Surrey city councillor Linda Annis aims to have a Surrey First mayor – herself – installed at City Hall to re-ignite a political dynasty that ended with Linda Hepner in 2018.
Councillor Annis declared her intention to run for mayor Wednesday at the Civic Hotel in Whalley. The next civic election is set for Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 – more than a year away.
"One of the reasons why I've declared as earlier as I have is I want the time to get out and talk to as many people as I possibly can, to get them engaged," she told the Now-Leader. "To me it's about what's best for Surrey and we haven't been focused necessarily on how we can get Surrey back on track as quickly as possible and we need to be rolling things out as soon as I get elected, with a lot of work to be done and we need to focus on issues, not personalities."
The South Surrey resident and executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers expects to roll out a full slate of candidates starting in a few weeks and finalizing early in the new year.
"I think it's absolutely critical people get out and vote. This is a pivotal time in the history of Surrey; we'll soon be the largest city in British Columbia and people need to express their opinions and make sure they've got the right leadership there."
Annis was the lone Surrey First candidate elected to council in 2018. It was then finger-pointing time after the long-reigning slate's lock on city hall burst. While the six incumbent Surrey First Education school board trustees were re-elected, the city’s voters retired all Surrey First council incumbents who were still in the race, and their former slate mates who broke off in a schism to create their own group, Integrity Now.
"I think Surrey First as a party is very alive and well," she told the Now-Leader. "We've got lots of support in the community and I reflect back to all the great things Dianne (Watts) did and Linda. I think there's huge value in Surrey First and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity creating our vision for the city and hopefully getting elected in 2026."
Safe Surrey Coalition's Doug McCallum won the mayoralty in 2018 with 45,323 votes, with Brenda Locke on his ticket as a city councillor, defeating Surrey First’s Tom Gill who received 28,304 votes and Integrity Now’s Bruce Hayne, who received 27,798.
Locke then initiated a political schism of her own, formed the Surrey Connect slate, and defeated McCallum for the mayor's chair in the 2022 civic election.
In the city councillors race, Annis topped the polls in the 2022 election, winning the most votes of the eight councillors elected with 35,222 votes – or 4.32 per cent of a pool of 815,829 total votes cast for 56 candidates.
Just as Brenda Locke was a thorn in former mayor Doug McCallum's side when she was a city councillor, Annis has been a thorn in Locke's side during Locke's current mayoralty. Her major criticism of Locke, she says, is Surrey Connect was too focused on one single issue – keeping the RCMP in Surrey and the Surrey Police Service out, "which cost the taxpayers, as we know, millions of dollars and a lot of lost opportunity.
"As a consequence we've fallen behind on a lot of the infrastructure the city requires and we haven't developed a real vision for the next 20 years," she added. "Wasting an entire term when there is so much to do, is inexcusable, and I want to change that. Surrey’s mayor and council need to manage multiple priorities at the same time."
Yet if elected, Annis would create an advisory panel of all former Surrey mayors ranging back to Bob Bose who served as mayor from 1988 to 1996, when McCallum defeated him, saying "it's great to be inclusive.
“Regardless of their political stripe, former Surrey mayors have some very unique experience," she explained. “I may not agree with some of their political perspectives, and they may not even be active in politics anymore, but they know a thing or two, and hearing their perspective on important issues can certainly help us make better decisions for our city. I want to put their combined years of practical experience to work for Surrey. They are a valuable resource that I’d like to tap into.”
We've reached out to McCallum to find out if he intends to run for mayor again but haven't yet heard from him.
"Everyone can choose to run and I really don't have a comment on thinking about him running or not," Annis said of McCallum. "My expectation is that she (Locke) would and likely McCallum as well."
Locke said Friday she's "absolutely" seeking re-election. "I never even thought I wasn't going to run," she told the Now-Leader. "We've started a lot of really good projects and I want to see them at least really get going and it's going to take another term or too, so, for sure."
Annis outlined her election priorities as follows, producing a “contract with the community” that includes:
• Completing the police transition and securing a new police training academy in Surrey for the Lower Mainland.
• A core review of every city program and expense, ensuring value for money, potential savings, and reduced red tape.
• Adding light rail transit that connects neighbourhoods, and complements the new Surrey-黑马磁力 SkyTrain line.
• Cutting wait times for building permits, and building more affordable housing quicker, smarter, and with fewer city hall hurdles and costs.
• Creating a results-driven economic development plan that cuts red tape, earns Surrey an open-for-business reputation, and produces good local jobs that reduce commuting to work in neighbouring cities.
• Growing key industry sectors, including agriculture and food processing, manufacturing, transportation, logistics and supply chains, and Surrey’s construction expertise.
• Hiring an independent auditor general – like every big city in Canada – ensuring financial transparency, and making sure taxpayers get value for money from city hall programs and expenditures
• Developing a 20-year plan for more neighbourhood parks, pools, rinks, and playing fields, with free admission for Surrey children and youth.
• Flexing Surrey’s growing political muscle to secure more transit, healthcare, and education infrastructure dollars from Victoria and Ottawa.
• Zero tolerance for Surrey’s 400 school portables.
• A community-driven master plan for Cloverdale Fairgrounds as a sports and entertainment hub.
• Development of a conference and performing arts centre.
• Creating more community engagement, including a public question period at the start of every council meeting.
• Delivering more transparency from city hall and city council, with fewer in-camera meetings.
Annis said that over the past seven years she's spoken to thousands of Surrey residents and "has built a growing list of their priorities.
“That list isn’t getting any shorter, so I want to work with councillors who are ready to roll up their sleeves to get things done. It means giving assignments and responsibilities to councillors as a team, regardless of their politics, and holding them accountable for moving things forward. I really believe that we can get more done if we put more hands to work.
"I’m confident that with the right team we can get a lot more done with a council that is less partisan,” Annis added. She said she has "no intention of being the sort of mayor that picks fights with the provincial or federal governments” and said if elected she will ensure Surrey's MLAs and MPs "know exactly what their city expects of them as they represent the city in Victoria and Ottawa.
“I want Ottawa and Victoria on speed dial, and a team Surrey approach at the local, provincial and federal level. Flexing our political muscle is key to ensuring Surrey’s political strength translates into resources and funding that delivers for our local families," Annis said. "City hall and council needs to be an idea centre – we need to be thinking of how we can do things differently, how we can grow our economy, how can we increase transit here, how can we make Surrey a more livable city where people can work here – they're not travelling for hours on end to employment outside Surrey – it really needs to be a livable city."
Annis says, if elected Surrey's next mayor, within the first 90 days of her mayoralty she'll be "looking at" every department at City Hall to make sure they're operating "in the most efficient way."
