Doug got it done: McCallum defeats nemesis to win Surrey mayor’s race

Doug McCallum’s campaign slogan in his bid to be elected mayor was “Doug gets it done” – and he did just that, defeating incumbent Brenda Locke to earn a third stint running the City of Surrey. 

McCallum, 82, who several polls recently showed was far behind Locke, cruised to a convincing victory Saturday night. 

As of 10:40 p.m., McCallum was winning with 31 per cent of the vote, followed by Locke at 23 per cent, Linda Annis at 12 per cent, Mike Starchuk at just under 12 per cent, Troy Van Vliet at 11.6 per cent, Honveer Randhawa at seven per cent and the New Surrey+ candidate at less than one per cent. 

That was based on 134 out of 164 polls counted, but Locke had conceded by that time. 

McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition were also looking to have secured six out of the eight open councillor spots, with Surrey Connect’s Harry Bains securing one spot, and Surrey First’s Mike Bose in a dog fight to land a councillor spot (final results were not in by deadline).

That gives McCallum a stranglehold on council and the ability to push his agenda, which he said would turn Surrey “into a global city,” according to his initial victory speech that didn’t include mention of Locke.

McCallum now needs to make good on his promise to free property tax increases for the next four years while also building multiple city projects.

McCallum could also cancel Locke’s newly announced 10,000-seat arena near city hall. He also promised to reverse course on the city’s demolition of the horse barns at Cloverdale Fairgrounds. 

McCallum committed that, as mayor, his first order of business will be an independent forensic audit of every land transaction completed by Locke’s City Hall, with the full report turned over to the authorities.

“Twelve questionable land deals. One hundred and fifty million dollars overpaid. And a mayor who will not explain a single one of them,” said McCallum. “Surrey taxpayers deserve to know who got rich. On October 17, they will get a mayor who finds out.”