www.imaginesurrey.ca/team/perminder-chohan


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Perminder Chohan

Businesses & Jobs

Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres

Imagine promise

Require strict conditions for AI data centres

Surrey will welcome the ones that pay their way: no property tax breaks, the full cost of their own grid and water upgrades, waste heat captured for Surrey City Energy's district heating, water recycling, local construction and operating jobs, and a community benefit agreement before a permit is issued. Industrial land stays for the businesses that employ Surrey residents.

Business Permitting

Imagine promises

Create a one-window Film and Event Desk with fast-track permits, and lower film and TV permit fees

One contact at City Hall for film shoots, festivals, and events, so the people who bring work to Surrey aren't the ones waiting the longest.

Simplify permits for food trucks, late-night eateries, night markets, entertainment venues, and evening programming that is safe and fun
Open a Permit Concierge Desk for homeowners, small builders, and small businesses

One point of contact to guide applicants through the process, with pre-approved designs and fast-tracked approvals for laneway homes, secondary suites, and multiplexes. The small stuff gets a 60-day lane, with part of the fee back for every day late, free at seven months.

Designate an accelerator zone in each town centre, with fast-tracked approvals, targeted tax incentives, and a single point of contact at City Hall for new local businesses

So investment lands in every part of Surrey and not just downtown.

Economic Growth

Imagine promises

Build a Waterfront District on the Fraser River in Brownsville and South Westminster, steps from Scott Road Station

Surrey's front door on the Fraser River and the best new waterfront in the region. The master plan is adopted by 2029, with phase 1, including dike and site work and the promenade, scoped and funded with partners. The district includes a public quay, pier, and waterfront promenade, a public market, night market, and food hall anchored by hotels, an amphitheatre and civic plaza, a major new waterfront park, a signature SURREY landmark with public art and monuments, and restaurants, shops, and mixed-income homes at transit density. It also brings deep-tech office space with a startup incubator, a Surrey Trade Centre with coworking and meeting spaces, and a Commonwealth Village that houses Games athletes and then becomes homes for Surrey families.

Designate an accelerator zone in each town centre, with fast-tracked approvals, targeted tax incentives, and a single point of contact at City Hall for new local businesses

So investment lands in every part of Surrey and not just downtown.

Develop Downtown Surrey, including an international trade centre

Attract office employers to City Centre so people can work where they live, require real ground-floor shops and restaurants in new towers, build out the university district around SFU Surrey and KPU, and finish the public realm around Surrey Central and King George stations. Build an international trade and convention centre with the Board of Trade, SFU, KPU, and private partners: the City brings the site and the approvals, and the partners bring the capital.

Expand business improvement associations to more neighbourhoods and co-fund high street upgrades

Support the markets, festivals, and events that bring customers to local main streets.

Simplify permits for food trucks, late-night eateries, night markets, entertainment venues, and evening programming that is safe and fun
Bring a tech incubator to Surrey with SFU, KPU, the Board of Trade, and private partners, and open coworking spaces in the town centre hubs

Surrey graduates thousands of tech and trades students a year, and most build their companies somewhere else. A startup should be able to begin here, hire here, and stay here.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Government Procurement

Imagine promises

Create a Buy Surrey directory and give local vendors priority at City events
Break big City contracts into pieces local businesses can win
Publish an annual report on the share of City spending kept in Surrey
Run Solve It in Surrey challenges, where local companies compete to fix real city problems
Launch a Lobbyist Registry and searchable contract disclosures, live within the first 100 days

Others promise to review City Hall. We're going to run it, in public.

Publish a scorecard for every major project: budget, timeline, change orders, and contractor performance
Stop the outsourcing of frontline services, and audit existing contracts to bring essential work back in-house where it saves money or serves people better

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Jobs for young people

Imagine promises

Launch First Job: City-backed paid placements and apprenticeships in trades, tech, and green jobs

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Small Businesses

Imagine promises

Partner with local businesses to offer discounts and perks to SurreyPass holders through Buy Surrey

Residents buy local with the card in their pocket.

Create a Buy Surrey directory and give local vendors priority at City events
Designate an accelerator zone in each town centre, with fast-tracked approvals, targeted tax incentives, and a single point of contact at City Hall for new local businesses

So investment lands in every part of Surrey and not just downtown.

Set a 48-hour standard for every reported extortion victim: contact, a safety plan, and a named liaison

Every extortion victim gets a liaison and a path to safety.

Expand business improvement associations to more neighbourhoods and co-fund high street upgrades

Support the markets, festivals, and events that bring customers to local main streets.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Tourism

Imagine promises

Publish an inventory of sites for hotels, attractions, and venues, with the zoning, servicing, and transit access of each one mapped

Built with Discover Surrey, the Surrey Hotel and Motel Association, and operators as part of a tourism investment-readiness plan. Hotel and attraction projects get the same 180-day clock on rezonings and development permits as housing.

Create a standing tourism table with Discover Surrey, the Surrey Hotel and Motel Association, Indigenous tourism businesses, and operators

It meets with the mayor and senior staff on a fixed schedule, and its advice is attached to the reports council votes on. Every land-use or major-event report says how it affects tourism, and council will reinstate a liaison to Discover Surrey.

Keep every dollar of the hotel tax (Municipal and Regional District Tax, or MRDT) in tourism, including the City's own share

MRDT won't fill holes in the general budget, the online-platform share stays in tourism, and renewal work with Discover Surrey and the hotels starts well before the April 1, 2029 deadline. The MRDT plan and results are presented in person at an open council meeting every year, with a line-by-line account of the City's 0.4% share. Any change to how MRDT is used, administered, or governed goes first to the tourism table in writing, with at least 60 days to respond.

