Somber evening for Starchuk and Imagine Surrey slate
Published 9:30 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2026
While the evening had started with high hopes and cautious optimism for Mike Starchuk and his Imagine Surrey slate, once the early civic election results started coming in, it soon transformed into a night of sober reckoning.
Supporters had filled Maharaja’s Fine Dinning Hall in Newton in the early evening with excitement and smiles, but a somber mood took over and the faces of those supporters reflected the disappointment of Starchuk and his team.
Starchuk ended up third in the mayoral race with council-candidate Narima Dela Cruz finishing 19th in council voting.
Before the votes came in, Starchuk had called on all his Imagine Surrey candidates—all filed into a back room at Maharaja’s—to share something great that happened to them that day. The mood was light and hopeful and Starchuk told the Cloverdale Reporter he felt better than he did in two previous elections that he had lost.
It took awhile for the Surrey results to come in, but when the mayoral tallies flashed on TV, the airy headiness of the evening gave way to despondent faces and questions about what went wrong.
“This isn’t the way it was supposed to happen,” Starchuk remarked. “But at the end of the night, with the lights turned on, and you start looking around and you’re thinking what the hell am I doing here—thank you Surrey.”
At the podium, Starchuk lauded his fellow candidates, his campaign team, and all the volunteers who helped out. He peppered his speech with humour and raw emotion as the downside of the night’s events captured him.
“It was an amazing campaign … we’ve fallen short of our goals and the victory didn’t come to the campaign,” he said. “It’s one of the toughest things. I’m standing here, because, there’s part of me, my soul’s been ripped out. But I’ve had this incredible journey. I’m sorry.”
Starchuk said his team didn’t lack passion or determination. He said he thought they ran a good campaign over the last 10 months.
“I’d like to think we’ve established some ground for the next round that’s coming.”
He said no one on his team put their self-interest ahead of their slate or their platform and he thanked them for that too.
“I spent a career in the fire services, some time as a city councillor, some time as an MLA, and often you have to take the high road … to get where you want to be,” Starchuk said. “But I’m going to say something that gets us way off the high road.”
A glum-faced Starchuk then accused mayoral race winner Doug McCallum of not being around during the 2026 campaign and implored voters to hold the new mayor accountable.
“You can’t hide from the public when you’re the mayor … you have to hold him accountable for the next four years.”
Starchuk then talked about his Imagine Surrey slate and how that team came together—one comprised of very strong, progressive people and he was proud of that.
He said he knew change was coming to the Surrey election landscape because of what he and his team were hearing at the doors—namely a lot of dissatisfaction with the current mayor. But he said he didn’t think the result of that would be a McCallum victory.
“What we didn’t see was the other part that was there. We discounted that.”
Before his speech ended, Starchuk thanked his family. He paused near the end after acknowledging all their their support, words stuck for a moment in his throat, the longtime politician churning things over in his mind as his eyes darted around the room at Maharaja’s.
He ended his speech with a highly critical condemnation of both Locke’s and McCallum’s handling of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds issue, including the demise of both the 5/8th oval and the barns, also highlighting the loss of jobs for track workers.
“When Cloverdale lost its racetrack, it was like somebody had taken a sword and drove it right through my chest,” he said.
After all the election promises about the Fairgrounds by multiple slates, Starchuk added that he hopes something beneficial to the community happens with the Fairgrounds.
“I think this pony is done,” Starchuk said as he pondered his political future after the election loss. “I have been out there fighting and scrimping and doing all of those things for, what I consider, the small people.”