FORMER South Surrey-White Rock MP Gordon Hogg, who is also a former White Rock mayor and MLA, confirmed to the VOICE on Tuesday that he has been approached by Surrey First to run for mayor of Surrey.
He added: “I am going to be meeting with them [this coming weekend] and I am not sure what my decision will be as a result of that.”
Asked if he was seriously considering a run, he replied: “I’ve been approached by that group. I have also been approached to consider running for mayor of White Rock and I am meeting with my family this week to see whether or not there’s some type of agreement on that.”
He added: “So, it’s somewhat up in the air – all of it’s up in the air right now.”
BACK in 2017, Hogg was selected as the federal Liberal candidate in a by-election in South Surrey—White Rock when incumbent Conservative MP Dianne Watts — who founded Surrey First in 2007 — resigned. Hogg defeated Conservative candidate Kerry-Lynne Findlay, but lost to her in the 2019 federal election. He lost to her again in 2021.
In an interview with The VOICE in 2017, he pointed out that he was on White Rock Council first as a Councillor for 10 years and then as the mayor for another 10 years.
He then became an MLA from the riding of Surrey-White Rock in a 1997 by-election. He was re-elected in 2001, 2005, 2009, and again in 2013.
He held several portfolios as MLA including Minister of Children and Family Development, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth Sport to the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Entrepreneurship to the Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Mining, and Minister of State for ActNow BC. Hogg also served as chair of the Government Caucus.
Hogg was a counsellor, probation officer and regional director for corrections prior to his election to the Legislative Assembly. He received his bachelor of arts in sociology and psychology from the University of British Columbia and his master’s degree in psychology from Antioch College.
Gordon Hogg and his wife, LaVerne, live in White Rock and have one son. They have also been foster parents, Hogg told The VOICE at the time.