Name tourism as an economic sector in the official community plan and council's strategic plan, with land set aside and yearly targets
Bid to host the World Police and Fire Games in 2031 or 2033, and bid for the 2034 to 2038 Commonwealth Games

2031 if the current council gets its letter in before the end of October, 2033 if it doesn't. A Commonwealth Games bid would bring facilities, transit, and the world's attention to Surrey years sooner than waiting our turn, with a Commonwealth Village in the Waterfront District. Same test as the arena: partners, price, and date, or it waits, and no host commitment without a provincial and federal guarantee that covers the cost.

Turn the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, including the existing casino, into a year-round destination, developed with the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen First Nations

The Cloverdale Rodeo gets special event status, and the Fairgrounds, Softball City, and Newton Athletic Park become anchors of any Games bid. Gambling will not expand anywhere else in Surrey.

Put Surrey's 150th birthday in 2029 in the City's strategic plan as a tourism moment

Climate Change, Heat, Fires, & the Environment

Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres

Imagine promise

Require strict conditions for AI data centres

Surrey will welcome the ones that pay their way: no property tax breaks, the full cost of their own grid and water upgrades, waste heat captured for Surrey City Energy's district heating, water recycling, local construction and operating jobs, and a community benefit agreement before a permit is issued. Industrial land stays for the businesses that employ Surrey residents.

Energy-Efficient Buildings

Imagine promises

Lower energy bills through City-negotiated bulk pricing on solar panels and heat pumps
Offer retrofit loans repaid through your property tax bill, so families can cut energy costs without paying everything up front

Flooding

Imagine promises

Appoint a Chief Emergency Readiness Officer to lead citywide preparation for floods, earthquakes, extreme heat, and wildfire smoke

Clear plans, regular drills, and neighbourhood-level readiness, supported by a new Public Information Officer.

Publish a citywide climate adaptation strategy in year one, with cooling and clean-air spaces in every town centre and heat-warning check-ins on seniors living alone

Heat domes, atmospheric rivers, wildfire smoke, and floods are Surrey's new normal. The strategy sets out how the City responds to weather and climate emergencies, including heat-warning check-ins on seniors living alone, run with the fire service and community groups, and flood and smoke plans for the neighbourhoods most at risk.

Green Space

Imagine promises

Grow Surrey's tree canopy to 40% by 2035 by planting 100,000 trees beyond the City's existing replacement program, and protect urban forests
Expand park space by 5% beyond the City's current land-buying program, and greenways by 10%, including a signature Greenway Loop that connects Surrey
Protect the Agricultural Land Reserve and stop speculative development on productive farmland
Expand community gardens for fresh food access

Private Vehicles & Parking

Imagine promises

Build new parkades in town centres and expand park-and-ride at transit hubs
Freeze City parking fees for four years
Deliver legal, lit, and secure truck parking on industrial and City-owned land

Surrey runs on trucks and has nowhere near enough legal places to park them, so rigs end up on farmland, on side streets, and in the wrong neighbourhoods. Built with the trucking industry, the province, and the port, and paired with enforcement that finally has somewhere to send people.

Crack down on late-night exhaust noise from street racing cars, and back maximum penalties for street racing, enforced with Surrey Police and ICBC
Synchronize Surrey's traffic lights into one adaptive citywide system, with bus priority at key intersections

Surrey's lights run on a timetable. The City tested adaptive signals on 72 Avenue and reported in 2013 that they worked, and drivers are still waiting. Under an Imagine Surrey council, every light responds to real traffic.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Imagine promises

Grow Surrey's tree canopy to 40% by 2035 by planting 100,000 trees beyond the City's existing replacement program, and protect urban forests
Lower energy bills through City-negotiated bulk pricing on solar panels and heat pumps
Offer retrofit loans repaid through your property tax bill, so families can cut energy costs without paying everything up front
Deliver three bus rapid transit routes by 2030: the City builds its share and presses TransLink to fund the service and stations in its 2027 investment plan

BRT 1: Scott Road, Strawberry Hill, and East Newton, converting the R6 RapidBus to full BRT and extending it to 152 Street via 72 Avenue. BRT 2: Surrey Central to Semiahmoo via King George Boulevard and Newton, prioritized for the next round of SkyTrain expansion. BRT 3: Surrey Central to Guildford, then down 152 Street through East Newton to Semiahmoo, with a stop serving Highway 10 and a possible branch to Carvolth Exchange. The City's share is the road works, signal priority, and curb lanes.

Build connected cycling routes, protected greenway corridors, and secure bike parking at transit hubs

Planned in consultation with community groups, including HUB Cycling and Movement YVR.

Urban Heat

Imagine promises

Add climate-ready amenities where families gather in the heat: shade, misting, heating and cooling centres, and bus shelters
Publish a citywide climate adaptation strategy in year one, with cooling and clean-air spaces in every town centre and heat-warning check-ins on seniors living alone

Heat domes, atmospheric rivers, wildfire smoke, and floods are Surrey's new normal. The strategy sets out how the City responds to weather and climate emergencies, including heat-warning check-ins on seniors living alone, run with the fire service and community groups, and flood and smoke plans for the neighbourhoods most at risk.

Grow Surrey's tree canopy to 40% by 2035 by planting 100,000 trees beyond the City's existing replacement program, and protect urban forests
Appoint a Chief Emergency Readiness Officer to lead citywide preparation for floods, earthquakes, extreme heat, and wildfire smoke

Clear plans, regular drills, and neighbourhood-level readiness, supported by a new Public Information Officer.

Walking & Cycling

Imagine promises

Build connected cycling routes, protected greenway corridors, and secure bike parking at transit hubs

Planned in consultation with community groups, including HUB Cycling and Movement YVR.

Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Expand park space by 5% beyond the City's current land-buying program, and greenways by 10%, including a signature Greenway Loop that connects Surrey

Water & Sewage

Imagine promises

Install water meters free for households that want to pay only for what they use
Reform Metro Vancouver with fewer directors and a board that answers to the taxpayers who fund it, and make sure Surrey gets its fair share

If we can fix Metro Vancouver, we should. Cut the number of directors, make the board answer to the taxpayers who fund it, and publish Surrey's net contribution to the region every quarter. If the region won't reform, Surrey residents get a say on the terms of membership through a plebiscite. Nobody walks Surrey out the door without asking you.

