A familiar face is back in the mayor’s office in Surrey.
Doug McCallum — of Safe Surrey Coalition — defeated incumbent Brenda Locke on Saturday to lead B.C.’s second-largest city once again.
McCallum was leading Locke by nearly 12,000 votes with almost all polls reporting.
“I love Surrey, that’s why I ran. I love Surrey, but I even love the people of Surrey more,” the 82-year-old McCallum said in his victory speech.
“Together, we’re going to build a great city that our families will live in, have jobs and go to sports, enjoy each other, work together to make one of the best global cities in the world.”
In that victory speech, McCallum named Mandeep Singh Nagra his deputy mayor.
McCallum was the mayor of Surrey from 1996 to 2005 and again from 2018 to 2022, when he was defeated by Locke.
“The voters have truly spoken,” Locke told her crestfallen supporters in her concession speech.
“Four years ago the people of Surrey gave me an honour of serving as mayor. It has been the privilege of a lifetime.”
In an interview with CityNews after conceding the race, Locke said she was surprised by the result.
“It certainly wasn’t what we heard at the doors or in any of the polling data. So I don’t know why that happened, but it did. Very disappointing.”
The latest results mark a change in leadership after four years in which Surrey’s municipal government faced contention over policing, concern over the extortion crisis, and debates over how to manage Surrey’s rapid growth.
Locke, who won the mayor’s office in 2022 after campaigning to keep the RCMP in Surrey, spent much of her first term dealing with the city’s transition to the Surrey Police Service. Despite her initial opposition to the transition, she eventually supported the move.
The policing issue remained in voters’ minds in this year’s campaign, alongside public safety, affordability, property taxes, and infrastructure growth.
The new council will face questions about how to fund proposed infrastructure and services as Surrey continues to grow, while addressing residents’ concerns about affordability and public safety.
Speaking to CityNews, Locke gave some parting advice to the returning mayor.
“I think that Mr. McCallum has to go back to the drawing board, not the one he used before, and make sure that he’s recognizing the power of Surrey and the strength of our city to be not just the next modern city in Canada, but also the economic engine that it is for the rest of the country,” she said.
Locke says she doesn’t know what the future holds.
“Who knows. I said I’m not running again so many times now. I’m not going to say that, but I will tell you it’s been a privilege to do this job for four years, so for that I am truly grateful.”
