OPINION: B.C. leaders are rizzing up Surrey – but will they still love us tomorrow?
Published 9:00 am Monday, October 12, 2026
Dear Lorne and Dave,
We’re dispensing with “Mr. Doerkson” and “Mr. Eby” right up front, because with number of times we’ve seen you lately, surely we’re on a first-name basis by now.
This provincial election campaign has sure made us popular with both of your gangs, a.k.a. the Conservative Party of BC and the BC NDP.
Not gonna lie, it’s a little overwhelming to feel like the hard-to-get popular girl. Everyone wants to take us to prom, and everyone covets our considerable assets. We can’t help being a 10 – electoral seats, that is. They’re just so damn tempting, and you know you want to grab ‘em.
We can see it in your eyes. And your speeches. And your repeated return trips to our friendly neighbourhood shops and parks to talk about all the things we want to hear, like how we should pay less tax and how we need to fix health care and how we all need to unite against the existential threat that is Donald Trump and the U.S. tariff war.
We see you, Lorne, calculating the chances of a blue wave that starts at the southern bank of the Fraser River and engulfs us come Election Night.
And we’ve gotta admit, it’s not out of the bounds of possibility. But nothing’s a lock quite yet, unless you count Surrey-White Rock, where Trevor remains the most reliable of wingmen. The other nine? We’re still deciding.
We see you, too, Dave; we can tell you’re not letting it go without a fight. And maaaaaaybe we won’t turn you down flat – yet.
Neither of you should take us for granted, is what we’re saying.
Remember that fight Garry and Honveer got into over us last prom night in Guildford? Yeah, that’s probably gonna happen again, except now Garry’s facing down other-Garry, and other-Garry also has name recognition in his favour.
Nothing’s really a whole lot more certain in any of the other eight ridings.
Mind you, while you two are lining up your Garrys and other assorted wingpersons, don’t flatter yourselves that you’re the only partners we’ve got at this dance.
Take Elenore. She was a strong bet when she wore blue, but now she’s started her own red-hued posse and moved back to Surrey South. She could draw enough votes from either or both of you to take the win there, though Megan’s gonna swing hard for Lorne. And over in Serpentine River, Elenore’s got Judy in her posse and folks already know Judy, so never say never there either.
Here’s the thing, Lorne and Dave: We don’t want to go home with either one of you if you can’t promise that you’ll treat us better.
Like for real.
We’ve been left behind for so long, by so many leaders of so many political stripes, that we don’t even know where to start.
But given we have almost the same population as Vancouver and they get more of just about everything than we do, don’t blame us for feeling slighted.
It’s not just us being all “Marcia-Marcia-Marcia” when we point out that Surrey and White Rock together have just 996 hospital beds compared to 2,572 in Vancouver, or 16 pediatric beds compared to Vancouver’s 252. We’ll still be worse off than Vancouver when our new hospital comes to fruition – it doesn’t even have a maternity ward or a pediatric ward, for heaven’s sake.
Don’t get us started on the perennial underfunding and overcrowding of Surrey schools or the sorry state of our public transit.
Here we are – a perfect 10 and on track to become the first actual metropolis in British Columbia – and no one’s yet managed to treat us the way we deserve.
You have the power to change that, but you have to offer us a lot more than sweet nothings.
Don’t just rizz us up and run.
We get it. We’re the prom queen till Oct. 24.
But once the tiara and sash are gone and the gown is in a heap on the floor, well … that’s when the real commitment happens.
Will you still love us tomorrow?
Skeptically yours,
Surrey
Julie MacLellan is the editor of Surrey Now-Leader and Peace Arch News.
– with files from Tom Zytaruk