FORMER White Rock mayor and MLA Gordon Hogg has been chosen by the federal Liberals as their candidate in the South Surrey-White Rock federal riding in the December 11 by-election.

Hogg told The VOICE on Sunday that the official announcement will be made on Monday.

The South Surrey-White Rock riding fell vacant after Conservative MP Dianne Watts resigned to enter the BC Liberal leadership race.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday announced that Parliamentary by-elections will be held on December 11 in the riding as well as in three other ridings:

* Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, Newfoundland and Labrador

* Scarborough—Agincourt, Ontario

* Battlefords—Lloydminster, Saskatchewan

Hogg pointed out to The VOICE 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.

Most recently, Hogg was awarded a PhD from Simon Fraser University (Creating Public Policy in a Complex Society) and appointed Adjunct Professor at the School of Criminology.

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.