Tuesday, September 8, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SURREY, BC — Imagine Surrey and mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk are calling on Mayor Brenda Locke to explain how Surrey families are safer today than they were a year ago. In the middle of an extortion crisis, Surrey has a police budget cut by $47 million from what the police board said was required, a transition running a year late, and a police chief fired with no public explanation. Families and business owners are paying the price.
In November, the Surrey Police Board endorsed a 2026 budget of $331.5 million, stating that amount was required for adequate and effective policing in Surrey. In February, one day after the chief constable warned that more officers were badly needed, the City and the board cut it to $284.5 million. Mayor Locke had called the original request excessive and warned of an 18% tax increase. The Surrey Police Union called the cut reckless, said it equals the yearly cost of about 87 officers, and warned that the extortion crisis is already pulling its members away from frontline patrol.
The transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service was supposed to be finished in 2026. Instead, the City spent nearly $1.3 million in court which delayed the transition by years. Not to mention the additional half-million dollars spent on political billboard advertising fearmongering tax increases for Surrey residents. Last July, Mayor Locke announced it had slipped a year, with what she called serious cost implications. Nearly two years after SPS became the police of jurisdiction, there is still no firm completion date: the RCMP union says its members must be out by November 2026, and SPS says late 2027.
On June 2, the Surrey Police Board fired Chief Constable Norm Lipinski without telling the public why. Board chair Harley Chappell resigned in protest the same day, saying political pressure had reached too deeply into the board, and a second director followed him out within days. Mayor Locke thanked the chief for his service and said she was confident in the board.
For a family in Newton or Fleetwood, none of this is abstract. Business owners are getting calls telling them to pay or see harm come to their families and their shops. The officers working those files are, by the union’s account, being pulled off the streets to do it. When you call 911, you need someone who shows up fast, and Surrey has spent this year arguing about budgets, timelines, and who runs the police instead of getting them there.
Said Mike Starchuk, “Surrey doesn’t need another year of that argument. It needs the job finished and the board fixed. Within 30 days of taking office, Imagine Surrey will publish a police transition dashboard and update it every month. Within 90 days, we will publish a completion date negotiated with the province and the board. We will fund the officers requested by the Chief of Police. The next chief constable will be chosen through an arm’s-length public process, not at a special meeting the board chair didn’t attend. And starting the first week, the mayor will stand up every week and tell Surrey where the transition is, in public.”
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About Imagine Surrey
Imagine Surrey is a civic party running a full slate of candidates in the October 17, 2026 municipal election. Led by mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk – a former firefighter and Chief Fire Prevention Officer, former City Councillor, and former MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale – Imagine Surrey is committed to making Surrey the City of Champions by delivering: safe streets, fast commutes, smart investments, lower costs, and strong services.
Council candidates: Yousef Aldabainah, Chandan Chahal, Perminder Chohan, Narima Dela Cruz, Ashiyana Hanif, William Li, Dr. Margaret Mubanda, and Kevin Wilkie.
Contact
Trevor Loke, Campaign Manager
604-838-5178
[email protected] / [email protected]