Surrey South byelection to be held Sept. 10, B.C. premier announces

British Columbia Premier John Horgan has called a byelection for the Surrey South riding on Saturday.

The seat became vacant following the departure of former B.C. Liberal MLA Stephanie Cadieux, who resigned in April to become Canada's first chief accessibility officer.

After Horgan's announcement, the B.C. Green party announced it has nominated Simon Fraser University student Simran Sarai as its candidate.

"I am running for MLA because we are out of time to act on issues such as the climate crisis, housing affordability, health care and mental health," Sarai said in an emailedstatement.

She joins B.C. NDP candidate Pauline Greaves and B.C. Liberal candidate Elenore Sturko in the race for the provincial seat.

Sturko was a former media relations officer for the Surrey RCMP.

Greaves, meanwhile, is a business professor with the Langara School of Management. She had stood against Cadieux in the last election, and lost by a little over 1,000 votes.

Elections B.C. says candidate nominations close at 1 p.m. on Aug. 20.

The byelection will take place on Sept. 10.