Zoning

Imagine promises

Decide residential building permits within 180 days, or your fee comes back for every day City Hall runs late

The fee comes back at 1/30th a day, so at seven months the permit is free. Safety checks are never skipped.

Put a 180-day clock on rezonings and development permits, with the City's fee discounted for every day late
Create a 60-day permit lane for renovations, home businesses, secondary suites, and minor improvements, with part of the fee back for every day late

The fee comes back at 1/150th a day, so at seven months the permit is free.

Offer pre-approved designs and fast-tracked approvals for laneway homes, secondary suites, and multiplexes
Say yes when City staff recommend supportive and complex-care housing, on transit arteries with services, in every part of the city

In November 2025, City Hall sent all 262 homes at 152 Street and 19 Avenue back to the drawing board: 202 non-market rentals, along with 40 supportive and 20 complex-care homes. An Imagine Surrey council would have said yes.

Plan growth with the school district so new neighbourhoods arrive with classrooms, not portables

And City land offered for school sites where the district needs them.

Designate heritage conservation areas in Ocean Park, Crescent Beach, Cloverdale, and Surrey's other historic districts
Protect the Agricultural Land Reserve and stop speculative development on productive farmland

Community Centres, Libraries, Parks, and Other Public Spaces

After-School Programs

Imagine promises

Create neighbourhood hubs in town centres with child care, coworking, seniors and youth programming, and free public Wi-Fi

Hubs with improved safety, lighting, and local art.

Write a seniors' strategy and a youth strategy with resident advisory councils, delivered at every community centre with the social services and accessible transit that make the programs usable

Community Centres

Imagine promises

Deliver three community centre projects: finish Newton on time, and start two more

Funded by pausing the City's $198 million arena commitment until the four arena tests are met, by provincial and federal partners, and by City land. Each one is built with its neighbourhood: gyms, program space, and child care in every centre, and pools, ice, and specialized playing surfaces where the budget and the partners allow.

Complete the North Surrey Sport and Ice Complex with an indoor Olympic-sized pool and waterpark, replacing the pool downtown Surrey lost, and a community hall
Finish the Newton Community Centre now under construction, on time, with the gym, program space, and child care the neighbourhood was promised
Complete the Clayton Hall site in Cloverdale with a full aquatic centre and gym
Offer free select drop-in programs for seniors at every community centre and library, chosen with the seniors who use them

Staying active and connected shouldn't cost more as you age.

Create neighbourhood hubs in town centres with child care, coworking, seniors and youth programming, and free public Wi-Fi

Hubs with improved safety, lighting, and local art.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Fitness & Sports Facilities

Imagine promises

Cut recreation fees in half for seniors aged 60 to 69, and make recreation free for residents 70 and over

Half price at every City recreation program, pool, arena, museum, art gallery, and attraction, starting in the 2027 budget. At the City's 2026 rates, a senior's annual recreation pass drops from $436 to $218, with discounts applied automatically through the SurreyPass. The fee schedule and uptake are reported every year, and the promise lives inside the inflation rule, not beside it. Seniors shouldn't pay more. They should pay less.

Offer free swim lessons for kids five and under, starting in the 2027 budget

Every Surrey child gets their first swim lessons free at City pools, registered through the SurreyPass. In a city with a river on one side and the ocean on the other, no kid should grow up unable to swim. We'll hire the lifeguards and instructors to open the spaces, and the program grows as capacity does.

Freeze City recreation fees for four years
Upgrade Softball City and Newton Athletic Park with the promotion, partners, and events they've earned, as anchors of any Games bid
Build a cricket and rugby stadium on City-owned land within walking distance of a future SkyTrain station, with Fleetwood getting the first look

The fastest-growing sports in the region deserve a home. The business case, the partners, and the site are published in year one. The City provides the land at its appraised value and $1 million for the business case and site work, and senior governments and private partners fund the build, not property taxes. Same test as the arena: partners, price, and date, or it waits.

Build new covered picnic grounds with power, with locations chosen through citywide consultation
Say yes to an arena Surrey can be proud of, built on cheaper land in a better spot, with Fleetwood getting the first look

Yes to an arena, no to this deal. Publish the valuation, the private capital, and the appraisal of the current site before any decision, with the business plan and site decision in year one. The $198 million the City has set aside for this arena through 2030 goes to work on community centres first, until the four tests are met.

Green Space

Imagine promises

Grow Surrey's tree canopy to 40% by 2035 by planting 100,000 trees beyond the City's existing replacement program, and protect urban forests
Expand park space by 5% beyond the City's current land-buying program, and greenways by 10%, including a signature Greenway Loop that connects Surrey
Protect the Agricultural Land Reserve and stop speculative development on productive farmland
Expand community gardens for fresh food access

Health Infrastructure

Imagine promise

Press the province for more in-home care so seniors can stay in their homes

Parks

Imagine promises

Expand park space by 5% beyond the City's current land-buying program, and greenways by 10%, including a signature Greenway Loop that connects Surrey
Build new covered picnic grounds with power, with locations chosen through citywide consultation
Build off-leash dog parks in every major town centre and expand pet-friendly amenities in Surrey parks
Expand community gardens for fresh food access
Add climate-ready amenities where families gather in the heat: shade, misting, heating and cooling centres, and bus shelters

Pedestrian Spaces

Imagine promises

Adopt Vision Zero to end pedestrian deaths, with raised crosswalks, safer intersections, protected corners, and traffic calming on high-risk streets
Speed up LED street lighting upgrades citywide, brighten routes between transit, schools, and parks, and fix broken lights
Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Public Washrooms

Imagine promises

Build a public washroom in every town centre
Build public washrooms with TransLink at every major transit hub, including every current and future SkyTrain station in Surrey

Including the Newton, Scottsdale, and Guildford exchanges and the South Surrey Park and Ride. We'll press TransLink to build the station washrooms, with City cost-sharing where needed.

