Brenda Locke and Mandeep Nagra have joined Doug McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition as candidates for city council.
Locke, who ran for council as an independent in 2014, said in a press release that her political experience would serve her well on council.
”I want to fix city hall so that it responds to everyone in Surrey in a fair, open and transparent way – and I have the background and experience from my previous roles as executive director and as cabinet minister and MLA to achieve that.”
Locke served one term as MLA in Surrey-Green Timbers from 2001-2005, during which time she served as minister of state for mental health and addiction services. She ran unsuccessfully for the federal Liberals in the 2006 and 2008 federal elections in Fleetwood-Port Kells and most recently lost in a bid to sit as MLA in Surrey-Green Timbers in 2017, losing to the NDP’s Rachna Singh.
Locke said she wants to restore Surrey residents’ faith in city hall.
“Growth in Surrey has been exponential, uncontrolled, and poorly managed leaving too many people behind, feeling marginalized and ignored,” she said. “Community, sport, service and faith groups, who contribute so much to the fabric of our city, are challenged and, sometime even discouraged, from fully participating in the community.
“Successive councils have forgotten their role is to protect the public trust and they have forgotten to listen to all of the residents of Surrey, not just their friends.”
For his part, Nagra comes from a business background, building his family’s growing chain of Fraserview Meat stores. He said wants to run for council because he is worried about the direction Surrey is taking.
“I am not satisfied with the current government policies,” he said. “I think they have failed to keep this city safe, and violence free. It worries me how the youngsters are getting involved more and more into drugs and gangs and how our current police structure has failed to keep the kids out of it.
“Doug McCallum and I share the same vision for this city’s transportation, schools and policing and that’s why I chose to run with him and the Safe Surrey Coalition.”
Locke and Nagra join three other council candidates on the Safe Surrey slate, including Dr. Allison Patton, community advocate Doug Elford (who split from the Surrey Community Alliance party he formed to run with McCallum) and longtime lawyer Bableen Rana.
Surrey voters head to the polls on Oct. 20.
edit@surreynowleader.com
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