The Thanksgiving pause is over, and the campaign is heading into its most crowded week: the only televised leaders' debate on Wednesday, advance voting from Friday and a Surrey mayoral election on Saturday.
On Day 22 of the electon, BC War Room turned to the city that may decide it all, with Barinder Bhullar, principal of Mainland Strategies and former adviser to the Office of Premier Christy Clark. Surrey holds 10 of BC's 93 seats. The Conservatives won six in 2024, and a 22-vote margin in the city effectively decided who formed government.
Bhullar, who grew up in Newton and now lives in Cloverdale, described a city adding roughly 1,000 residents a month and on track to outgrow Vancouver, with manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, universities and professional services all expanding. He also explained what sets Surrey's campaigns apart. Organizing in the city's Punjabi community runs through experienced "captains" who bring out dozens of voters each, and with municipal and provincial elections only eight days apart, some teams plan to move voters from one poll to the other.
Bhullar's central message was that Surrey is not a monolith, and it will punish governments that stop listening. In 2017, the NDP won the city on bridge tolls and a new hospital. In 2024, voters swung the other way, frustrated that the hospital and other services had not kept pace. This time, he said, the economy comes first: stalled construction, worried manufacturers, trucking firms with little to move and small businesses struggling with costs. Healthcare remains a deep concern.
Surrey Memorial has one of the busiest emergency rooms in Western Canada, and the new Cloverdale hospital is not expected until 2030. Bhullar urged faster action on a second tower and noted Surrey serves as a regional hub for Delta, Langley and White Rock. He added that debates over education remain a regular topic among parents, many of whom feel government has not heard them.
Gardiner closed with a story from the 2017 campaign: when the BC Liberals moved first on cutting bridge tolls, the NDP promised to scrap them entirely, a bold call that helped carry Surrey. As he put it, if this election is won anywhere, it may be won between the Fraser and the border.
Stay tuned to the BC War Room with new episodes dropping every weekday morning until election day.
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