The 2026 Surrey municipal election will be held on October 17, 2026, on the same day as the municipal elections held throughout British Columbia. Voters will elect a mayor along with eight city councillors and six school trustees for the Surrey Board of Education (School District 36 Surrey) through plurality-at-large voting; a seventh board of education seat, representing White Rock, is elected separately by that city.

Seven candidates are contesting the mayoralty following the close of nominations on September 11, 2026. Incumbent mayor Brenda Locke of Surrey Connect, who defeated Doug McCallum by 973 votes in the 2022 municipal election, is seeking re-election. McCallum, a former four-term mayor, returns to lead the Safe Surrey Coalition. Surrey First councillor Linda Annis is running for mayor; Surrey First's last mayoral candidate finished third in 2022. Three new parties are also contesting the election. Imagine Surrey is led by former MLA Mike Starchuk. The Conservative Electors Association, which campaigns as the Conservative Party of Surrey, is a municipal political organization whose advisory board was previously chaired by Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a former federal member of Parliament who became leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia in May 2026; its Surrey mayoral candidate is lawyer Honveer Singh Randhawa. Surrey Now is led by Surrey builder and business owner Troy Van Vliet. Igal Ammons-II is running for mayor for the New Surrey+ Party.

Public safety and extortion-related crime, property taxes and affordability, transportation, the proposed City Centre arena, and the city's relationship with the Metro Vancouver Regional District have been the principal issues of the campaign.

Background

2022 election and the police transition In the 2022 election, Locke defeated the incumbent McCallum by 973 votes on a platform of halting the transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service. Surrey Connect won four of the eight council seats, with the Safe Surrey Coalition and Surrey First winning two each. Following the election, the provincial government ordered the policing transition to proceed despite Locke's opposition, and the Surrey Police Service became the city's police of jurisdiction in 2024. The cost and duration of the city's efforts to reverse the transition have been a recurring point of criticism of Locke from her opponents, while Locke has described the decisions of her term as difficult but necessary.

Issues Public safety, extortion-related crime affecting the city's South Asian business community, affordability, traffic congestion, and Metro Vancouver regional governance have been identified as central issues heading into 2026. Surrey is projected to become the largest city in British Columbia within the coming term, and candidates have differed on whether municipal services and infrastructure are keeping pace with growth.

The city's plan for a City Centre Entertainment District anchored by a new arena of about 10,000 seats has divided the candidates: Surrey Connect describes it as a major city-building initiative, while Surrey First has pledged to cancel it.

In April 2026, Surrey City Council unanimously requested a provincial public inquiry into Metro Vancouver governance, citing financial stewardship concerns including a cost overrun on the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant from an original $700-million estimate to approximately $3.86 billion. Candidates have proposed responses ranging from board reform to withdrawal from the regional district.

Electoral calendar Under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, election advertising is regulated during a pre-campaign period from July 20 to September 18, 2026, and a campaign period from September 19 to October 17, 2026. The nomination period ran from September 1 to September 11, 2026. Advance voting is scheduled for October 7, 10, 14 and 15 at ten locations, and polls on general voting day are open from 8 am to 8 pm at 52 locations.

Campaign

Candidate announcements Annis was the first to declare, on September 3, 2025, more than a year before the vote. She criticized Locke's focus on opposing the police transition and said the city was "not ready" for its growth toward one million residents. Starchuk launched Imagine Surrey on December 8, 2025, at an event in Newton, and Surrey First completed its eight-member council slate in January 2026.

The Conservative Party of Surrey named its first six council candidates in February 2026 and announced Randhawa as its mayoral candidate on March 26, with a formal launch three days later. Locke announced her re-election bid on March 5, introducing two new Surrey Connect council candidates. Imagine Surrey completed its slate at a rally in Newton on April 7, which organizers said drew 740 supporters. McCallum entered the race on April 13. Van Vliet announced his candidacy on April 19 and launched Surrey Now, with council and school board slates, on May 2 at St. John Paul II Academy in South Surrey.

The Safe Surrey Coalition introduced its council slate and a series of pledges at a South Surrey event on July 22. Locke completed the Surrey Connect slate on August 11 with former councillor Vera LeFranc and lawyer and realtor Michael Dunn; at the event she declined to match rivals' four-year property-tax freeze pledges, saying a freeze would require cuts to services or staffing.

