Surrey mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk says his plan for a Fraser River district and new stadiums is designed to support bids for major international sporting events.
The Story
Surrey mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk is using his Imagine Surrey campaign to outline a vision for a new Fraser River “waterfront district” and a future cricket-and-rugby stadium, linking the projects to ambitions to host major multi-sport events including the Commonwealth Games and the World Police and Fire Games.
Starchuk’s party says the proposed Surrey Waterfront District would sit along the Fraser River in the Brownsville and South Westminster area, near the stal̕əw̓asəm/Riverview Bridge and the SkyTrain Scott Road Station. Imagine Surrey frames the concept as a destination intended to rival areas such as Downtown New Westminster’s Quay and North Vancouver’s Shipyards, with additional public access and amenities for residents and visitors.
The campaign’s waterfront plan calls for phased development beginning with a public quay and riverside walking route, followed by a market hall and an outdoor amphitheatre. Imagine Surrey says housing and other community amenities would be incorporated throughout the development, and that it envisions a visible Surrey landmark for people crossing the river by SkyTrain.
Imagine Surrey also argues that despite Surrey having about 20 kilometres of Fraser River shoreline, public access remains limited. In a statement included in the party’s announcements, Narima Dela Cruz, a Surrey City Council member with Imagine Surrey, said many residents “have never stood beside” the river and that a city centre with a waterfront should offer a quay, a market and family-friendly space on weekends.
The proposal draws on prior city planning: in 2025, Surrey City Council approved a feasibility study for a mixed-use entertainment district in the same waterfront area. The site had previously been considered in the early 2000s as a potential location for a new home for the PNE, though a plan to relocate it was ultimately abandoned by the provincial government.
Alongside the waterfront concept, Imagine Surrey says it wants to set the groundwork for a Commonwealth Games bid by establishing a “Commonwealth Village” connected to the wider sporting-event strategy. The campaign points to the Commonwealth Games as one of the world’s largest multi-sport events, comparable in broad scope to the Pan American Games and viewed as a summer-olympics-style event for athletes representing Commonwealth countries and territories.
According to the campaign information, the Commonwealth Games has historically required a large regional hosting approach, with responsibilities shared across multiple municipalities and supported by provincial and federal governments. It also notes that Canada last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1994, when Victoria staged the event in a smaller format.
As context for the bid feasibility, Imagine Surrey references recent changes in Commonwealth Games hosting. It says Glasgow held the 2026 Commonwealth Games in a “significantly downsized” format after the Australian state government of Victoria withdrew its Melbourne hosting duties in 2023, citing escalating costs. After Melbourne’s withdrawal, Glasgow was confirmed as the replacement host city with a smaller event and minimal construction due to the shortened lead time.
Imagine Surrey’s sporting-event pitch also includes plans for new major venues in Surrey. The campaign points to a separate municipal-led plan for a 10,000-seat indoor arena in Surrey City Centre, describing preliminary construction and site preparation work that began earlier in the month, with completion targeted for 2030. When complete, the arena is expected to become the new home of the Vancouver Giants.
For the Fleetwood area, Imagine Surrey says Starchuk’s plan includes building an outdoor stadium for cricket and rugby on land the City of Surrey already owns. The campaign says the stadium would be within walking distance of a station on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line, a project scheduled to reach completion in 2029. Imagine Surrey did not specify a site within Fleetwood or a seating capacity for the stadium in the information provided.
The campaign frames the first milestone toward international-event hosting as a bid for the 2031 World Police and Fire Games, which it says were last hosted in Vancouver in 1989 and 2009. The World Police and Fire Games, according to the campaign, involves participation from active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel worldwide and is similar in structure to the Invictus Games, which were held in Vancouver and Whistler in 2025.
Starchuk, who the campaign describes as having spent 32 years with Surrey Fire Services and retiring in 2024 as the City’s chief fire prevention officer, says the event would showcase Surrey internationally. He said firefighters and police officers from 70 countries would come to Surrey, compete, and leave with a message about the city.
The campaign also outlines near-term process requirements for hosting the 2031 World Police and Fire Games. It says the federation has set Oct. 31, 2026, as the deadline for submitting a letter of intent, questionnaire and initial bid fee, with the host city award expected in October 2027. The deadline is described as occurring two weeks after Surrey’s civic election on Oct. 17, 2026.
Imagine Surrey says Starchuk is asking the current/outgoing City Council to submit the required letter. If the current council does not, the campaign says an Imagine Surrey-led council would seek additional time from the federation during its first week in office. If an extension is not possible, Imagine Surrey says it would instead pursue the 2033 World Police and Fire Games.
The campaign positions the Commonwealth Games ambition as a longer-term goal that would depend on future capacity and partner commitments. It says there is already some potential interest for the 2034 Commonwealth Games from New Zealand and African nations, while also emphasizing the early administrative steps required to move any hosting bid forward.
In addition to Starchuk, Imagine Surrey is running a slate of eight candidates for Surrey City Council, including Dela Cruz and Yousef Aldabainah-Barakat, Chandan Chahal, Perminder Chohan, Ashiyana Hanif, William Li, Margaret Mubanda and Kevin Wilkie. Starchuk previously served as a city councillor elected in 2014 under the Surrey First party, and the campaign says he lost that seat in 2018 before being elected in 2020 as the MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale with the BC NDP, then losing the seat in the 2024 provincial general election.
For Surrey residents and regional partners, the immediate significance of the proposals is administrative timing: the campaign’s World Police and Fire Games bid would require action before the federation deadline late in 2026. If successful, the waterfront and stadium concepts would be closely tied to long-range planning for venues, transit access and public space along the Fraser River.
By centring its waterfront district near SkyTrain and the Riverview crossing, and by pairing it with additional sports infrastructure in areas such as Fleetwood and Surrey City Centre, the campaign argues it can build the mix of places that large events typically require—from ceremonies and competition venues to public gathering space for visitors—while also creating year-round amenities for the city.
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