John Nuraney

John Nuraney (October 31, 1937 – November 21, 2016) was a Canadian politician who was the first Muslim elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.[2] He represented the riding of Burnaby-Willingdon from 2001 to 2009 for the British Columbia Liberal Party.[3]

John Nuraney
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Burnaby-Willingdon
In office
May 16, 2001  May 12, 2009
Preceded byJoan Sawicki
Succeeded byRiding Abolished
Personal details
Born(1937-10-31)October 31, 1937[1]
Mombasa, Kenya
DiedNovember 21, 2016(2016-11-21) (aged 79)
Surrey, British Columbia
Political partyLiberal
ResidenceSurrey, British Columbia
OccupationPolitician & businessman

Nuraney first contested the riding of Burnaby-Willingdon in 1996, challenging former Speaker Joan Sawicki. He lost by 823 votes. Upon Sawicki's retirement in 2001, Nuraney captured the riding by over 5000 votes in 2001.

In the 2009 election, Nuraney stood for re-election in the new district of Burnaby-Deer Lake, but was defeated by New Democrat Kathy Corrigan.

Personal life

Nuraney was born in Kenya, and worked in London, Zurich and Zaire as an insurance professional. He immigrated to Canada from Zaire in 1974 after his assets and business were nationalized by the Zairian government in 1973.[2]

His business investments in Canada included five A&W Restaurant franchises.[1]

After his retirement due to the 2009 election loss, he moved from Burnaby to Surrey, British Columbia. Nuraney served as vice-president for the federal Liberal party's electoral district association for Cloverdale-Langley City.[4]

Nuraney spoke six languages: English, French, Swahili, Lingala, Hindi and Gujarati.[2]

He and his wife Gulshan[5] had three children,[2] Nick, Asim and Naseem.[1] One of whom was a federal minister's assistant then a communications executive at Fraser Health.

Nuraney died at the age of 79 on November 21, 2016.

Electoral history

B.C. General Election 1996: Burnaby-Willingdon
Party Candidate Votes % ± Expenditures
     NDP Joan Sawicki 10,501 45.54% $35,882
LiberalJohn Nuraney9,67841.97%$46,603
Progressive DemocratThomas Reekie1,1615.03%$210
ReformSunny G. Sodhi9994.33%$28,321
GreenJoe Keithley4581.99%$160
ConservativePeter B. MacDonald1900.82%$100
     Natural Law Henriette Toth 74 0.32% $134
Total Valid Votes 23,061 100.00%
Total Rejected Ballots 183 0.79%
Turnout 23,244 71.73%
2001 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Willingdon
Party Candidate Votes%Expenditures
LiberalJohn Nuraney10,20755.79$46,187
New DemocraticDave Myles4,60825.19$18,928
GreenJoe Keithley2,87915.74$2,419
MarijuanaPamela Zak3621.98$394
Council of British ColumbiansDennis MacAuley2401.30$190
Total valid votes 18,296 100.00
Total rejected ballots 158 0.86
Turnout 18,454 70.07
2005 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Willingdon
Party Candidate Votes%Expenditures
LiberalJohn Nuraney8,75444.00$51,211
New DemocraticGabriel Yiu8,35542.00$43,004
GreenPauline Farrell1,4827.45$225
Democratic ReformTony Kuo9474.76$1,752
MarijuanaJohn Warrens2141.08$0
IndependentTom Tao1420.71$0
Total 19,894 100.00
2009 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Deer Lake
Party Candidate Votes%Expenditures
New DemocraticKathy Corrigan8,10348.75$92,681
LiberalJohn Nuraney7,59145.67$116,999
GreenBruce Friesen9285.58$1,633
Total Valid Votes 16,622 100
Total Rejected Ballots 156 0.93
Turnout 16,778 48.65
Registered voters 34,488

References

  1. "Nuraney, John (Burnaby-Willingdon)". Encyclopedia.com. Canadian Parliamentary Guide. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  2. Canadian Press (2016-11-21). "John Nuraney, B.C.'s first elected Muslim MLA dies; Clark pays tribute". Alaska Highway News. Archived from the original on 2016-11-23.
  3. Grindlay, ,Kent Spencerand Lora. "B.C. election results: Burnaby/New Westminster". www.vancouversun.com. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  4. Lang, Jennifer (2014-05-15). "Liberals aiming to make history in Cloverdale-Langley City". Cloverdale Reporter.
  5. Jetelina, Margaret (2011-08-31). "Entrepreneur John Nuraney enters politics to give back to the less fortunate". Canadian Immigrant. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  • John Nuraney Biography at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
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