Review current contracts to find opportunities for public washroom upgrades in parks, such as Dominion Park

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Sidewalks & Bike Paths

Imagine promises

Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Build connected cycling routes, protected greenway corridors, and secure bike parking at transit hubs

Planned in consultation with community groups, including HUB Cycling and Movement YVR.

Zoning

Imagine promises

Decide residential building permits within 180 days, or your fee comes back for every day City Hall runs late

The fee comes back at 1/30th a day, so at seven months the permit is free. Safety checks are never skipped.

Put a 180-day clock on rezonings and development permits, with the City's fee discounted for every day late
Create a 60-day permit lane for renovations, home businesses, secondary suites, and minor improvements, with part of the fee back for every day late

The fee comes back at 1/150th a day, so at seven months the permit is free.

Offer pre-approved designs and fast-tracked approvals for laneway homes, secondary suites, and multiplexes
Say yes when City staff recommend supportive and complex-care housing, on transit arteries with services, in every part of the city

In November 2025, City Hall sent all 262 homes at 152 Street and 19 Avenue back to the drawing board: 202 non-market rentals, along with 40 supportive and 20 complex-care homes. An Imagine Surrey council would have said yes.

Plan growth with the school district so new neighbourhoods arrive with classrooms, not portables

And City land offered for school sites where the district needs them.

Designate heritage conservation areas in Ocean Park, Crescent Beach, Cloverdale, and Surrey's other historic districts
Protect the Agricultural Land Reserve and stop speculative development on productive farmland

Culture & Events

Cultural Spaces & Venues

Imagine promises

Turn the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, including the existing casino, into a year-round destination, developed with the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen First Nations

The Cloverdale Rodeo gets special event status, and the Fairgrounds, Softball City, and Newton Athletic Park become anchors of any Games bid. Gambling will not expand anywhere else in Surrey.

Build an amphitheatre and civic plaza for concerts and festivals in the Waterfront District
Designate the King George Boulevard corridor at 108 Avenue, Whalley's Corner, as Little Africa

The Black-owned restaurants, grocers, and beauty stores between 105A Avenue and 108 Avenue already make it one. The City makes it official and protects it: banners and wayfinding, façade and signage grants, a permanent festival plaza, stable space for the Black Arts Centre, and small storefronts in the new towers that existing businesses can move into at a rent they can pay.

Work with Surrey's Arab, Filipino, and East Asian communities to designate cultural districts, and build a Filipino community centre

Including Surrey's Chinese, Korean, and Japanese communities, with a district of their own where the community wants one.

Say yes to an arena Surrey can be proud of, built on cheaper land in a better spot, with Fleetwood getting the first look

Yes to an arena, no to this deal. Publish the valuation, the private capital, and the appraisal of the current site before any decision, with the business plan and site decision in year one. The $198 million the City has set aside for this arena through 2030 goes to work on community centres first, until the four tests are met.

Festivals & Events

Imagine promises

Give Surrey Pride special event status and dedicated annual funding set by a published formula, so the parade and festival can plan on it

Surrey's 2SLGBTQIA+ community deserves to celebrate with City Hall behind it.

Give the Cloverdale Rodeo special event status and $250,000 a year in additional grant funding to run it well and market it beyond BC
Be a bigger partner to Vaisakhi, with special event status and the practical help a celebration this size needs

More washrooms and handwashing stations, and recycling and safe disposal of cooking oil and anything else that could end up in the storm drains, so one of the largest Vaisakhi celebrations in the world stays as clean as it is joyful.

Put Surrey's 150th birthday in 2029 in the City's strategic plan as a tourism moment
Create a one-window Film and Event Desk with fast-track permits, and lower film and TV permit fees

One contact at City Hall for film shoots, festivals, and events, so the people who bring work to Surrey aren't the ones waiting the longest.

Throw Surrey a 150th birthday party in 2029: a year-long celebration with legacy projects on a deadline

Surrey was incorporated on November 10, 1879. The legacy projects: the Waterfront District master plan adopted, the Greenway Loop in development, murals and monuments to the city's champions in every town centre, new cultural districts designated, and the bid for the Commonwealth Games launched, with neighbourhood events across the city.

Monuments and Landmarks

Imagine promises

Build a signature SURREY landmark with public art and monuments in the Waterfront District
Honour Surrey's heroes with monuments, murals, historic markers, and streets named after them, chosen through public consultation
Designate heritage conservation areas in Ocean Park, Crescent Beach, Cloverdale, and Surrey's other historic districts
Create a Heritage Register with incentives for owners who preserve character

Public Art

Imagine promises

Commission Surrey artists first, streamline permits for artists and performers, and put an artist in residence in every new community centre
Grow arts and culture grants every year of the term on multi-year agreements, and build affordable studios and homes for artists and tradespeople

Keep funding the Surrey Art Gallery, the Surrey Arts Centre, and the public art program, and open City spaces to studios and rehearsals at cost.

Tourism

Imagine promises

Publish an inventory of sites for hotels, attractions, and venues, with the zoning, servicing, and transit access of each one mapped

Built with Discover Surrey, the Surrey Hotel and Motel Association, and operators as part of a tourism investment-readiness plan. Hotel and attraction projects get the same 180-day clock on rezonings and development permits as housing.

Create a standing tourism table with Discover Surrey, the Surrey Hotel and Motel Association, Indigenous tourism businesses, and operators

It meets with the mayor and senior staff on a fixed schedule, and its advice is attached to the reports council votes on. Every land-use or major-event report says how it affects tourism, and council will reinstate a liaison to Discover Surrey.

Keep every dollar of the hotel tax (Municipal and Regional District Tax, or MRDT) in tourism, including the City's own share

MRDT won't fill holes in the general budget, the online-platform share stays in tourism, and renewal work with Discover Surrey and the hotels starts well before the April 1, 2029 deadline. The MRDT plan and results are presented in person at an open council meeting every year, with a line-by-line account of the City's 0.4% share. Any change to how MRDT is used, administered, or governed goes first to the tourism table in writing, with at least 60 days to respond.

