Doug McCallum reclaims his position as Surrey's mayor | Daily Hive

Doug McCallum

It looks like Doug McCallum has dethroned Brenda Locke and will serve as the Surrey mayor for another four years.

This is far from McCallum’s first rodeo, with 13 years of experience leading Metro Vancouver’s second most populous city under his belt. The 82-year-old was in office from 1996 to 2005, and then again from 2018 to 2022.

While McCallum sought re-election in 2022, he lost to Brenda Locke by just under a thousand votes. Four years later, he beat his long-time rival.

According to preliminary election results, McCallum, who ran with the municipal party Safe Surrey Connect, has 42,241 votes, followed by Locke’s 30,750, Mike Starchuk with 17,203, and Linda Annis with 16, 521.

Since throwing his hat into the Surrey mayoral race in April of this year, McCallum has made a number of ambitious promises, including bringing the SkyTrain to Newton, a zero per cent property tax increase, a new helicopter for the Surrey Police Service within the first 90 days of taking office, and pushing Surrey to become a global city like Dubai, London, and New York.

He’s also promised to rebuild the horse racetrack and barns at Surrey’s Cloverdale Fairgrounds, withdraw Surrey from the Metro Vancouver Regional District, and said he would use City-owned land to build a new hospital.

Throughout McCallum’s campaign, he and the Safe Surrey Coalition team have referenced some of his previous accomplishments as Surrey mayor, like investing in 46 capital projects while keeping property taxes low. Further, the municipal party has given him credit for the SkyTrain to Clayton Heights and the University of British Columbia campus in Surrey.

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