Leaders focus on crucial Surrey ridings as B.C. election nears

Leaders focus on crucial Surrey ridings as B.C. election nears

Published 4:29 pm Friday, October 23, 2026

With 10 ridings up for grabs, including at least seven potential swing districts, both the NDP and Conservative leaders hit the campaign trail in Surrey in the days leading up to B.C. election day.

B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson held a raucous rally in the Surrey-Newton riding in front of hundreds of fired-up supporters.

Several local political heavyweights attended, including newly elected mayor Doug McCallum and former mayors Linda Hepner and Dianne Watts. Former premier Christy Clark was also there.

“Everywhere we have been, it has been unbelievable,” Doerkson said, firing up the throng that surrounded and dwarfed him on a stage set up in the centre of a warehouse. “The absolute best crowds we’ve ever had.”

Many experts believe control of the government will come down to how Surrey votes. In 2024, it was the same. The NDP’s Garry Begg won the pivotal Surrey-Guildford riding by just 22 votes, giving his party a one-seat majority in the legislature.

Eby acknowledged the area’s importance during a Friday-morning campaign stop, pointing out that Surrey is B.C.’s largest city and calling it the “economic engine” of the province.

“All the promise is there, but so are all of the challenges,” he said. “When you’re fast growing, infrastructure gets strained. Health care gets strained, schools get strained.”

Several attendees at Doerkson’s rally said health care is their number one issue. And his pledge to build a new women’s and children’s hospital got one of the biggest rounds of applause of the night.

Supporter Harveer Grewal complained about the wait times for care at the Surrey Memorial Hospital.

“If you’re waiting 10 to 14 hours for a doctor, how is that OK?” he asked.

Davinder Kura also pegged health care as his top issue, for similar reasons.

“People, they are suffering waiting in the emergency room,” he said.

On Friday morning, Eby gave his pitch for why he thinks his party is the better choice to deal with these issues, even after nine years trying to solve them already. He started by listing recent new developments.

“New urgent primary care centres in Surrey, new CAT scanner at Surrey Memorial Hospital, new cardiac path lab at Surrey Memorial Hospital, new triage at Surrey Memorial Hospital, new Acute Care Tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital,” he said. “I could go on.”

He says Conservative plans for a new women’s and children’s hospital are uncosted and unrealistic. He also blamed former premier Clark for selling land set aside for a new Surrey hospital in 2014, which delayed development of the current project in the Cloverdale area.

Another huge round of applause was heard when Doerkson promised a Conservative government would repeal the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) in schools framework.

“We are going to get our grades up in school, and we are going to repeal SOGI,” Doerkson said.

Eby says the Conservatives’ SOGI statements are furthering misinformation. Nevertheless, in response to worried parents, he says his government has rewritten anti-bullying materials and created new pathways for parents to bring concerns to school boards.

“Any parent that has a concern about an inappropriate or age-inappropriate teaching material that’s in the school can bring that concern directly to the school board,” he said. “So the school board can make a decision about that.”

On these issues and others, Conservative candidates hope Surrey residents have enough appetite for change to vote blue.

“I think the excitement in the room here today says it all,” said Harman Bhangu, the incumbent Conservative candidate for nearby Langley-Abbotsford. “Surrey is looking for change.”