Name tourism as an economic sector in the official community plan and council's strategic plan, with land set aside and yearly targets
Bid to host the World Police and Fire Games in 2031 or 2033, and bid for the 2034 to 2038 Commonwealth Games

2031 if the current council gets its letter in before the end of October, 2033 if it doesn't. A Commonwealth Games bid would bring facilities, transit, and the world's attention to Surrey years sooner than waiting our turn, with a Commonwealth Village in the Waterfront District. Same test as the arena: partners, price, and date, or it waits, and no host commitment without a provincial and federal guarantee that covers the cost.

Turn the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, including the existing casino, into a year-round destination, developed with the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen First Nations

The Cloverdale Rodeo gets special event status, and the Fairgrounds, Softball City, and Newton Athletic Park become anchors of any Games bid. Gambling will not expand anywhere else in Surrey.

Put Surrey's 150th birthday in 2029 in the City's strategic plan as a tourism moment

Housing & Homelessness

Affordability

Imagine promises

Build more homes people can afford to own, starting with family-sized homes on City land at below-market prices

Co-ops, non-profit and shared-equity ownership, and covenants that keep the price fair for the next buyer too. Pre-approved plans for laneway homes, suites, and multiplexes, so a family can add a home on the lot it already has. Every quarter, the City will publish three numbers: homes approved, homes built, and homes people can afford.

Win the power for an empty homes tax to pay for affordable housing

Vancouver has taxed empty homes since 2017 and put the money into housing. Surrey can't, because the province hasn't given us the power. We ask for it in year one, and until we get it, demand that the Speculation and Vacancy Tax collected on Surrey's empty homes come back to Surrey to build affordable housing here.

Take half off the City's property tax for up to 10 years on new rental homes that rent below market, and give co-ops and co-housing City land

Council already has this power, and we will pass the program in 2027. The break is secured on title and repaid in full if the deal is broken, only the new building is exempt, and the cost is capped and published every year. Co-ops and co-housing get City land and a single desk that knows how to say yes.

Decide residential building permits within 180 days, or your fee comes back for every day City Hall runs late

The fee comes back at 1/30th a day, so at seven months the permit is free. Safety checks are never skipped.

Publish a City Land for Housing inventory in year one and offer it to non-profits, co-ops, and Indigenous housing providers

With covenants that keep the homes affordable for decades.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Building Maintenance & Occupant Health

Imagine promises

Get rid of rats as development grows, with a citywide rodent strategy that goes after the causes

From garbage and dumping to construction sites, with rodent control written into demolition and excavation permits, so the rats don't just move next door.

Publish a citywide climate adaptation strategy in year one, with cooling and clean-air spaces in every town centre and heat-warning check-ins on seniors living alone

Heat domes, atmospheric rivers, wildfire smoke, and floods are Surrey's new normal. The strategy sets out how the City responds to weather and climate emergencies, including heat-warning check-ins on seniors living alone, run with the fire service and community groups, and flood and smoke plans for the neighbourhoods most at risk.

Homelessness

Imagine promises

Build more supportive and affordable homes with BC Housing, the health authorities, and non-profits, on City land and on transit arteries where the services are

Surrey's homeless count keeps climbing, and the answer is homes with supports in them, so people come off the street and stay off it.

Expand shelter capacity and transitional housing with the province and health authorities, and address encampments with dignity

Connect people to wraparound supports so they have somewhere to go.

Say yes when City staff recommend supportive and complex-care housing, on transit arteries with services, in every part of the city

In November 2025, City Hall sent all 262 homes at 152 Street and 19 Avenue back to the drawing board: 202 non-market rentals, along with 40 supportive and 20 complex-care homes. An Imagine Surrey council would have said yes.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Housing Accessibility

Imagine promises

Use City-owned sites for seniors' and accessible housing with BC Housing, the health authorities, non-profits, and veterans' organizations

On main arteries with transit and services.

Publish a City Land for Housing inventory in year one and offer it to non-profits, co-ops, and Indigenous housing providers

With covenants that keep the homes affordable for decades.

Indigenous-Led Housing

Imagine promises

Explore a Sen̓áḵw-style development in Surrey, in true partnership with local Nations

The Squamish Nation is building thousands of rental homes at Sen̓áḵw, on its own land and its own terms. In Surrey, that means the Nations' land and leadership, the City's servicing and approvals at speed, and a share of the homes locked in as truly affordable for decades.

Publish a City Land for Housing inventory in year one and offer it to non-profits, co-ops, and Indigenous housing providers

With covenants that keep the homes affordable for decades.

Property Taxes

Imagine promises

Hold property tax increases at or below inflation for four years

Your City property taxes, the general tax and the roads levy together, rise no more than BC inflation for the year before, with no new levies or parcel taxes to get around it. We plan at 2.5%, and if inflation runs lower, so does the increase. The math is published before every budget vote.

Win the power for an empty homes tax to pay for affordable housing

Vancouver has taxed empty homes since 2017 and put the money into housing. Surrey can't, because the province hasn't given us the power. We ask for it in year one, and until we get it, demand that the Speculation and Vacancy Tax collected on Surrey's empty homes come back to Surrey to build affordable housing here.

Offer retrofit loans repaid through your property tax bill, so families can cut energy costs without paying everything up front

Public & Assistive Housing

Imagine promises

Say yes when City staff recommend supportive and complex-care housing, on transit arteries with services, in every part of the city

In November 2025, City Hall sent all 262 homes at 152 Street and 19 Avenue back to the drawing board: 202 non-market rentals, along with 40 supportive and 20 complex-care homes. An Imagine Surrey council would have said yes.

Publish a City Land for Housing inventory in year one and offer it to non-profits, co-ops, and Indigenous housing providers

With covenants that keep the homes affordable for decades.

