Surrey mayoral candidate Doug McCallum proposes four years without property tax increases

Doug McCallum, Surrey’s mayor for 13 years, says he built SkyTrain to Cloverdale, Bear Creek Stadium and a police service from scratch while keeping taxes low. His top three priorities are zero per cent property tax increases for four years, a full-service Surrey General Hospital in Newton, and a police helicopter and drone fleet over Surrey within 90 days.

On the hospital proposal, McCallum says Vancouver has roughly 730,000 people and six hospitals, while Surrey has a comparable population, one hospital, the province’s busiest emergency department and no pediatric intensive care unit in Fraser Health. He says a council he leads would dedicate 7.2 acres of city-owned land at 6965 King George Boulevard and issue every city permit within 60 days. He says that was the timeline his council delivered for the Cloverdale hospital. He would then seek construction funding from Victoria and Ottawa, as he says he did for SkyTrain.

On crime and safety, McCallum says Surrey is in the third year of an extortion crisis. He criticizes Mayor Brenda Locke for cutting $47 million from the police budget request while her handpicked police board fired the chief. McCallum says he built the Surrey Police Service from scratch and would fund it to do its job. He promises a police helicopter and a fleet of drones over Surrey within 90 days of taking office, saying officers could reach a shooting or extortion threat in minutes instead of coming from another district. He also promises zero tolerance for extortion against families and businesses and no political interference in the police board.

On affordability, McCallum says groceries, rent and mortgages are squeezing Surrey families. He says Locke raised property taxes nearly 30 per cent in four years, with the cost passed on to tenants and small businesses, and spent $150 million fighting Victoria. McCallum says he kept taxes low during his 13 years as mayor while delivering 46 capital projects. He promises no property tax increases for four years, a freeze on recreation fees, free swimming lessons for children, free pool access for seniors and a Farm Local program so farmers can sell directly and groceries cost less.

Asked why voters should support him, McCallum says he has delivered before: Surrey wanted SkyTrain, a stadium, a police service and low taxes, and he delivered. His campaign lists safesurreycoalition.ca, info@safesurreycoalition.ca and 604-800-2471 as contact details. Its social accounts are Facebook at www.facebook.com/p/Safe-Surrey-Coalition-100064558518128/, Instagram at www.instagram.com/safesurreycoalition/, TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@safesurreycoalition and X at x.com/safesurrey2018.