Surrey votes: A breakdown of the 2026 municipal party platforms

Surrey residents are headed to the polls on Oct. 17.

Seven slates are running to lead Surrey: New Surrey+, Surrey First, Surrey Connect, the Safe Surrey Coalition, the Conservative Party of Surrey, Imagine Surrey, and Surrey Now.

Voters will select one mayoral candidate, eight city councillors, and six school board trustees from the seven slates and independents. 

Voters can cast their ballots on voting day or the remaining advance voting days — Oct. 14 and 15 — at select locations. 

Igal Ammons II & New Surrey+

Igal Ammons II is running for mayor with New Surrey+. Ammons moved back to Surrey’s Fleetwood neighborhood after living in Finland for nearly 20 years, prior to which he had lived in Surrey since 1987.

He told The Runner he is a family counselor. The Runner asked if his practice is in Surrey, and Ammons said he “practices with the world.”

Running for city council under the New Surrey+ banner are: Leanna Chatwin, Messia Ditshimba, Chris Hoffman, Emily Kennedy, Matthew Smed, Lily Tsi, and Grace Ziegler. Ian de Hoog was mentioned in Surrey Now-Leader’s article on the party’s councillor candidates, but he is no longer mentioned in the party’s website.

New Surrey+ is running on a 12-point platform ranging from public safety to arts and culture.

The party’s promises include a clinic in each of Surrey’s six neighbourhoods, a transit network that connects West Vancouver to the Abbotsford Airport for one flat price, and investments in schools and community centres across Surrey.

New Surrey+ has not included policies for its campaign promises as of publication.

Linda Annis & Surrey First

Linda Annis is a two-term councillor running for mayor with Surrey First. In the 2022 election, the party’s mayoral candidate was former MP and MLA Gordie Hogg.

Annis, who has lived in Surrey for 20 years, is the executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers and a board member of the Surrey Cares Foundation, Surrey Art Festival, and Metro Vancouver Regional District.

She is facing a civil lawsuit from a neighbour after her dog bit him on the arm last spring, and the party’s website states Annis is the “obedient servant of two Dalmatians, Randi and Ron.” 

Surrey First candidate Mike Bose is seeking a second term as city councillor. The party’s other councillor candidates include: Debra Antifaev, Janet Brown, Bilal Cheema, Jasroop Gasal, Gagan Nahal, Clint Stewart, and Shina Vermani.

Surrey First’s platform includes completing the policing transition, a 20-year plan for more parks, pools, rinks, and playing fields, and hiring an independent auditor general who can review city programs and finances — which the party states “every big city in Canada has.” Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto all have an independent city auditor general.

The party has also proposed $1.791 billion in capital projects including: $200 million for a conference centre, $170 million for a performing arts centre in Whalley, and $555 million in projects at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. For recreation facilities, Surrey First pledged $600 million across four years to open new centres every 16 months.

Annis also pledged no property tax increase in 2027.

Brenda Locke & Surrey Connect

Incumbent Brenda Locke formed Surrey Connect in January 2020 and is seeking her second term as mayor. She has lived in Surrey for more than 40 years.

Locke, a former B.C. Liberal MLA, has been critical of the city’s transition to a municipal police force, having come to an agreement with the province in 2024 to continue with the Surrey Police Service (SPS).

Councillor candidates seeking re-election under the Surrey Connect banner are: Harry Bains, Michael Dunn, Gordon Hepner, Pardeep Kooner, and Rob Stutt. New additions to the slate are Vera LeFranc, Rona Tepper, and Noemi Victorino.

Surrey Connect’s platform includes transparency, growth, public safety, and fiscal responsibility. 

The party pledged $1.496 billion in additional spending on facilities, parks, and streets, including a $150 million South Surrey ice arena, firehall, and a $150 million Surrey concert hall. The capital projects are on top of the 10,000-seat City Centre Arena set to complete by 2030.

Locke also said she will keep tax increases at or below inflation.

“While other parties are promising massive capital investments with the promise of no tax increases, Surrey Connect is making the investments our City needs while keeping taxes low,” the party’s platform states. “We’ve seen what no tax increases mean: cutting services, delaying or canceling projects, and hidden taxes.”

Doug McCallum & the Safe Surrey Coalition

Former mayor Doug McCallum is running to lead Surrey again with the Safe Surrey Coalition. McCallum was mayor for 13 years — three terms from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2018 to 2022. He lost to Locke by 973 votes in the 2022 election.

Doug Elford and Mandeep Nagra are seeking re-election with the Safe Surrey Coalition slate. Other councillor candidates are: Cheney Cloke, Laurie Guerra, Meera Gill, Suhana Gill, Allison Patton, and Beau Simpson.

McCallum brought in the SPS in 2018 and invested in 46 capital projects, including ice rinks, fields, and community centres. The 82-year-old also worked to get the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain and Bear Creek Stadium built.

The Safe Surrey Coalition’s platform includes extending the SkyTrain to Newton, a police helicopter and drone for the SPS within 90 days, and no property tax increase over the next four years.

