Doug McCallum defeats incumbent Brenda Locke to become Surrey mayor

Surrey’s election results have swung back to 2022: incumbent mayor Brenda Locke lost to Doug McCallum, the man she defeated four years ago. Preliminary results showed McCallum with 42,241 votes and Locke with 30,750.

“I’m proud of the work that me and my council did,” Locke said. “We’ll see what happens moving forward.” She said Surrey voters had spoken and, although the result was not what she had hoped for or counted on, she wanted to congratulate the newly elected mayor and incoming council. Asked whether she was done with politics, Locke replied, “Y’know, never say never.”

In 2022, Locke, running with Surrey Connect, won the mayor’s seat with 33,311 votes to incumbent McCallum’s 32,338, a margin of just 973. Gordie Hogg placed third with 24,916, followed by Jinny Sims with 14,895, Sukh Dhaliwal with 9,629, Amrit Singh Birring with 2,270, John Wolanski with 646 and Kuldip Pelia with 385. Turnout that year was 34.54 per cent.

On election night in 2022, Locke was asked why she had beaten McCallum. “Doug McCallum embarrassed our residents,” she said. “I am a much more collaborative person.” McCallum, for his part, conceded it might be time to relax. “I’ve worked hard for the city for many years,” he said. “And maybe it’s time for me to finally put my feet up a little bit and enjoy life.”

This time, Harry Bains was the only Surrey Connect councillor re-elected. With results still coming in, he said his slate’s showing was “obviously not a good feeling, hanging on right now but we’ll see how it goes.” He added that it was not the same when the team was absent, that he felt it should have been there, and that if elected he would hold the next council accountable. Asked what kind of council it would be, Bains replied, “I don’t know.”