Annis–Lipinski correspondence In January 2026, Global News reported on text messages and emails between Annis and Surrey Police Service chief constable Norm Lipinski, obtained through a freedom of information request, in which Annis relayed complaints about impaired-driving checks that police had conducted in July 2025 outside Morgan Creek Golf Course in South Surrey, the neighbourhood where she owns a home. Lipinski replied that police had "stopped setting up there" and told senior staff the matter "requires an elevated response". Annis said she had passed along residents' concerns about several golf courses without directing the chief, that she supported roadside checks anywhere in the city, and that she would welcome an investigation. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner confirmed it had received multiple complaints about the matter, the provincial public safety minister asked the director of policing to assess whether follow-up was needed, and city manager Rob Costanzo described Lipinski's actions as "very serious misconduct". The police service said that after internal analysis enforcement had been moved to nearby locations on 32 Avenue and that a prevention program with alcohol-serving businesses would follow.

Lipinski left the Surrey Police Service in June 2026; the police board gave no reason for his departure, and an investigation into the correspondence had been launched. Annis called his removal "pure politics" and, in July, called on Locke and the police board not to sign a non-disclosure agreement covering his severance, which she estimated at more than $500,000.

Annis' dog attack and lawsuit At the beginning of the campaign, it was reported that Linda Annis had not accurately disclosed information related to her dog "Ron" biting her neighour, sending him to the hospital and requiring stiches. Her dogs were unlicensed at the time of the attack, which Annis referred to as an "oversight". Ethics professor Arthur Schafer called Annis' previous statements about the incident "misleading". A lawsuit has been filed against Annis by the victim.

Norm Lipinski Firing On June 1, 2026, Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski was fired. On September 28, 2026, Lipinski filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against the Surrey Police Board seeking judicial review of his June termination, which he said had been without cause, and asking the court to set it aside as unlawful. The petition alleges that the termination, which came less than ten weeks after the province replaced five members of the board in consultation with the city, was "motivated by extraneous political considerations" unrelated to his conduct or competence, that a chief constable holds an independent office under the Police Act that cannot be terminated without cause, and that Locke had "continually undermined" him and sought his removal, citing a 2023 meeting with board administrator Mike Serr and remarks to a Surrey Police Service member in August 2024. None of the allegations has been tested in court. The board said it was reviewing the petition, would not comment publicly on a matter involving a former employee that is before the court, and was actively recruiting a new chief constable. Locke said the petition was against the board and had nothing to do with her or the city, and Surrey Connect said staffing decisions at the police service rest solely with the independent board.

Rival candidates criticized Locke over the filing. Mike Starchuk said a police chief "should never have to keep the mayor happy to keep his job".

Foreign-interference complaint On July 28, 2026, a week into the pre-campaign period, the Safe Surrey Coalition alleged that a network of at least four Facebook pages presenting themselves as local news for Surrey, Delta and Vancouver was being operated from India, with advertising paid in Indian rupees and in some cases billed to an entity at a government research facility in Pune. Elections BC said that an initial review of the pages did not appear to show a violation of the advertising rules of the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, and that it had not seen evidence of widespread foreign interference in British Columbia elections. McCallum filed formal complaints with Elections BC and the RCMP on July 29. Locke's campaign manager, Teddy O'Donnell, said Locke and Surrey Connect had no knowledge of the accounts and accused McCallum of seeking to "score cheap political points".

Close of nominations When the nomination period closed on September 11, 2026, seven candidates had filed for mayor, 65 for council and 23 for school trustee.

Debates and forums The Surrey & White Rock Board of Trade has scheduled four all-candidates forums: council candidates on September 21 and mayoral candidates on September 22 at the White Rock Community Centre, and council candidates on October 6 and mayoral candidates on October 7 at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel.

Mayoral election

Candidates

Igal Ammons-II (New Surrey+ Party) Ammons-II filed as the New Surrey+ Party candidate for mayor. Igal Ammons II and party have set out to make Surrey a thriving hub for all disciplines progressively and economically sustainable in all neighbourhoods. This would be a place where families, businesses, students, and workers want to be 24/7.

Linda Annis (Surrey First) Annis, first elected to council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 with the most votes of any council candidate, is the executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers. She has pledged to cancel the proposed City Centre arena, which the party describes as a $600-million project without a plan, budget or tenant, and to redirect spending toward neighbourhood parks, pools, rinks, fields and recreation programs. She has said she would push for a light rail system, end the city's disputes and lawsuits over the police transition, and focus council on "gangs, extortionists, and drug dealers" rather than on the provincial government or the police board. Other proposals include an advisory panel of former Surrey mayors, an economic plan centred on cutting red tape, and reforms at Metro Vancouver including a smaller board, the elimination of meeting fees for members, and a full audit of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project.

Brenda Locke (Surrey Connect)