Use City-owned sites for seniors' and accessible housing with BC Housing, the health authorities, non-profits, and veterans' organizations

On main arteries with transit and services.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Rent & Rental Stock

Imagine promises

Protect renters: tough anti-renoviction enforcement, the right to return at the same rent after redevelopment, and support for the BC Rent Bank

A crackdown on slumlords with tougher inspections and real penalties, and pet-friendly terms in every home the City helps build. Protection for renters who play by the rules, and support for the landlords who do too, with a faster Residential Tenancy Branch process, pressed for in Victoria, when a tenant is violent, dealing drugs, or wrecking the building.

Enforce short-term rental rules fairly so whole units bought as investments stay in the rental market

A homeowner renting a room or a suite in the home they live in is part of the answer, and the rules for them should stay simple.

Win the power for an empty homes tax to pay for affordable housing

Vancouver has taxed empty homes since 2017 and put the money into housing. Surrey can't, because the province hasn't given us the power. We ask for it in year one, and until we get it, demand that the Speculation and Vacancy Tax collected on Surrey's empty homes come back to Surrey to build affordable housing here.

Take half off the City's property tax for up to 10 years on new rental homes that rent below market, and give co-ops and co-housing City land

Council already has this power, and we will pass the program in 2027. The break is secured on title and repaid in full if the deal is broken, only the new building is exempt, and the cost is capped and published every year. Co-ops and co-housing get City land and a single desk that knows how to say yes.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Zoning

Imagine promises

Decide residential building permits within 180 days, or your fee comes back for every day City Hall runs late

The fee comes back at 1/30th a day, so at seven months the permit is free. Safety checks are never skipped.

Put a 180-day clock on rezonings and development permits, with the City's fee discounted for every day late
Create a 60-day permit lane for renovations, home businesses, secondary suites, and minor improvements, with part of the fee back for every day late

The fee comes back at 1/150th a day, so at seven months the permit is free.

Offer pre-approved designs and fast-tracked approvals for laneway homes, secondary suites, and multiplexes
Say yes when City staff recommend supportive and complex-care housing, on transit arteries with services, in every part of the city

In November 2025, City Hall sent all 262 homes at 152 Street and 19 Avenue back to the drawing board: 202 non-market rentals, along with 40 supportive and 20 complex-care homes. An Imagine Surrey council would have said yes.

Plan growth with the school district so new neighbourhoods arrive with classrooms, not portables

And City land offered for school sites where the district needs them.

Designate heritage conservation areas in Ocean Park, Crescent Beach, Cloverdale, and Surrey's other historic districts
Protect the Agricultural Land Reserve and stop speculative development on productive farmland

Human Rights

Physical Accessibility

Imagine promises

Audit every City facility, park, sidewalk, and transit stop for accessibility through a citywide accessibility strategy
Give the Accessibility Advisory Committee a real mandate, and make every new City project meet or beat the accessibility standard

So everyone in Surrey can take part.

Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Public Washrooms

Imagine promises

Build a public washroom in every town centre
Build public washrooms with TransLink at every major transit hub, including every current and future SkyTrain station in Surrey

Including the Newton, Scottsdale, and Guildford exchanges and the South Surrey Park and Ride. We'll press TransLink to build the station washrooms, with City cost-sharing where needed.

Review current contracts to find opportunities for public washroom upgrades in parks, such as Dominion Park

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Recent Immigrants

Imagine promises

Expand welcome services at town centre hubs in Surrey's most-spoken languages, and communicate in more than English
Partner with DIVERSEcity, PICS, and Options to help newcomers find work and community

Trans Rights & Access to Public Services

Imagine promises

Create an annual grant, delivered with community partners, for inclusion, anti-racism, and anti-bullying work in the community
Give Surrey Pride special event status and dedicated annual funding set by a published formula, so the parade and festival can plan on it

Surrey's 2SLGBTQIA+ community deserves to celebrate with City Hall behind it.

Local Government, Planning, & Democracy

Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres

Imagine promise

Require strict conditions for AI data centres

Surrey will welcome the ones that pay their way: no property tax breaks, the full cost of their own grid and water upgrades, waste heat captured for Surrey City Energy's district heating, water recycling, local construction and operating jobs, and a community benefit agreement before a permit is issued. Industrial land stays for the businesses that employ Surrey residents.

Budgeting

Imagine promises

Protect frontline services: no frontline layoffs, no facility closures, and no reduced hours at recreation centres or libraries

We'll hire the officers and firefighters Surrey needs, build the community centres and parks it needs, and protect services like garbage pickup. Administrative savings only where service levels hold.

Cut lavish political travel and waste, and put the money into frontline services
Audit City contracts and never overpay for land again
Set amenity cost charges and development contributions that keep pace with the city

Ottawa and Victoria fund big projects alongside other partners.

Hold property tax increases at or below inflation for four years

Your City property taxes, the general tax and the roads levy together, rise no more than BC inflation for the year before, with no new levies or parcel taxes to get around it. We plan at 2.5%, and if inflation runs lower, so does the increase. The math is published before every budget vote.

Good Governance

Imagine promises

Launch a Lobbyist Registry and searchable contract disclosures, live within the first 100 days

Others promise to review City Hall. We're going to run it, in public.

End in-camera land deals without a public rationale, and make council decisions in public
Publish a scorecard for every major project: budget, timeline, change orders, and contractor performance
Track every promise on a public dashboard, updated every quarter in green, amber, and red

If we're behind, you'll read it from us first.

Sign a written protocol with every member of council that nobody at City Hall contacts the police chief or service about enforcement decisions

Government Procurement

Imagine promises

Create a Buy Surrey directory and give local vendors priority at City events
Break big City contracts into pieces local businesses can win
Publish an annual report on the share of City spending kept in Surrey
Run Solve It in Surrey challenges, where local companies compete to fix real city problems
Launch a Lobbyist Registry and searchable contract disclosures, live within the first 100 days

Others promise to review City Hall. We're going to run it, in public.

