Surrey mayoral candidate Linda Annis pledges police transition, 300 hires and no 2027 tax increase

Linda Annis is a two-term Surrey city councillor and former head of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers, with more than 20 years of community service. She says she is known for listening and offering practical solutions. Her top three priorities are completing the transition to the Surrey Police Service (SPS) and adding 300 officers, hiring an independent auditor general and ending automatic tax increases, and making Surrey the most business-friendly city in B.C.

Annis calls public safety the mayor’s first job. She says she has spent 20 years working with police and communities on safety issues, and that the police transition is in its eighth year because of political interference. If elected, she says she will complete the transition, hire 300 more officers over four years and build a police training centre to recruit and train officers and get them on the streets sooner.

Asked about Surrey’s extortion crisis, gang violence and other public safety concerns, Annis said she worked with police on those kinds of crimes as executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers. She pledged to complete the stalled transition, hire 300 officers over four years, build a police training centre, provide SPS with real-time access to city traffic cameras and buy 600 police security cameras. She also said she would support and grow SPS, focus on community policing, and target gangs, extortionists and drug dealers. She said Surrey residents and voters want a safe city because nothing else matters without public safety.

On affordability, Annis said city hall should respect taxpayers and not treat them like an ATM. She said she would hire an independent auditor general to review programs and how every dollar is spent, adding that every big city in Canada has to conduct such reviews and that Doug McCallum and Brenda Locke oppose them. She also pledged a top-to-bottom review of city spending to find real savings and cut red tape. She said modernizing city hall would help residents and local businesses get faster answers and permits. Annis promised no property tax increase in 2027 and said Surrey children should not face wait lists for skating and swimming lessons.

Annis said she has watched two mayors fail voters and knows how city hall works and how to make it work faster and better. She said she would hit the ground running with a detailed plan to fight crime, grow the economy and create more parks, pools, rinks and playing fields. She directed voters to surreyfirst.org, facebook.com/surreyfirst2026, youtube.com/@SurreyFirst-xs8nu and @SurreyFirst2026 on X/Twitter. The source notes that candidates’ answers exceeded the word limits and were cut off accordingly.