Bruce Ralston is calling it a day.
The five-term NDP MLA for Surrey-Whalley has decided not to run for a sixth term in the Oct. 19 provincial general election, ending a storied career as MLA that began when he defeated incumbent Democratic Reform MLA Elayne Brenzinger for the seat in 2005. He continued his election-winning ways in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2020.
"The session is very busy, I had a little bit of a chance to reflect and just to think about the prospect of going forward for another four years," Ralston told the Now-Leader. "I've been at it almost 20 years so I decided that's it's time for the next, time to do something else, time for the next phase of my life."
A criminal defence lawyer by trade, Ralston (King's Counsel) also ran his own law firm in Surrey, where he has lived since 1990. "I still have my practicing certificate, I've kept that up, done the courses. I don't really expect to return to the practice of law, no."
His career as MLA saw him serve as president of the BC NDP from 1996 to 2001, and replace John Horgan as NDP House Leader in 2014 so Horgan could run for the party leadership.
Before entering the provincial arena Ralston, now 71, served on Surrey council from 1988 to 1993 with the now-defunct Surrey Civic Electors slate, which had strong ties to the NDP.
"We envisaged a dramatic change in the centre of Surrey, but it's finally beginning to come into focus and it's pretty exciting. I think the dimension that's missing is some of the real aspects of urban life, just a more urban feel. I mean we're building the buildings but we need some of the urban amenities, the little touches that make a city livable, and I think that's coming, that's coming. It is a very dramatic change in the centre of the city, for sure."
Looking back, Ralston says the people of Surrey have been "pretty good" to him. "I've really enjoyed the opportunity to serve," he said. "I think in some respects politics is maybe a little bit coarser in some parts than it was before but people are generally very good.
"This doesn't happen terribly often, but I was on the SkyTrain platform at Gateway just, oh maybe a couple weeks ago," he recalled, "and a woman came up to me and said 'Are you Bruce Ralston?' And you're always a little bit cautious when someone asks you but I said yes. She said well, I just want to thank you for the great job that you do for our community. People do from time to time say that; it's not common – people express more pointed views on different topics. But that's part of being in political life and public service. You take the rough with the smooth."
Surrey, he says, is a model for the future of British Columbia and "in some ways, the future of Canada. It's a dynamic, really rapidly growing, changing city."
Ralston served on city council during some rock-em, sock-em years. "I would say participating in a public hearing in Surrey is good preparation for anything that political life can throw at you," he says. "I really enjoyed it, I mean I learned a lot in my time on Surrey council with mayor Bose. Surrey politics is tumultuous, it's always never dull, never dull. I learned a lot there."
In May, Ralston was still planning to run. As for stumping, he said, "run scared or run last, that's the old adage. Never take it for granted, that's for sure. I never do."
He finishes his career in provincial politics as minister of forests, and has also served as minister responsible for the consular corps., minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources, minister of energy, mines and low carbon innovation, and minister of jobs, trade and technology.