---
title: "Outgoing Mayor Brenda Locke says BC provincial election cost her the race"
description: "In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Locke says momentum shifted in the final two to three weeks of the campaign after Premier Eby called a snap provincial vote."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/surrey-2026/news/locke-reflects-surrey-election-october-29"
last_updated: "2026-10-29T15:02:29.786Z"
---

The Vancouver Sun reports that outgoing Surrey Mayor [Brenda Locke](/bc/surrey-2026/candidates/brenda-locke) says Premier David Eby's decision to call a snap provincial election disrupted her re-election campaign. In a wide-ranging interview, Locke said her internal polling had been steady until the provincial vote was announced, after which she felt a clear shift in the final two to three weeks of the campaign.

"This was never a 'change' election until the premier called the provincial election and caused voter confusion," Locke told the Sun.

A Leger poll taken before the October 17 vote found, according to the Sun, that 64 per cent of Surrey residents said they were looking for change. Locke and her Surrey Connect slate ran on a platform of continuing the work of the previous four years.

## The vote count

[Doug McCallum](/bc/surrey-2026/candidates/doug-mccallum) won the mayoral race with 42,745 votes, which is 31.8 per cent of all votes cast, according to the City of Surrey's official results. Locke received 30,886 votes, or 23.0 per cent. Five other candidates split the remaining votes, which Locke said was the core challenge for her side.

Locke told the Sun the vote split was decisive. "The people that voted against Doug McCallum far far exceeds the number that did," she said.

## The arena and other projects

Locke told the Sun she expects McCallum to move quickly to cancel the 10,000-seat sports and entertainment arena project that her council had underway, along with other large capital projects. McCallum has said publicly that he will not use any public money for a large arena. His [promise tracker](/bc/surrey-2026/tracker) on this site records two arena-related commitments: no public money for a large arena, and a forensic audit of the land deals connected to it.

"He did that when he got in the last time, and I imagine he'll be looking at doing that again because he's made some pretty significant, costly promises that he has to fund," Locke said.

She said she also hopes the incoming council will continue with fully funded projects that were already under construction, including the new Newton Community Centre.

## The policing transition

Locke was elected in 2022 on a promise to keep the RCMP and halt the transition to a municipal police force that McCallum had started. Her council voted to stop it, but the province enforced the change. Surrey took the province to court.

Locke told the Sun: "We spent $1 million and got a quarter of a billion dollars from that court case."

## What happens next

McCallum and the new council are scheduled to be sworn in at Surrey City Hall on Monday, November 2, at 7 pm. Surrey residents who want to follow what the council does with the arena and other promises can check the [promise tracker](/bc/surrey-2026/tracker) on this site.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/bc/surrey-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.