McCallum pledges to get new Surrey hospital built, but has few details

Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition have promised that, if elected, they will get a new general hospital built in the city, but had few details on how that would happen or the cost. 

At the Sept. 21 press conference, McCallum stood in front of the city-owned lot at 6965 King George Blvd. — this is where the new Newton Community Centre was originally meant to be built before Mayor Brenda Locke moved the location in 2024. 

Vancouver and Surrey’s population are nearly the same at about 730,000 each. Yet, Vancouver has six hospitals, while Surrey only has one. The new Cloverdale hospital is set to open in 2030 with an additional 168 beds, but it is still much smaller in scale compared to Surrey Memorial.  

“Surrey has been treated as a second-class city for as long as I can remember … This city is adding 1,000 people every month. We are heading for one million residents. We are about to become the largest city in British Columbia, and the largest city in British Columbia is not going to run on one hospital,” said McCallum. 

Surrey Memorial has dealt with overcrowding for years and Surrey residents have been raising concern over the long wait times. 

But health-care infrastructure and funding is primarily overseen by the provincial government. The province recently announced $33 million in funding to improve emergency care and medical imaging at Surrey Memorial. 

Overall, however, the province has been facing an unprecedented deficit.

On how much the total project would cost and how much the city would put forward, McCallum said “we’re not right now giving the costs.” He said the city would donate the land to the provincial government. 

“The land is the hardest part of building a hospital, and Surrey already owns it.”

McCallum added that his party will issue every approval and city permit within 60 days and if elected, will be going straight to the provincial and federal government to acquire funding. 

He said that he has not spoken to the province about the new hospital proposal, but has a track record of getting things done. “I have built a lot in this city. SkyTrain, Bear Creek Stadium, the 84th Avenue Connector, 46 capital projects in total,” said McCallum. 

Even if the new hospital is completed, it is unclear on how it would be staffed as across B.C., hospitals are facing staffing shortages, especially in emergency rooms. 

McCallum said he would bring in universities, like Simon Fraser University, which recently opened a new medical school in Surrey. “We’ll look all around the world so that we get the best hospital and the best resources. Surrey is a great city … People will want to come here,” he said. 

“This is the [project] that matters most. Surrey General Hospital, for our mothers, our children, our seniors and our families, so that nobody in this city is ever again told to drive somewhere else for care. It is time Surrey was treated like the world-class city it is becoming.”