Surrey Mayoral race intensifies with Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal and Former White Rock Mayor Gordie Hogg announcing their names for the post

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By Link News Network

They may have shared common side of the ideology in federal politics, but when it comes to municipal battleground, two Liberal MPs a current and a former, are up against each other to win the race for the post of Surrey Mayor.

Liberal MP from Surrey Newton Sukh Dhaliwal announced his slate United Surrey for the upcoming municipal elections. With Dhaliwal as mayoral candidate, United Surrey was launched on July 18 with City Council candidates including former NDP Member of Parliament Jasbir Sandhu, Julie Tapley, Jeff Bridge and Becky Zhou.

Dhaliwal, a well-known face in the South Asian community and a long-standing MP from Surrey-Newton, said that his slate was composed of people from different backgrounds. Jeff Bridge, is a small business owner, Becky Zhou is an educationist and Julie Tapley is real estate professional. When asked about how Jasbir Sandhu, who was an NDP MP, Dhaliwal said, “Our slate represents diverse experiences and distinct political backgrounds and belief systems, yet we are unified by our shared commitment to ending division.”

The next day, Surrey First launched its municipal election campaign by naming former Surrey MLA and MP Gordie Hogg as its mayoral candidate, and introducing the first three of its slate of eight council nominees, including current city councilor Linda Annis, Bilal Cheema and Mary-Em Waddington.

Hogg, who began his career as a youth probation officer in Whalley, before being elected as a Surrey MLA and MP, was introduced at the campaign launch by current Councillor Linda Annis. Hogg introduced other two candidates. Cheema has been an advisor to several federal ministers, including Health, Fisheries and Oceans, and Immigration, Mary-Em is Executive Director of the BC Technology for Learning Society.

When it comes to election agenda’s Dhaliwal has promised some concrete actions with a four-point action plan, including: an immediate one-year tax freeze, an incremental rollback of the Land Parcel Tax to Pre-2018 Levels ($100), expansion of fields and parks and shortest development permit approval times in Metro Vancouver within two years, with an initial focus on rentals.

Hogg, on the other hand, sees three “big opportunities” for a new Surrey council, some specific like giving Surrey voters the final say on police transition, more and better access to city hall, and some general like a chance to make Surrey “an opportunity city” that provides prosperity and livability for residents, families and businesses.

When asked about police transition, one of the biggest contested issue, Brenda Locke is promising to overturn the transition and Sims has promised to study the details before making a decision, Dhaliwal said the move is too far underway to reverse now and had no intention of reversing it. Hogg wants to give Surrey voters the final say on police transition.

Dhaliwal and Hogg have different election promises, however, when it comes to decision to jump into municipal election, all mayoral candidates seem to have a same reason. Dhaliwal and Hogg join NDP MLA Jinny Sims and Brenda Locke, who are up against each other but all for one cause “to fix the broken City Hall” and bring down current Surrey’s Mayor Doug McCallum who wants to be re-elected.

Apart from working to fix the city hall or police transition, no mayoral candidate has yet promised anything big and concrete to fix other problems that a city like Surrey is currently struggling with for example, housing, transit, health care, drug overdose or even gang violence. Although Dhaliwal said that his slate will continue to introduce components of its vision for the future of Surrey over the coming months, with a costed full platform to be released during the official campaign period. Hogg on the other hand has then plan to have candidate like Bilal, who according to him, will bring a strong understanding of government decision making to city hall and who knows how important federal and provincial partnerships are to a growing city like Surrey.