Brenda Locke claimed that Surrey had chosen to make “a huge change for public safety, for ethics, for development, and for transit in our city” in her victory address.
A new mayor will take office in Surrey, and his primary objective will be to reverse the police transfer and reinstate the RCMP.
With just 973 more votes than her opponent and 28% of the vote, Brenda Locke defeated a last-minute challenge from incumbent Doug McCallum to win the position of mayor-elect in the second-largest city in British Columbia. McCallum came in second with 27.3% of the vote, followed by Gordie Hogg in third with 21%.
Locke was only 600 votes ahead at one point Saturday night, well after the winning and conceding speeches had been made.
She will go to city hall with Harry Bains, Gordon Hepner, Rob Stutt, and Pardeep Kooner, four of her Surrey Connect councillors. Additionally elected to the council were incumbent Linda Annis of Surrey First, who received the majority of council votes, newcomer Mike Bose, and incumbents Doug Elford and Mandeep Nagra of the Safe Surrey Coalition.
Surrey has chosen change, according to Locke’s victory speech.
You wished for a significant shift, and boy did you ever get it. There has been a significant change in our city’s public safety, ethics, development, and transportation. significant change
Locke addressed the gathering, “Surrey rocks.”
However, we still have a lot of work to do and a tough task ahead of us. She remarked amid applause and whistles, “First and foremost, we must maintain the Surrey RCMP right here in Surrey.
In order to keep the RCMP and stop the shift to a municipal police force, Locke, who was initially elected as a councillor alongside McCallum before leaving his Safe Surrey Coalition, has sworn to break from it. She became one of McCallum’s most vehement detractors throughout her four years on council.
McCallum thanked the electorate and congratulated Locke in his concession speech. They made that choice tonight, and he stated, “I respect it because I respect the inhabitants of this beautiful city.””I do have a grin on my face as I stand here tonight because I’ve worked hard for the city for many years.
Maybe now is the right time for me to relax a little and take it all in. When asked what he thought of Locke’s pledge to undo the police transfer, McCallum responded that the provincial government would make that choice rather than his opponent.
He remarked, “I’m not sure she can.
McCallum said he wasn’t sure how much the vote had been affected by the policing debate.
“There is a very vociferous group of people who are opposed to the switchover… I’m not sure if it made a major difference or not.
Surrey voters looking for change had a wide range of choices, including Locke and Hogg, as well as Jinny Sims, who finished fourth with 12.5% of the vote, and Sukh Dhaliwal, who finished fifth with 8.1%.Because of this, analysts were reluctant to name a front-runner, despite polling data showing Locke with a modest advantage in the final week before the election.
The election campaign made extensive use of the policing issue as well as worries about home affordability, property tax rates, and government transparency. In 2018, McCallum, who served as Surrey’s mayor from 1996 to 2005, easily defeated Surrey First’s Tom Gill by 17,000 votes. Additionally, his Safe Surrey Coalition gained seven seats.
The party made audacious suggestions including replacing the RCMP with a local police force and scrapping the approved LRT in favour of SkyTrain. Throughout his four-year administration, McCallum kept his word, although not without much controversy.
His Safe Surrey councillors Locke and two others left the party citing concerns about transparency and the police transfer. After claiming that a woman ran over his foot with a car in the parking lot of a supermarket shop, McCallum is now accused of public mischief. This month’s end is when his trial is anticipated to start.
The now-retiring mayor campaigned on building a stadium with 60,000 seats and finishing the police changeover. However, a second term was not anticipated.
Speaking to the province about reversing the changeover will be among Locke’s first priorities on election night, she added.
She underestimated the challenge of rejoining the RCMP in a prior interview. It is really a misnomer to refer to it as a reversal, she said. “The transition isn’t moving forward. The Surrey Police Service’s launch was unsuccessful.
The SPS officers who have already been employed said Locke, are her top priority. She did, however, add that any capital purchases, such as automobiles and computers, might be incorporated into the RCMP. She was sure the province would approve the adjustment as well.
I’ve understood for a long time that this (the transition) would succeed or fail depending on the outcome of this election and what Surrey has to say, she added. Surrey First kept its seat on the school board that oversees British Columbia’s biggest school system, despite changes coming to city hall.
Members of the Surrey First Education ticket and the six current school trustees were all re-elected.
