B.C. Conservatives and BC NDP promise a third Surrey hospital as mayor-elect offers city land

The Conservative Party of British Columbia is promising a specialized hospital for women and children in Surrey, saying it would bring care closer to families who now travel to BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver. Leader Lorne Doerkson announced the provincial election commitment last week. The party says some families spend an hour or more travelling to Vancouver for treatment. The proposal would be Surrey’s third hospital and revives a similar commitment the party made during the October 2024 election campaign. The announcement did not name a site.

Surrey mayor-elect Doug McCallum welcomed the pledge, saying it aligns with his Safe Surrey Coalition’s platform. He suggested the city offer its 7.2-acre property at 6965 King George Blvd. in Newton, at the southwest corner of King George Boulevard and 70b Avenue. The site had been planned for the major Newton Community Centre, but that project was moved a few blocks north. McCallum is also pushing to extend SkyTrain’s Expo Line along King George Boulevard from Surrey City Centre to Newton, which he says would support the location.

McCallum was re-elected in the civic election last weekend, in which his Safe Surrey Coalition also secured a supermajority on Surrey City Council. He said that three weeks earlier he had told Victoria a hospital was Surrey’s top priority, and thanked both party leaders for responding, calling it a non-partisan issue. He said mothers are sent to other cities to give birth and children are driven across a bridge because Fraser Health has no paediatric intensive care. He said Surrey’s answer would be the same whoever wins on Oct. 24, adding: “Good. Now let’s get it built.”

McCallum contrasted Surrey with Vancouver, which he said has several hospitals serving 730,000 residents. He named Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, Mount St. Joseph Hospital, BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital. UBC Hospital and Burnaby Hospital, just outside Vancouver’s formal municipal boundaries to the west and east, also serve the city. Several of the Vancouver-area hospitals provide provincial-level specialized care to the sickest patients from across B.C.; some also function as teaching and research hospitals, particularly for UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.

McCallum said Surrey has a population similar to Vancouver’s but a much larger land area, yet has only one hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital. He said it has been under severe strain for years because of rapid population growth and an ageing population in the South of Fraser sub-region. The BC NDP, led by Premier David Eby, also pledged last week to build a third Surrey hospital, without specifying its type. The party said it would work with the city if city-owned land were made available to expand health-care services. Eby said the province would work with local government if it offered land for health-care facilities in the fast-growing community. He added that more work is needed on health care in Surrey and across B.C., and said the government is asking the wealthiest to pay a little more to fund care.

The BC NDP also pointed to the province’s second medical school for training doctors and nurses. The Stephens Family School of Medicine at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus welcomed its first class this summer. It is operating in temporary facilities, with permanent facilities expected in a few years. Construction on a purpose-built medical school building in Surrey City Centre, a $520-million project, is expected to begin in late 2026. Eby’s party also says it continues to work to expand and improve services at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Earlier this year, during the 2026 budget announcement, the BC NDP-led provincial government controversially cancelled the second phase of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment after updated estimates showed the project was significantly over budget. The province had also adopted a strategy to slow capital spending amid large annual deficits and rising debt. A day before Eby called a snap provincial election, his administration announced a revised plan to proceed with the redevelopment in smaller additional phases. It announced $210 million to expand and upgrade the ageing hospital’s emergency department and surgical unit, adding 16 emergency treatment spaces and upgrading four operating rooms. Expanded cancer care and a new acute care tower are to follow to complete the second phase.

McCallum said his party would designate the Newton site for a hospital at the new council’s first working meeting after its inauguration. It also pledged to expedite every municipal permit within 60 days, the same timeline McCallum said his previous council met for the Cloverdale hospital project. Doerkson accused the BC NDP-led government of failing to provide enough health-care capacity for Surrey’s growing population, citing difficulty finding family doctors and long waits for appointments, diagnostic scans and surgery. “David Eby is good at making announcements and very bad at finishing projects,” he said.

The Conservatives promise the Cloverdale hospital, now under construction, will be completed “on time and on budget.” Construction began in 2023 on the $2.9-billion project, which includes 168 beds, an emergency department, surgical facilities and the BC Cancer Centre. It is expected to open in 2030, giving Surrey its second hospital.

General voting day for the provincial election is Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. Voters will elect an MLA to represent their riding, helping determine which party forms government and who becomes the next premier. The provincial election is separate from the civic election that ended last weekend, which chose mayors, city councillors and other local representatives for municipal governments across B.C.