It’s official: six people are running to be Delta’s member of Parliament.
Liberal incumbent Carla Qualtrough is seeking a third term as Delta’s MP, a position she has held since 2015. Challenging Qualtrough for Delta’s seat in Parliament are Conservative Garry Shearer, NDP hopeful Monika Dean, Green Jeremy Smith, People’s Party of Canada candidate Paul Tarasenko and independent Hong Yan Pan.
Voting day is Monday, Sept. 20, with advanced voting happening Sept. 10-13. Candidate nominations closed at 2 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30.
By the Reporter‘s press deadline, only one all-candidates meeting had been announced. The Delta Residents Association will be hosting a virtual all-candidates meeting on Saturday, Sept. 11 (time tbd), with the recorded event expected to be posted to YouTube on Sept. 13.
Other all-candidate meetings are expected to be announced in the coming days.
Riding information on the Elections Canada website shows that, of the 103,064 people in the city (according to the 2016 census), 77,372 were already registered to vote when the writ dropped.
Here are the bios of each of the six candidates running in Delta this election…
Monika DEAN (NDP)
Website: delta.ndp.ca
(submitted bio, edited for Canadian Press style)
Monika Dean is an arborist by profession and a labour and community advocate by passion.
The 32-year-old North Delta resident has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and works in the City of Surrey’s parks department. A member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 402, Dean serves as both executive at large for her local union as well as CUPE’s Metro Vancouver District Council, which comprises local unions from across the Lower Mainland. She is also a former regional alternate vice-president for CUPE BC.
Dean moved to North Delta from Vancouver in 2014, attracted by its strong sense of community and — she shyly admits — the architecture of the Alex Fraser Bridge. She shares a home with her elderly parents, and her 86-year-old father will be joining her frequently on the campaign trail. They also share a single car, and Dean can often be seen around the city riding her electric bike or taking public transit.
Dean has been content for a number of years to advance issues of social justice away from the political spotlight, but she decided to run as a federal election candidate for the NDP this year because she was so inspired by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and his focus on helping everyday, regular Canadians, from seniors struggling to pay for prescription medicine to young families who can’t afford childcare.
But her greatest inspiration is her dad, a retired United Church minister, who taught her from a young age the importance of communities taking care of each other. Dean, who is half Filipina (her mother was born in the Philippines), is passionate about supporting equity-seeking groups, including people of colour, people who are LGBTQ2S+ and people with disabilities.
When Dean isn’t working on her passion projects, she can be found riding the waves with her dragonboat team and spending time with her Labrador named Laika.
Hong Yan PAN (independent)
Website: melodypan.ca
(bio from website, edited for clarity and for Canadian Press style)
Hong Yan Pan, also known as Melody Pan, has been living in Canada since 1998.
A Registered Nurse in Canada and USA, she was also a Licensed Practical Nurse in B.C . She also worked as a health care assistant in 2002.
She possesses her Master of Science in Nursing in Leadership, Critical care, and Nephrology nursing certificates.
She advocates BCNU member rights.
She has years of clinical experience in: Med/Surg, Pediatrics, Palliative, Hemodialysis, ICU, PACU, SDC, ER Decongestion pilot project, Community and Chronic Disease management. She has worked in nursing education and informatics, having extensive knowledge and skills on policy and curriculum development and evaluation process. She is a member of VCH Research Steering Committee.
She enjoys volunteering and serving the community. In 2014, she helped to preserve the five-acre green space attached to Richmond’s old Steveston Secondary School for public use instead of becoming townhouses.
In collaboration with her nursing colleagues and professor at Trinity Western University, their team submitted a briefing to Canada’s House of Commons [Standing Committee on Human Resources and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA)] on services for Canada’s seniors to provide the voices of nurses. They were invited by the committee to present in person in Ottawa in 2017. The team’s suggestion were referenced multiple times in the committee’s final report, Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Seniors.