Publish a scorecard for every major project: budget, timeline, change orders, and contractor performance
Stop the outsourcing of frontline services, and audit existing contracts to bring essential work back in-house where it saves money or serves people better

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Long-Term Plan

Imagine promises

Plan growth with the school district so new neighbourhoods arrive with classrooms, not portables

And City land offered for school sites where the district needs them.

Build visitor and event demand into the City's capital and asset-management plans

Sizing roads, transit, parking, washrooms, water, and sewer for the peaks, using Discover Surrey's visitor data.

Put Surrey's 150th birthday in 2029 in the City's strategic plan as a tourism moment
Name tourism as an economic sector in the official community plan and council's strategic plan, with land set aside and yearly targets
Commission the business case for SkyTrain to South Surrey via Newton in year one, and protect the right of way

A mass transit feasibility study and business case for the King George corridor, so senior governments commit to it and South Surrey is next in line after current SkyTrain construction. We'll ask Ottawa and Victoria for the money by name.

Public Engagement

Imagine promises

Put a hybrid ward system to a referendum by 2028: one councillor each for Whalley, Guildford, Newton, Fleetwood, Cloverdale, and South Surrey, and two elected at-large

Every Surrey councillor is elected citywide, which means some neighbourhoods have nobody who answers to them. Voters decide, and we respect the result. Imagine Surrey is open to exploring other reforms, such as ranked choice voting, as part of any referendum.

Create a Transportation Committee to advise mayor and council

A standing committee of the people who use Surrey's roads and transit every day: bus riders, truckers, taxi and rideshare drivers, tourism operators, cyclists, seniors, people with disabilities, business owners, and students. It meets in public, sets the order of the City's asks to TransLink and the province, and reports to council every quarter on what got built and what didn't.

Give a weekly public safety briefing from the mayor
Track every promise on a public dashboard, updated every quarter in green, amber, and red

If we're behind, you'll read it from us first.

Youth Engagement

Imagine promises

Write a seniors' strategy and a youth strategy with resident advisory councils, delivered at every community centre with the social services and accessible transit that make the programs usable
Launch First Job: City-backed paid placements and apprenticeships in trades, tech, and green jobs

Mental Health, Drugs, & Addiction

Mental Health Crisis Response

Imagine promise

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Overdoses & the Contaminated Drug Supply

Imagine promise

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Public Drug Use

Imagine promises

Create a Clean Streets Rapid Response Force with a 48-hour standard for illegal dumping, graffiti, needles, debris, and abandoned vehicles

Dedicated crews and new City-owned street sweepers, starting with transit hubs, schools, parks, and business districts. Dumpers get billed the full cost of the cleanup, with real fines for repeat offenders. The crews are in-house, built with CUPE and the workers who do the job.

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Treatment for Addiction

Imagine promises

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Expand shelter capacity and transitional housing with the province and health authorities, and address encampments with dignity

Connect people to wraparound supports so they have somewhere to go.

Public Safety & Policing

Non-Police-Based Public Safety

Imagine promises

Create a Clean Streets Rapid Response Force with a 48-hour standard for illegal dumping, graffiti, needles, debris, and abandoned vehicles

Dedicated crews and new City-owned street sweepers, starting with transit hubs, schools, parks, and business districts. Dumpers get billed the full cost of the cleanup, with real fines for repeat offenders. The crews are in-house, built with CUPE and the workers who do the job.

Restore funding to the Surrey Crime Prevention Society, whose volunteers put extra eyes on the street

Council suspended the society's grant in April 2024, in the middle of an extortion crisis. An Imagine Surrey council restores its full grant in the 2027 budget and puts it on a four-year funding agreement, so its volunteers are never used as a bargaining chip again.

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Speed up LED street lighting upgrades citywide, brighten routes between transit, schools, and parks, and fix broken lights

Police Funding

Imagine promises

Fund the sworn officers in Surrey Police's staffing plan, including 100 officers above the City's current plan, and publish every hiring target and result every year

More boots on the ground, faster 911 response, visible neighbourhood patrols, new precinct offices where they're needed, and modern frontline equipment for organized crime, high-risk incidents, and repeat offenders. We'll listen to the police on their needs for equipment, staff, and resources.

Build a public safety camera network, with privacy safeguards and real-time access for Surrey Police

Focused on extortion shootings, violent crime, and chronic disorder, with tactical cameras in the highest-risk areas. A re-energized Project IRIS, Surrey's camera registry, so every business and home with a camera can register it with Surrey Police and investigators can pull footage fast.

Complete the Surrey Police transition as the City's top priority, with a completion date published within 90 days

A date negotiated with the province and the police board. The police service's own target is late 2027. We will hold every party to a published date, keep the public informed every step of the way, and report until the job is done.

Police Wrongdoing & Accountability

Imagine promises

Hire the next police chief through an arm's-length, public process
Sign a written protocol with every member of council that nobody at City Hall contacts the police chief or service about enforcement decisions
Call on the province to publish the reasons for the police chief's termination and restore a governance policy the board chair can't be excluded from

Public Drug Use

Imagine promises

Create a Clean Streets Rapid Response Force with a 48-hour standard for illegal dumping, graffiti, needles, debris, and abandoned vehicles

Dedicated crews and new City-owned street sweepers, starting with transit hubs, schools, parks, and business districts. Dumpers get billed the full cost of the cleanup, with real fines for repeat offenders. The crews are in-house, built with CUPE and the workers who do the job.

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Upstream Causes of Crime

Imagine promises

Restrict predatory payday lending, so dirty money stays out of Surrey
Launch First Job: City-backed paid placements and apprenticeships in trades, tech, and green jobs
Take on intimate partner violence by coordinating Surrey Police, housing, health care, and community providers, and support transition housing

So no victim gets bounced between systems, and leaving is possible.

Expand shelter capacity and transitional housing with the province and health authorities, and address encampments with dignity

Connect people to wraparound supports so they have somewhere to go.

