Poll puts Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke ahead going into municipal election on Oct. 17

The Story

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is in a strong position heading into this Saturday’s municipal election, according to a Canada Pulse Insights poll of decided voters.

The poll found 33 per cent of decided voters plan to vote for Locke, 17 points ahead of former mayor Doug McCallum of the Safe Surrey Coalition and Linda Annis with Surrey First, both at 16 per cent.

Troy Van-Vliet (SURREY NOW) and Mike Starchuk (Imagine Surrey) were each at 12 per cent, while Honveer Singh Randhawa with the Conservative Electors Association was at nine per cent. Eight per cent of voters said they were undecided.

John Wright, CEO of Canada Pulse Insights, said, “Right now we have Brenda Locke cruising into a second term,” adding that, “There’s not a lot of time, not a lot of undecided, so it would appear that Brenda has probably got a good chance of winning.”

Wright said the opposition vote is “splintered,” making it difficult for voters to rally behind a single challenger. He also said, “Doug McCallum has a lot of baggage, and it’s not moving his vote forward anymore.”

Even with Locke in the lead, the poll showed widespread dissatisfaction with the mayor and current city council: 68 per cent of respondents said they are out of touch with voters’ needs.

The survey also highlighted cost-of-living pressures as a top issue, with 46 per cent of respondents saying affordability is among their top three concerns. Crime, policing and public safety were identified by 32 per cent as the top priority, followed by housing affordability and home ownership at 30 per cent, and health care and access to care at 30 per cent.

The results are based on an online survey of 483 Surrey residents conducted between Sept. 28 and Oct. 9, with a reported margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

In the 2022 election, Locke beat McCallum by 973 votes, receiving 28.14 per cent of the vote compared with 27.31 per cent for McCallum.