Surrey mayor hammered over Lipinski firing court petition
Published 4:54 pm Monday, September 28, 2026
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is taking a drubbing by her political rivals after former Surrey police chief filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday asking the court to overturn his firing, with the October 17 election less than three weeks away.
“His action is against the police board so I have nothing to say about it, it has nothing to do with me or the City,” Locke told the Now-Leader late Monday in response to Lipinski v. Surrey Police Board.
The former chief constable of the Surrey Police Service was fired by the police board on June 1. “On my first day back from vacation, I was called into a meeting with the Police Board and informed that my employment was being terminated without cause,” he wrote to SPS members.
Cheney Cloke, formerly vice-chairwoman of the Surrey Police Board and now a Safe Surrey Coalition candidate for council called on Locke to resign as mayor and withdraw from the October 17 election.
Surrey First mayoral candidate Linda Annis charged that the police board cancelled this month’s public meeting “because they wanted to duck tough questions before the election. At the same time, there is a very real concern that Brenda Locke’s handpicked board may be looking to hire a new police chief before the October 17 election. This very serious court case should give the board cause to put the brakes on any hiring until the case is heard and decided.
“It’s time to end the lack of transparency and political interference,” Annis said in a press release. “When it comes to policing and public safety, Surrey voters deserve a mayor who will fight the criminals, not our police service.”
Mike Starchuk, mayoral candidate for Imagine Surrey, charged that a police chief “should never have to keep the mayor happy to keep his job. This October, put out the fire at City Hall and elect a team that will let Surrey’s police do their job.”
Troy Van Vliet, mayoral candidate for the SurreyNOW slate – not affiliated with this publication – stated in a press release that public safety “should never be a political weapon, not for those in office and not for those running for it.
“The claims filed in court raise serious questions, and they deserve serious answers,” he said. “But those answers will come from evidence in a courtroom, not from ultimatums and press releases. Surrey has had enough theatre. Grandstanding doesn’t make a single family safer. What this city needs right now is a steady hand.”