Surrey voters have opted to keep the status quo for the next four years, sweeping in a Surrey First council headed Linda Hepner as the successor to outgoing mayor Dianne Watts.
Hepner, a three-term endorsed by Watts, headed to the stage as supporters clapped, cheered and chanted "Linda, Linda, Linda" while I’ve Got a Feeling by Black Eyed Peas blared in the background. The three-term councillor, who had more than 43,141 votes, beat second-place finisher Doug McCallum with 23,100 votes and Barinder Rasode at 18,208 votes.
"Surrey has spoken loud and clear," Hepner said, high-diving Watts and hugging the councillors Judy Villeneuve, Tom Gill, Bruce Hayne, Mary Martin, Barbara Steele, Vera LeFranc, Mike Starchuk, and Dave Woods on stage at the Central City Brew Pub. "Whoa, what a night. I want to thank everyone who took time out to vote. I'm so grateful for the people of Surrey."
The Surrey race was wide open going into this election, following the departure of Watts, a highly popular mayor who was seen as the driving force in transforming Surrey from a bedroom community and the butt of jokes into B.C.’s second largest city. Hepner told the crowd it as a "hard-fought battle" in this election, where crime dominated the campaigns of all three candidates, following several high-profile killings in the city an a perception that break-ins and robberies were on the rise.
"I've been so humbled during the ups and downs of the campaign," Hepner said. "I'm looking forward to the next four years and I'm thrilled to have everyone here at the table with me."
Hepner, who helped Watts create Surrey First nine years ago, said she is committed to moving the city forward. She promised she will immediately move the city ahead with plans to strengthen the RCMP with 147 new fully trained police officers — 100 of them in the first 24 months — as well as create a neighbourhood policing model. The three-term councillor, who also supports the transportation referendum but no new forms of taxation, also pledged to work with the city manager to figure out how to move forward with the first phase of the light rail line in 2015, should a transportation referendum fail.
"I will build light rail," she said later. "We have to connect this city."
Hepner gave a special thanks the firefighters union, saying "we couldn't have done it without you." She also gave a tribute to Watts, saying the outgoing could have sat out this election but she threw her support behind Surrey First.
"We've worked hard together, campaigned together and through it all we’ve done everything we should to make Surrey politics came second and Surrey came first," she said. “She has changed the way all of us look and think of our city. And she has changed the way others see us. We are going to have a good time when we’re working together for the city when she is in Ottawa.”
Safe Surrey mayoral candidate Doug McCallum and his four Safe Surrey Coalition running mates, all shut out in Saturday night's election, put on brave faces as they faced supporters at the Dhaliwal Banquet Hall in Newton.
As he congratulated Hepner, McCallum, who had served as Surrey's mayor form 1996 to 2005, told reporters: "We didn't see it coming. In fact, we saw the opposite."
The mood was even more sombre at SFU Surrey where Rasode was camped out. Rasode, who had left Surrey First earlier this year, was expected to do well on her crime-fighting policies. “I wish the outcome had been different but it doesn’t diminish the journey,” Rasode told a silent group of supporters.
