry as much history in Surrey as Jagrup Brar. The BC NDP incumbent in Surrey-Fleetwood has represented Surrey ridings for most of the past two decades, and he now sits in cabinet as B.C.’s Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals, a post he has held since November 2024.
Brar’s path to Victoria started on a basketball court. Born in Bathinda District in Punjab, India, he played for India’s national basketball team before moving to Canada to study at the University of Manitoba, where he earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration. He moved to Surrey in 1994 and spent more than a decade in the public and non-profit sectors, including as executive director of the Surrey Self Employment and Entrepreneur Development Society (SEEDS), where he helped new entrepreneurs launch small businesses.
He was first elected to the legislature in a 2004 by-election in Surrey-Panorama Ridge, then represented Surrey-Fleetwood from 2009 to 2013 before losing the seat. He won it back in 2017 and has held it since, serving as Minister of State for Trade from December 2022 until his move to the mining portfolio after the 2024 election.
This campaign, Brar’s pitch is built on cost of living and health care. His stated priorities are lowering fuel and grocery costs for families and small businesses, keeping ICBC rates frozen through 2030, and strengthening health care while recruiting more workers in Surrey. In his first 100 days, he says, he would work to deliver the NDP’s gas plan, which suspends 10 cents per litre of fuel tax and lets the B.C. Utilities Commission cap excessive price gouging, alongside a grocery plan the party says could save families up to $700 a year. He also backs opening three more team-based primary-care clinics in Surrey and adding 1,000 health-worker training seats.
He needs that pitch to land, because Surrey-Fleetwood is no longer safe NDP ground. In 2024, Brar took 9,923 votes (48.6 per cent) against Conservative Avtar Gill’s 9,172 (44.9 per cent), a margin of only about 750 votes. Five candidates are on the ballot this time, and vote splits in a multi-party field can cut in any direction.
This time the Conservative banner is carried by Garry Purewal, a military police veteran and business owner, setting up a contest between a cabinet minister with two decades in the legislature and a challenger arguing the riding is ready for change.
Brar is married to Rajwant and has two children.
Advance voting in Surrey-Fleetwood runs October 16 to 21, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Coyote Creek Elementary School (8131 156 Street, open October 16 to 18), Johnston Heights Church (9612 152 Street, open October 16 to 17 and 19 to 21), and Northwood United Church (8855 156 Street, open October 16 to 17 and 19 to 21). General voting day is Saturday, October 24.
Photo: Jagrup Brar campaign (jagrupbrar.bcndp.ca)
Sources: jagrupbrar.bcndp.ca; BC NDP; Elections BC; Legislative Assembly of British Columbia; Surrey Now-Leader candidate questionnaire via europesays.com
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