A former Delta MP continues her attempt at a political comeback.
Kerry-Lynne Findlay announced today she’ll seek the Conservative nomination for the South Surrey-White Rock riding for the 2019 federal election.
Her web page states the riding “deserves an experienced representative in the federal government who knows how to navigate in Ottawa, who knows how to get results, and who is skilled at both listening and taking action.”
Last December, Findlay’s attempt at a political comeback fell short when the Conservative candidate in the South Surrey-White Rock federal by-election lost to Liberal Gordon Hogg. He finished with 47.5 per cent of the vote compared to Findlay’s 42.1 per cent. The NDP finished third.
The South Surrey-White Rock seat became available when Conservative MP Dianne Watts, Surrey’s former mayor, vacated it to run for the leadership of the provincial Liberals.
Having now moved back to White Rock, Findlay was a Conservative cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government from 2011 to 2015.
She ran as Canadian Alliance candidate in Vancouver-Quadra in 2001 but didn’t win. Later, she won the Conservative stronghold of Delta-Richmond East in the 2011 race with 54.2 per cent per cent of the vote, although she had initially lost the nomination to run for the party in that election. Dale Saip won the nomination only to see the riding association decide to strip him of his win and hand it over to Findlay.
In her first term the rookie MP rapidly ascended the ranks to become minister of national revenue.
In the 2015 federal election, when Delta was reconfigured into a new riding combining South Delta with North Delta, things didn’t go well for her.
Liberal Carla Qualtrough easily defeated her to capture the new riding, finishing around 9,000 votes ahead of Findlay after garnering 49.3 per cent of the popular vote. Findlay saw her support drop to just 32.7 per cent.
