# Garry Begg

Garry Begg is a Canadian politician who has served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2017, representing the electoral district of Surrey-Guildford. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) caucus, he was named to the cabinet of Premier David Eby in 2024 as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

## Biography

Born in Ontario, Begg had a 38-year career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), eight of which was spent in Surrey; he attained the rank of inspector with the force. He previously ran in the 2015 federal election as the federal New Democratic Party's candidate in Fleetwood—Port Kells, but was not elected.
In the 2017 provincial election, he ran in the newly established riding of Surrey-Guildford as a BC NDP candidate against Liberal Amrik Virk, also a former RCMP inspector. Begg defeated Virk to become a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and served as government caucus whip in his first term. He retained his seat in the 2020 provincial election.
Begg faced a tight race against BC Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa in the 2024 election, with initial results indicating that Randhawa was leading by 103 votes. After mail-in and absentee ballots were counted, Elections BC posted updated results on October 28, with Begg winning by 27 votes; that figure was later revised to 21 votes. As the margin was less than 1/500th of the total ballots cast, an automatic judicial recount was triggered. The recount was completed on November 8, with Begg re-elected by a margin of 22 votes, allowing the NDP to hold on to a majority government.
He was named to the Eby ministry on November 18, 2024 to serve as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
He and his wife Val have two children.

## Electoral record
### Provincial elections

vte2024 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Guildford :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | New Democratic | Garry Begg | 8,947 | 46.83 |
| | Conservative | Honveer Singh Randhawa | 8,925 | 46.81 |
| | Green | Manjeet Singh Sahota | 824 | 4.32 |
| | Independent | Kabir Qurban | 370 | 1.94 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 19,066 | 100.00 |
| Source: Elections BC |||||||
vte2020 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Guildford :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | New Democratic | Garry Begg | 10,403 | 60.59 | +10.99 | $40,309.39 |
| | Liberal | Dave Hans | 5,139 | 29.93 | −8.21 | $42,168.46 |
| | Green | Jodi Murphy | 1,345 | 7.83 | −1.98 | $1,281.64 |
| | Independent | Sam Kofalt | 282 | 1.64 | – | $1,015.24 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 17,169 | 100.00 | – |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 148 | 0.85 | +0.14 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 17,317 | 45.69 | −10.07 |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | Registered voters | 37,905 |
| Source: Elections BC |||||||
vte2017 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Guildford :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures |
| | New Democratic | Garry Begg | 9,263 | 49.85 | $67,072 |
| | Liberal | Amrik Virk | 7,015 | 37.76 | $71,381 |
| | Green | Jodi Murphy | 1,840 | 9.90 | $,1838 |
| | Christian Heritage | Kevin Pielak | 462 | 2.49 | $1,015 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 18,580 | 100.00 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 133 | 0.71 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 18,713 | 55.76 |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | Registered voters | 33,561 |
| Source: Elections BC |||||||

### Federal elections

vte2015 Canadian federal election: Fleetwood—Port Kells :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Liberal | Ken Hardie | 22,871 | 46.90 | +31.24 | $50,601.97 |
| | Conservative | Nina Grewal | 14,275 | 29.27 | -18.56 | $77,785.90 |
| | New Democratic | Garry Begg | 10,463 | 21.46 | -11.60 | $100,039.24 |
| | Green | Richard Hosein | 1,154 | 2.37 | -0.20 | $3,625.85 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 48,763 | 100.00 | | $206,797.64 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 269 | 0.55 | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 49,032 | 65.25 | – |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 75,150 |
| | Liberal gain from Conservative | Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | Swing | +24.90 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||