McCallum’s coalition will also remove Surrey from the Metro Vancouver Regional District, while keeping the utility services, including water, sewage, and waste, that the organization provides.

For city services, the party pledged new swimming pools for Clayton Heights and City Centre, and a new Newton community centre with a pool. McCallum also pledged a hospital at the city-owned land at 6965 King George Boulevard, where they will also fast-track the application and issue all city permits within 60 days.

The Safe Surrey Coalition is also committed to having an independent forensic audit of City Hall’s land deals and give heritage designations to Crescent Beach and Heritage Park.

Honveer Singh Randhawa & the Conservative Party of Surrey

Honveer Singh Randhawa is running under the Conservative Party of Surrey banner. He is a Surrey-based lawyer who lives near city hall.

Randhawa ran with the B.C. Conservatives in the Surrey-Guildford riding during the 2024 B.C. general elections. He lost to the NDP’s Garry Begg by 22 votes.

Running for council under Randhawa’s Conservative slate is Ricky Bajwa, Dan B. Carlos, Mehnaz Javed, Cordell Pullar, Manu Sharma, Harkirat Singh Sidhu, Calvin Vanderploeg, and Donna Wu.

Randhawa and the Surrey Conservatives are proposing to divide the city into eight geographic zones for monthly drop-ins at recreation centres, gyms, or public hubs. Each drop-in will be manned by one councillor and two senior city staff members.

Randhawa also wants to establish an entertainment district in the city, comparable to Vancouver’s Granville Street, which he envisions will be located near City Centre or the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.

The Conservative slate will also direct city staff to dedicate the city-owned land at 6965 King George Boulevard as the site of a senior and children’s hospital within the first hundred days.

Randhawa intends to also mandate that 50 per cent of landscaping contractors hired by the city be youth aged 16 to 21 to provide them with work experience.

The Surrey Conservatives will establish a parent action committee to review school materials on gender and identity, like the framework SOGI 123, is not in Surrey classrooms without parental consent.

Mike Starchuk & Imagine Surrey

Former B.C. NDP MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale Mike Starchuk is running to be Surrey’s next mayor with the Imagine Surrey slate. Starchuk was a firefighter for 32 years and retired as the city’s Chief Fire Prevention Officer. He lives in the Clayton Heights neighborhood and has lived in Surrey for more than 55 years.

Starchuk was also a city councillor in 2014, lost in the 2018 municipal election, and moved to provincial politics in 2020. He lost to current Centre BC leader Elenore Sturko in 2024.

Imagine Surrey councillor candidates are: Yousef Aldabainah-Barakat, Chandan Chahal, Perminder Chohan, Narima Dela Cruz, Ashiyana Hanif, William Li, Margaret Mubanda, and Kevin Wilkie.

The party’s platform includes safer streets, fast commutes, smart investments, lower costs, and strong services.

Starchuk’s transit plan includes adding washrooms to bus loops, allowing taxi drivers — excluding Uber and Lyft — to use bus lanes and lower licensing costs, and a discounted $70 monthly TransLink pass. The regional transit authority’s current adult one-zone monthly fare costs $117.20.

The party also pledges an empty homes tax in Surrey. Imagine Surrey notes taxes are not aimed at landlords listing a unit, but homes nobody lives in or rents.

Imagine Surrey is the only Surrey party to commit to the Vote Palestine platform. Starchuk and two councillors, Aldabainah-Barakat and Hanif, committed to the full platform: condemn the genocide, pledge to be apartheid-free, cut ties with Israel, and fight anti-Palestinian racism.

Troy Van Vliet & Surrey Now

Troy Van Vliet was born and raised in Surrey and lives in the Morgan Creek neighbourhood. The builder and business owner is the mayoral candidate for Surrey Now. Van Vliet and his wife founded St. John Paul II Academy, an independent co-ed Catholic secondary school in South Surrey.

The party’s council candidates are: Gail Beszedes, Enrique Ponce De Leon, Ollivor Dickson, Rahul Gill, Jesse Johl, Dr. Werner Spangehl, and James Yu. Surrey Now is the only slate running school board candidates, which are: John Banovich, Dr. Michelle Ceniza, Rohit D’Silva, Vanessa Gilera,  Dr. Vincent Tighe, and Venson Wang.

Surrey Now’s platform focuses on public safety, housing, schools, and accountability.

For rising extortions in Surrey, the party would request a joint public report from the SPS, Surrey Police Board, city admin, bylaw services, and victim-service partners, within the first 100 days.

Surrey had 353 portables as of September 2025, and Van Vliet pledged to remove all of them. The party noted Surrey’s school board has had the same seven trustees since 2014 — six of whom are running again. Surrey Now also wants the province to pay for portables.

Surrey Now’s platform also includes a rent-to-own program that can help young people buy their first home. Some incentives include prioritizing family-sized units over investor condos and partnerships with non-profits to create affordable housing options.