Doug McCallum claims he's 'running Surrey from the sidelines' ahead of municipal election
Doug McCallum isn’t the mayor of Surrey and doesn’t hold an elected position, but he put out a press release this morning claiming that he is “running” the city.
McCallum, who was previously Surrey’s mayor before he was defeated by Brenda Locke in 2022, is taking another mayoral run this year. Today, he claimed that Locke had copied one of his ideas.
On May 21, he put out his Surrey Recreation for All plan, which included free swimming classes for kids. On May 24, Surrey City Council pushed a motion forward to introduce free swimming classes for youth. According to the press release, Locke “insulted the very people whose voice she had just copied.”
“Brenda Locke called Surrey families sideline voices. Then she copied a plan from one of those sideline voices four days later,” McCallum said in the release.
“Brenda Locke has had four years to lead. She has delivered nothing. She has no ideas of her own. She has no vision for Surrey,” he continued. “The only ideas on her agenda this week were mine. That is not a mayor. That is a follower with a council seat.”
“I am not the mayor, and I am still running this city.”
Daily Hive spoke with current Surrey City Councillor and mayoral candidate Linda Annis.
“It seems petty to me,” she said, speaking about the release.
“The rivalry between Doug McCallum and Brenda Locke has been long-standing,” she said. “And I think the idea around the swimming lessons is a great idea. It doesn’t matter whose idea it is.”
“Certainly, Doug isn’t running City Hall from the sidelines, I would say that. I would also say that not much has been done in the last four years. There’s been a lot of fighting about the police transition. And I think we need to put politics aside, and we need to do what’s right for the city and the residents.”
Annis said that Mayor Locke had been focused on the police transition without getting much done during her term.
“And now, all of a sudden, all these ideas are coming out,” she said.
When Daily Hive asked Mayor Locke for her response to McCallum’s release, she said that their council believes “cost should not stand in the way of learning an essential life skill like swimming.”
“This initiative builds on Surrey’s ongoing investments in pools, recreation services and water safety. At the same time, demand for recreation and swimming services is increasing, and we are committed to making investments that will serve our community for years to come. That’s why we’re adding to Surrey’s eight free outdoor pools and five indoor pools by building a new recreation centre in Newton.”
The municipal election will be held on Oct. 17, 2026.