Carla QUALTROUGH (Liberal Party)
Website: carlaqualtrough.liberal.ca
(bio from website, edited for Canadian Press style)
Carla has been the member of Parliament for Delta, and a cabinet minister, since she was first elected in 2015, having previously served as minister of sport and persons with disabilities, and as minister of public services and procurement and accessibility. She currently serves as Canada’s minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion.
Carla has been at the centre of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She is responsible for many emergency measures, including the CERB, the CESB, Employment Insurance and the Disability Payment. As Canada recovers from the effects of this pandemic, Carla is leading the charge on creating jobs, upskilling workers and implementing a historic Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
Carla practiced human rights law at the provincial and federal levels and was a vice-chair with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal. She competed for Team Canada as a swimmer, winning a number of world championships and Paralympic medals. Carla’s passion is focusing on inclusion and equal access for all. She has been inducted into the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame, and has been recognized as one of Canada’s most influential women in sport on a number of occasions.
Carla has been legally blind since birth and is a passionate advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities. She led the creation of the Accessible Canada Act and is internationally recognized for her work in disability inclusion. She has received a number of awards for her advocacy, including from the Disabled Women’s Network of Canada, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society, the Abilities Centre and the International Paralympic Committee. She is also the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award.
Carla lives in Ladner with her husband Eron, her two youngest children and her mother.
Garry SHEARER (Conservative Party)
Website: garryshearer.ca
(bio from website, edited for Canadian Press style)
My name is Garry Shearer. My wife Colleen and I have lived in Delta for nearly 40 years. We raised out family here, and the majority of my work like and volunteer activities have been focused here in this community.
As a Rotarian, public service is important to me. As executive director of the Delta Chamber of Commerce, I led a team to help our business community pivot through the challenges of the global pandemic. I’m running to be your member of Parliament to continue my record of service to our community.
We need a real plan to address the significant challenges our community is facing in the areas of transportation, to get Delta commuters and goods moving again, deal with a growing labour shortage, and insufficient housing options for Delta workers.
I’m asking for your support to become Delta’s Conservative member of Parliament. It’s time for fresh leadership to meet these challenges head-on. Now is the time to get to work, to rebuild our economy and secure the future for Delta and for all Canadians.
I look forward to working hard to earn the trust and support of Delta residents in the weeks and months ahead.
Jeremy SMITH (Green Party of Canada)
Website: greenparty.ca/en/riding/2013-59011
(bio from website, edited for Canadian Press style)
Jeremy Smith lives in North Delta, British Columbia with his wife Meghan and two of their three children, Logan and Owen. Their daughter Madison moved to Australia three years ago.
Jeremy has lived in various parts of Ontario and in Edmonton, but settled in B.C. when he met Meghan 25 years ago. They chose to live in North Delta because it offered cultural diversity and a safe and friendly place to raise their family.
Over the past two decades, Jeremy has worked in the waste recovery business where he was part of a team that brought oil container recycling and antifreeze recycling to the province. Through this work experience and mentorship, Jeremy learned the value of recycling, building relationships and pushing himself out of his comfort zone.
In his free time, Jeremy enjoys riding adventure motorcycles all over western North America and has seen many beautiful communities and wonderful people along the way. His goal is to ride around the world someday. Jeremy is also a bit of a tech nerd. He loves everything about the electric car movement and is excited for its future.
Paul TARASENKO (People’s Party of Canada)
Website: peoplespartyofcanada.ca/paul_tarasenko
(bio from website, edited for Canadian Press style)
Born in Surrey in 1996, where Paul attended the French Immersion program at Burnsview Secondary School in Delta. He then went on to graduate from Trinity Western University with distinction with his degree in general studies in the areas of education, history and environmental science.
He is now trying to make a name for himself by working hard in the logistics field and by starting his own small business. While still young, Paul is trying to make a name for himself by mentoring young adults at his local church in the virtues of hard work, humility, steadfastness and honesty.
Paul has become increasingly frustrated with the establishment parties and career politicians who are more concerned with satisfying the needs of special interest groups instead of the people. That’s why Paul joined the PPC to make a difference and put Canada and her people first.
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