Bruce Ralston
Bruce Ralston KC MLA is a Canadian politician. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing the riding of Surrey-Whalley since 2005, and member of the New Democratic Party (NDP). He has served in the cabinets of Premiers John Horgan and David Eby since 2017, currently as Minister of Forests.
Bruce Ralston | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Forests of British Columbia | |
| Assumed office December 7, 2022 | |
| Premier | David Eby |
| Preceded by | Katrine Conroy (Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development) |
| Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation of British Columbia | |
| In office November 26, 2020 – December 7, 2022 | |
| Premier | John Horgan David Eby |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | Josie Osborne |
| Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources of British Columbia | |
| In office January 22, 2020 – November 26, 2020 | |
| Premier | John Horgan |
| Preceded by | Michelle Mungall |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
| Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology of British Columbia | |
| In office July 18, 2017 – January 22, 2020 | |
| Premier | John Horgan |
| Preceded by | Shirley Bond (Jobs) Jas Johal (Technology) |
| Succeeded by | Michelle Mungall |
| Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Surrey-Whalley | |
| Assumed office May 17, 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Elayne Brenzinger |
| Surrey City Councillor | |
| In office 1988–1993 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Victoria, British Columbia[1] |
| Political party | New Democrat |
| Spouse | Miriam Sobrino |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Surrey, British Columbia |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia University of Cambridge |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Life and career
Ralston was born in Victoria and grew up in Vancouver. He has degrees in history and law from the University of British Columbia, and a degree in history from the University of Cambridge in England.[1][2] He was called to the bar in 1982,[3] and has lived in Surrey since 1990,[2] where he ran his own law firm.[1]
Ralston served on the Surrey City Council from 1988 to 1993.[4] He was a member of the board of directors of Vancouver City Savings Credit Union from 1995 to 2006.[1] Between 1996 and 2001, he served as president of the BC NDP.[5]
He ran in the 2005 provincial election as the NDP candidate in Surrey-Whalley, winning the seat with 55% of the vote.[2] He kept his seat in the 2009 election, growing his vote share to 66.5%,[2] and was re-elected in 2013, 2017 and 2020.[1] He replaced John Horgan as NDP house leader in March 2014, allowing Horgan to contest the party leadership.[6]
In July 2017, Ralston was named Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology in the NDP minority government.[7] He swapped portfolios with Michelle Mungall in January 2020, becoming Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.[8] His post was modified to Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation and Minister Responsible for the Consular Corps of British Columbia in November 2020,[9] and he was appointed Queen's counsel in December of the same year.[3] He was subsequently named Minister of Forests in the Eby ministry on December 7, 2022, while retaining the role of Minister Responsible for the Consular Corps.[10]
Electoral results
| 2020 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Whalley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Bruce Ralston | 10,994 | 70.94 | +12.32 | $21,604.97 | |||
| Liberal | Shaukat Khan | 4,052 | 26.15 | −3.93 | $28,029.77 | |||
| Vision | Jag Bhandari | 228 | 1.47 | – | $0.00 | |||
| Communist | Ryan Abbott | 223 | 1.44 | +0.9 | $123.40 | |||
| Total valid votes | 15,497 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 236 | 1.50 | +0.62 | |||||
| Turnout | 15,733 | 40.59 | −10.96 | |||||
| Registered voters | 38,764 | |||||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | +8.13 | ||||||
| Source: Elections BC[11][12] | ||||||||
| 2017 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Whalley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Bruce Ralston | 10,315 | 58.62 | −2.81 | $59,997 | |||
| Liberal | Sargy Chima | 5,293 | 30.08 | +0.54 | $75,151 | |||
| Green | Rita Anne Fromholt | 1,893 | 10.76 | – | $322 | |||
| Communist | George Gidora | 96 | 0.54 | – | $0 | |||
| Total valid votes | 17,597 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 157 | 0.88 | −0.56 | |||||
| Turnout | 17,754 | 51.55 | +5.27 | |||||
| Registered voters | 34,440 | |||||||
| Source: Elections BC[13][14] | ||||||||
| 2013 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Whalley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||||
| New Democratic | Bruce Ralston | 10,405 | 61.43 | $112,496 | ||||
| Liberal | Kuljeet Kaur | 5,004 | 29.54 | $34,568 | ||||
| Conservative | Sunny Chohan | 1,110 | 6.55 | $40,961 | ||||
| Vision | Jag Bhandari | 420 | 2.48 | $9,375 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 16,939 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 248 | 1.44 | ||||||
| Turnout | 17,187 | 46.28 | ||||||
| Source: Elections BC[15] | ||||||||
| 2009 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Whalley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| New Democratic | Bruce Ralston | 10,453 | ||||||
| Liberal | Radhia Benalia | 4,083 | ||||||
| Green | Bernadette Kennan | 1,189 | ||||||
| 2005 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Whalley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| New Democratic | Bruce Ralston | 8,903 | 55.00 | |||||
| Liberal | Barbara Steele | 4,949 | 30.57 | |||||
| Green | Roy Whyte | 1,238 | 7.65 | |||||
| Democratic Reform | Elayne Brenzinger | 607 | 3.75 | |||||
| Marijuana | Melady Belinda Earl | 302 | 1.87 | |||||
| Independent | Joe Pal | 139 | 0.86 | |||||
| Platinum | Neil Gregory Magnuson | 50 | 0.31 | |||||
| Total | 16,188 | 100.00 | ||||||
References
- ^ a b c d e "MLA: Hon. Bruce Ralston, Q.C." Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ a b c d Kupchuk, Rick (2013-04-23). "B.C. VOTES: Surrey-Whalley candidates on the record". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ a b "2020 Queen's counsel appointees". British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General. 2020-12-30. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ "Hon. Bruce Ralston". www.leg.bc.ca. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
- ^ Diakiw, Kevin (2011-01-14). "Ralston will not seek leadership". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ Zytaruk, Tom (2014-03-20). "Ralston named house leader for NDP". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ Zussman, Richard; McElroy, Justin (2017-07-18). "B.C.'s new NDP government sworn into office". CBC News. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ "B.C. premier fills Jinny Sims vacancy, swaps jobs in cabinet tweak". The Canadian Press, via CBC News. 2020-01-20. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ Lindsay, Bethany (2020-11-26). "New faces join B.C.'s new cabinet, while stalwarts stay on in key roles". CBC News. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- ^ "New cabinet ready to take action on cost of living, health care, housing, climate" (Press release). Office of the Premier of British Columbia. 2022-12-07. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
- ^ "Statement of Votes — 42nd Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- ^ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
External links
- Media related to Bruce Ralston at Wikimedia Commons