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John Nuraney

John Nuraney
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Burnaby-Willingdon
In office
May 16, 2001 – May 12, 2009
Preceded by Joan Sawicki
Succeeded by Riding Abolished
Personal details
Born (1937-10-31)October 31, 1937
Mombasa, Kenya
Died November 21, 2016(2016-11-21) (aged 79)
Surrey, British Columbia
Political party Liberal
Residence Surrey, British Columbia
Occupation politician & businessman

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. He represented the riding of Burnaby-Willingdon from 2001 to 2009 for the British Columbia Liberal Party.

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.

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.

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

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.

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


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