Surrey Election Results: Brenda Locke unseated by former mayor Doug McCallum
McCallum was also able to get back in control this election, with nearly his entire slate achieving victory
By Sobia Moman
Last updated 10 hours ago
Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, who campaigned on a promise to freeze property taxes over four years, unseated incumbent Brenda Locke Saturday night.
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With all 164 polls reporting, McCallum nabbed 31.9 per cent of the vote, followed by Locke with 23 per cent.
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“Surrey voters have definitely spoken and this was not the result we counted on,” Locke said to a solemn crowd, conceding defeat to McCallum just before 10 p.m.
Locke went on to congratulate McCallum. When asked by reporters if she will run again in the future, Locke said, “Never say never.”
McCallum entered a raucous banquet hall just after 10 p.m.
“We will address affordability, we will address your safety, and we will address your infrastructure,” he said.
“I love Surrey. That’s why I ran. … But I even love the people of Surrey more. Together we’re going to build a great city that our families will live in, have jobs, go to sports, enjoy each other, work together to make one of the best global cities in the world.”
McCallum drew big applause when he said he planned to appoint Mandeep Nagra as his deputy mayor. The energy in the room remained high even as many began to trail out.
Other candidates were not able to close the gap, with Mike Starchuk finishing with 12.9 per cent and Linda Annis at 12.39 per cent. Annis did prove to be a popular councillor, having served two terms since 2018. In the 2022 election, Annis gained more votes than any other candidate running for mayor or council.
McCallum was also able to get back in control this election, with nearly his entire slate achieving victory. The lone council candidate not on Safe Surrey that will be on McCallum’s council is incumbent Harry Bains from Locke’s team. Bains received the highest amount of votes of any other candidate.
The remaining balance will be filled with incumbents Doug Elford and Mandeep Nagra, former councillors Allison Patton and Laurie Guerra and newcomers Meera Gill, Suhana Gill and Cheney Cloke.
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McCallum was expected to take journalists’ questions after his victory speech, but left almost immediately.
Elford, meanwhile, said he and the party didn’t know what to expect going into election night.
“It was a little surprising that we got such a landslide in,” Elford told Postmedia.
“Obviously, they wanted a change, and we saw the numbers up going up. The percentages are up a lot more than they historically have been, so that means people are motivated to come out, which means that I believe that they wanted change, and they spoke with their votes. I thought we had a chance but the polls were all over the place.”
Recent polling, including a Leger poll conducted for Postmedia News conducted between Sept. 23 and 30 suggested a desire for change at city hall. But at the same time, its results suggested Locke would comfortably receive a second term.
During Surrey’s advance voting, a total of 52,600 votes were cast, about 15 per cent of Surrey’s total registered voters. This represented a 47 per cent increase from the 2022 election, when 35,701 advance votes were cast.
With Safe Surrey gaining a majority, Elford said residents can expect some quick, new decisions in council and begin to carry out the promises — including a property tax freeze for four years, purchasing a police helicopter and getting funding for another hospital in Surrey — “as best as we can.”
McCallum has served as mayor two other times. The first was from 1996 to 2005, winning two terms, then again in 2018 until his narrow loss to Locke in 2022. The two former running mates became rivals over the city’s policing issue, with McCallum wanting to transition away from the RCMP and creating a municipal force and Locke wanting to retain the RCMP in Surrey.
Locke ultimately won that election by less than 1,000 votes. The race this time around was not as close, with McCallum winning with 42,741 votes to Locke’s 30,886 votes.
Surrey voters had seven candidates to choose from for mayor.
Incumbent Locke was hoping for a second term, saying she wants to continue the work she has started in the last four years. Locke ran on public safety as the top issue, promising to increase the number of police officers in the city and build a campus for fire, police and bylaw officials. Additionally, Locke promised to keep property tax increases at or below the rate of inflation, build a 10,000-seat sports and entertainment arena, and push for more affordable housing.
McCallum also promised to freeze property tax increases for his full term and get provincial funding to build SkyTrain to Newton and another hospital in Surrey.
Two-term councillor Linda Annis was taking a run for mayor for the first time. Annis had proved her popularity, gaining more votes than any other council or mayoral candidate in the 2022 election. The Surrey First leader was a thorn in Locke’s side her entire term, continuing the pattern during the campaign. Annis’ promises included no property tax increase in 2027, cancelling the arena plan, building a public safety training centre, hiring 300 more police officers, and bringing street-level light rail transit to Surrey.
Former NDP MLA Mike Starchuk, who served on council previously, was also making a play for the mayor’s seat. Starchuk was banking on residents wanting big change at city hall, often being vocal against Locke, McCallum and Annis. The Imagine Surrey candidate promised to build more homes in the city, a sports and entertainment arena on cheaper land than what Locke had planned, to keep tax increases at or below the rate of inflation, and to build more community facilities.
Honveer Singh Randhawa was another candidate vying for Surrey mayor, under the Conservative Electors Association. Randhawa made a run for provincial politics in 2024 with the Conservatives, narrowly losing the Guildford riding to the NDP’s Garry Begg. Under the new banner, Randhawa said he would get provincial funding for a seniors’ and children’s hospital, hire 600 more police officers, build a public safety training centre, give every homeowner a $600 property tax cut, and freeze tax rates for the full four-year term.
There were also newcomers in the race, including Troy Van Vliet of the new Surrey Now slate. Van Vliet has a long history as a developer in the city and entered politics to tackle some of the political issues he believes exist at city hall. His promises included streamlining building approvals, hiring 200 police officers, and freezing property taxes for four years.
Igal Ammons II was also running for mayor for the first time, with a slate of “ordinary citizens.” According to his online profile, Ammons is a family counsellor. His party, New Surrey+, promised to solve extortion, create partnerships to build medical clinics in each town centre in Surrey, be transparent in city spending, and invest more in the city’s schools to deal with overcrowding and service cuts.
