The BC Liberals have chosen a business veteran as the party’s candidate for Surrey-White Rock MLA in next year’s provincial election.
Tracy Redies, former CEO of Coast Capital Savings and a corporate director with more than 25 years experience in international financial services, will go to the polls in place of outgoing MLA Gordon Hogg in the May 9, 2017 race.
Hogg announced in early October that he had decided not to run for a sixth term, hoping to devote more time to teaching and helping community organizations.
“I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to fill his shoes, but I’m hoping to try,” Redies told Peace Arch News Monday, citing Hogg’s “incredible” 40 year-record in public service, which included terms as White Rock mayor and councillor before he was first elected MLA in 1997.
“I’m really excited, honoured and privileged to be appointed a candidate,” Redies added, noting that she and her husband, George, have lived in the South Surrey-White Rock area “on and off since 1989 – and we raised four kids here.”
Their two eldest daughters and son are currently in university while their youngest daughter is still attending Southridge School, she said.
The family recently moved from a house in the Grandview area to another “three blocks down” in South Langley, she added.
A member of Premier Christy Clark’s Women’s Economic Council, and a former member of the Surrey Memorial Hospital board, she was named BC CEO of the Year – and one of Canada Top 25 Most Influential Women – by Business in Vancouver in 2013 and was also named business person of the year by the Surrey Board of Trade in 2011.
“She has a lot of impressive things (in her resume),” Hogg commented Monday.
“We’re very fortunate that she is willing to run in this riding.”
Hogg said Redies has a “great conceptual understanding of finance and business – and that’s a great asset,” adding that Redies has told him she looks forward to learning even more about the community.
Redies was also a corporate director with BC Hydro until her term of appointment expired in October, and will step down from the board of governors of the University of Victoria in December after it completes a “transition piece,” she said.
“I wanted to make sure I have the time and ability to focus on the community,” she said.
“I love the City of White Rock and South Surrey, and, at this stage of life, I’ve got time to give back to the community that shaped me.”
The BC Conservatives, BC NDP and BC Green Party have yet to announce candidates for Surrey-White Rock.
