“Experienced’ McCallum Takes A Decisive Lead In Surrey Civic Campaign, Says Poll

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SURREY – The man known simply as “Doug Paaji” in the South Asian-Punjabi community in Surrey, former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, who is the only candidate with an experience of holding the mayor’s chair, has taken a decisive lead among decided voters over his two main opponents – Barinder Rasode of One Surrey and Linda Hepner of Surrey First, in the municipal election campaign that is underway, according to a poll released this week.

The poll, conducted by Insights West from October 3-6 shows that among the decided 52 percent of the voters –  40 per cent say it’s McCallum, followed by Hepner (32 per cent) and Rasode (21 per cent), both of whom have sputtered from the onset, allowing McCallum to not only take over the crime-safety agenda but also make points fiscally with his simple freeze taxes and a 3 percent cut to the city budget, which is resonating with voters.

Almost half  (48 per cent) of Surrey voters are still undecided and may hold the key as to which of the three front runners eventually takes the mayor’s chair as well as controls council.

McCallum’s decision to undo, if he is elected, the Surrey Development Corporation which is running a huge deficit is also scoring points with both common citizens and small businesses which see a lot of fat under the  current Dianne Watts administration that needs to be cut.

In the online survey of a representative sample of Surrey residents, 55 per cent of respondents say crime is the most important issue facing the city – a 10-point increase since a survey conducted by Insights West in July. Transportation is a distant second at 14 per cent, followed by economic development (nine per cent) and poverty (six per cent ).

McCallum, a former three-term mayor, holds a slight edge on six of them, including: city finances and taxation (18 per cent); economic development (18 per cent ); transportation (18 per cent ); crime (17 per cent ); development (17 per cent ); and housing (16 per cent ).

On the crime issue, Rasode was close behind McCallum with 15 per cent of the vote.

Hepner is ahead on three issues: parks and recreation (17 per cent ); arts and culture (16 per cent ); and the environment (15 per cent ). McCallum and Hepner are tied on who would be the best candidate to deal with poverty (12 per cent ).

Among decided voters, McCallum’s support is highest among male residents (46 per cent ), people aged 18 to 34 (42 per cent ) and those aged 35 to 54 (41 per cent ), while Hepner holds the lead among women (36 per cent ) and those aged 55 and over (41 per cent ).

In the race for city council, 38 per cent  of Surrey residents say they are likely to give at least one of their votes to Surrey First, while 36 per cent  would give at least one vote to the Safe Surrey Coalition. Three in 10 residents (31 per cent ) are likely to support independent candidates.

Only nine per cent of Surrey residents say they are following the electoral campaign “very closely” and a further 42 per cent  are doing so “moderately closely.” Half of Surrey residents (49 per cent ) are either following the campaign “not too closely” or “not closely at all.”

“There are many residents of Surrey who have not been immersed in the mayoral campaign,” Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs at Insights West said in a release. “The candidates need to establish a meaningful connection with the high number of residents who plan to vote, but have not settled on anyone yet.”

Results of the poll were based on an online study conducted among 520 Surrey residents between Oct. 3-6. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.