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The polls are closed – so how are Surrey’s candidates feeling?

Eight mayoral candidates gearing up to find out the election results
Amy Reid, Lauren Collins, Samantha Anderson
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Surrey City Hall. (Now-Leader file photo)

The polls are closed and the votes are being tallied – soon we will know who Surrey’s next mayor and city council will be.

How are the city’s mayoral hopefuls feeling?

“Well, I’m feeling good,” said Integrity Now’s Bruce Hayne before the polls closed at 8 p.m. “ We’ve had a full day of just phoning and phoning and phoning people, been getting a good response and a lot of people we’re phoning have certainly got out and voted, so that’s encouraging.”

“I think we all agree that there isn’t anything else that we could’ve, should’ve or would’ve done,” added Hayne, an incumbent councillor. “There will be lots of time for a good post-mortem on the campaign afterward. We’re all feeling we haven’t left anything on the table, we’ve put everything we can into this campaign, and we’re very proud of the type of campaign we’ve run. A very clean campaign.”

Hayne denounced some of the “nasty” tactics that were utilized on social media, saying it was “as dirty as I’ve ever seen.”

“It doesn’t matter who it’s aimed at, it’s just wrong. Very unfortunate. Those kind of tactics in my opinion have no place in our political system,” he said.

Before his Integrity Now team and supporters joined him at Samz Pub, near the Langley border, Hayne said he planned to arrive early to have dinner with his wife.

“Before things get carried away,” he laughed.

READ ALSO: What Surrey is saying on social media during election day

Pauline Greaves of Proudly Surrey said the day seemed “to be going very well.”

“I’m very happy with what appears to be an increase in voter turnout and I hope for the best,” she said.

Greaves said the Proudly Surrey team was out in the community throughout the day at different polling stations. She said there were a few problems at polling stations with delays at a “number of centres.”

“Some people had to wait, but everyone was quite patient,” said Greaves who had just left the campaign office.

Greaves said she’s still in contact with the Proudly Surrey team and will be heading out around 7 p.m. to go back to the campaign office before finally meeting up with the full slate at Kelly’s Pub in Newton.

“I was able to touch base with everyone, so things are moving along and everyone is a little bit anxious and a little bit excited at the same time.”

With the election coming to a close, Greaves said she’s hoping for an increased voter turnout. Greaves said throughout the campaign she’s been “really encouraged to see people engaged with the process.”

READ ALSO: A timeline of Surrey’s civic election history

People First Surrey mayoral candidate Rajesh Jayaprakash said his slate is “just being hopeful.”

Looking back at the campaign, Jayaprakash said that People First Surrey “made some mistakes” in regards to advertising — namely, they didn’t have enough of it. They ran with limited resources, he said, with volunteers contributing time to the campaign when they could.

“We had a very strong platform. We had strong candidates,” he said.

“We did very well, based on our intention,” said Jayaprakash. “We wanted to create a true alternative to the big money slates. We wanted to be transparent about it.”

When Progressive Sustainable Surrey mayoral candidate Imtiaz Popat was asked how he was feeling as election day came to a close, he said, “I’m tired.”

“I’ve been door knocking, trying to get the vote out,” he said. “You try to get to everywhere. I did what I could, and we’ll find out in a couple hours.”

“I’m feeling good about it,” said Popat. “I’m getting responses from everywhere that we’re giving people an option, a different choice.”

“I think we’ve already won in many ways. We’ve raised important issues.”

“People should look at how people voted — not on which people won, but on the position they took [on key issues],” he said. “Whoever becomes mayor should take that seriously. If they want to listen to the people of Surrey, they should look at that.”

The one thing Popat would have changed about the campaign: “I wish I had more time.”

“I was originally planning to run for council. Everything changed. And it changed for the better, I think,” he said, explaining that he valued the opportunity to “debate and challenge other candidates on critical issues” such as future transit options for Surrey. Popat said he was unhappy that media outlets did not report more on his proposal to reactivate the interurban rail line.

“We do not want to see SkyTrain or LRT through Green Timbers. Win or lose, we’re not going to give up on that,” said Popat. “We’re going to oppose it. We’re going to be around. We’re going to keep pressing city council on the issues we’ve raised during this campaign.”

John Wolanski ran for mayor as an independent candidate.

I feel no matter what the result some progress has been made. My initiative for electoral reform at the municipal level shall proceed regardless. There will be other battles to fight. I will carry on as this city needs to heal and to remain calm

Tom Gill, Doug McCallum, Francois Nantel and could not be reached for comment.


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