Civic elections will take place across Metro Vancouver this fall, and it’s shaping up to be quite an intriguing election season in some cities, particularly Surrey, as a former mayor is teasing a big announcement.
We’ve seen some notable names announcing their intentions to run to become the next mayor of Surrey, including city councillor Linda Annis.
Now, former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum is teasing a major announcement set to take place next week.
In an email, McCallum and the Safe Surrey Coalition revealed their plans to make a big announcement on April 13 at 9:30 a.m. Media will be invited to attend.
“The announcement will be made jointly by Doug McCallum and the Safe Surrey Coalition,” the email states.
While we can’t confirm that the announcement is about another crack in the mayoral duties for Surrey, it is a strong possibility.
This could pave the way for a three-way showdown between McCallum, Annis, and Brenda Locke. Annis has had her fair share of criticisms against the former mayor and current mayor, who will be vying for re-election.
In 2022, in response to McCallum rushing 45 land use applications through Surrey City Hall, Annis said, “Over the past four years, Doug McCallum has sidelined and ignored the people of this city.”
Annis is running under the Surrey First banner, and she has also taken shots at Locke’s leadership.
“We’re going to be the biggest city in the province in four short years, and will be the first city in B.C. to reach one million people,” Annis said earlier this year.
“Unfortunately, Brenda Locke and her four councillors have spent their term trying to cancel or derail the police transition, which means other important issues such as crime and public safety, development and housing, affordability, and the need for more parks, pools, rinks and playing fields have been ignored or sidelined. Our Surrey First team wants to change that,” Annis added.
Locke has been in the mayoral seat for nearly four years, dethroning McCallum in the 2022 Surrey Civic Election. Locke and McCallum clashed over policing in Surrey, with McCallum bringing the Surrey Police Service into effect, and Locke initially wanting to reverse the move to bring the RCMP back to Surrey.
The transition to the Surrey Police Service has stuck.
Prior to the 2022 election, McCallum had also promised to build a 60,000-seat arena in Surrey.
“It will be a multi-use arena for all sports. The city is a very big city; it’ll be bigger than Vancouver in four or five years. We need a sports stadium. We’re going to build a sports stadium in the next few years,” McCallum said at the time.
McCallum had also made other outlandish promises, like building a canal in Surrey.
What do you think of McCallum potentially taking another run at Surrey mayor?