Fund mental health and addiction crisis response teams that pair trained clinicians with first responders

Not every 911 call needs a police response. People in crisis get the right help, police can focus on crime, and emergency rooms aren't the fallback.

Victim Safety and Support

Imagine promises

Set a 48-hour standard for every reported extortion victim: contact, a safety plan, and a named liaison

Every extortion victim gets a liaison and a path to safety.

Take on intimate partner violence by coordinating Surrey Police, housing, health care, and community providers, and support transition housing

So no victim gets bounced between systems, and leaving is possible.

Public Services

After-School Programs

Imagine promises

Create neighbourhood hubs in town centres with child care, coworking, seniors and youth programming, and free public Wi-Fi

Hubs with improved safety, lighting, and local art.

Write a seniors' strategy and a youth strategy with resident advisory councils, delivered at every community centre with the social services and accessible transit that make the programs usable

Childcare

Imagine promises

Build child care into every new City facility, starting with the three community centres and every new fire hall site

Fast-track permits for operators, waive City fees for non-profit providers, and take half the City's property tax off new licensed child care spaces for up to 10 years. Partner with the school district, non-profits, employers, and the province's ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund so the spaces actually get built.

Support extended child care hours for shift workers

Because a nurse on nights needs care that doesn't end at six.

Health Infrastructure

Imagine promise

Press the province for more in-home care so seniors can stay in their homes

Waste Removal

Imagine promises

Offer free household waste drop-off once every calendar month, all year

So nobody has an excuse to dump. Paired with the 48-hour Clean Streets cleanup standard, dumpers billed the full cost, and real fines for repeat offenders.

Get rid of rats as development grows, with a citywide rodent strategy that goes after the causes

From garbage and dumping to construction sites, with rodent control written into demolition and excavation permits, so the rats don't just move next door.

Create a Clean Streets Rapid Response Force with a 48-hour standard for illegal dumping, graffiti, needles, debris, and abandoned vehicles

Dedicated crews and new City-owned street sweepers, starting with transit hubs, schools, parks, and business districts. Dumpers get billed the full cost of the cleanup, with real fines for repeat offenders. The crews are in-house, built with CUPE and the workers who do the job.

Water & Sewage

Imagine promises

Install water meters free for households that want to pay only for what they use
Reform Metro Vancouver with fewer directors and a board that answers to the taxpayers who fund it, and make sure Surrey gets its fair share

If we can fix Metro Vancouver, we should. Cut the number of directors, make the board answer to the taxpayers who fund it, and publish Surrey's net contribution to the region every quarter. If the region won't reform, Surrey residents get a say on the terms of membership through a plebiscite. Nobody walks Surrey out the door without asking you.

Reconciliation & Indigenous Nations

Indigenous-Led Housing

Imagine promises

Explore a Sen̓áḵw-style development in Surrey, in true partnership with local Nations

The Squamish Nation is building thousands of rental homes at Sen̓áḵw, on its own land and its own terms. In Surrey, that means the Nations' land and leadership, the City's servicing and approvals at speed, and a share of the homes locked in as truly affordable for decades.

Publish a City Land for Housing inventory in year one and offer it to non-profits, co-ops, and Indigenous housing providers

With covenants that keep the homes affordable for decades.

Land Title & Governance

Imagine promises

Establish formal government-to-government relationships with the Semiahmoo, Katzie, and Kwantlen First Nations, and the Métis Nation of BC

To work together on housing, supports, procurement, and stewardship.

Include Indigenous consultation in land use and community planning
Plan the future of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds directly with the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen First Nations
Explore a Sen̓áḵw-style development in Surrey, in true partnership with local Nations

The Squamish Nation is building thousands of rental homes at Sen̓áḵw, on its own land and its own terms. In Surrey, that means the Nations' land and leadership, the City's servicing and approvals at speed, and a share of the homes locked in as truly affordable for decades.

Roads, Transit, & Getting Around

Private Vehicles & Parking

Imagine promises

Build new parkades in town centres and expand park-and-ride at transit hubs
Freeze City parking fees for four years
Deliver legal, lit, and secure truck parking on industrial and City-owned land

Surrey runs on trucks and has nowhere near enough legal places to park them, so rigs end up on farmland, on side streets, and in the wrong neighbourhoods. Built with the trucking industry, the province, and the port, and paired with enforcement that finally has somewhere to send people.

Crack down on late-night exhaust noise from street racing cars, and back maximum penalties for street racing, enforced with Surrey Police and ICBC
Synchronize Surrey's traffic lights into one adaptive citywide system, with bus priority at key intersections

Surrey's lights run on a timetable. The City tested adaptive signals on 72 Avenue and reported in 2013 that they worked, and drivers are still waiting. Under an Imagine Surrey council, every light responds to real traffic.

Roads

Imagine promises

Synchronize Surrey's traffic lights into one adaptive citywide system, with bus priority at key intersections

Surrey's lights run on a timetable. The City tested adaptive signals on 72 Avenue and reported in 2013 that they worked, and drivers are still waiting. Under an Imagine Surrey council, every light responds to real traffic.

Expand the roads that choke every rush hour: 124, 144, 148, and 168 Streets, 80 and 40 Avenues, and Colebrook Road, and twin 24 Avenue

Worst bottlenecks first, with safer intersections and better lighting, funded through development cost charges, TransLink cost-sharing, and provincial and federal programs. Where nobody lives nearby, build around the clock so the work is done sooner.

Crack down on late-night exhaust noise from street racing cars, and back maximum penalties for street racing, enforced with Surrey Police and ICBC
Give taxis a break: taxis in bus lanes where the road owner agrees, lower licensing costs, and less red tape

Taxi drivers' hours are capped while rideshare drivers' are not. We will fix Surrey's own rules and press the province for one standard for both.

End privatized towing and establish Surrey Tows when the current private contracts expire

The City hires its own tow truck drivers under a new City service. Priority goes to the tows that clear congestion, not the ones that make the biggest profit.

Clear the sidewalks around parks in winter, with new sidewalk-clearing equipment and crews for park perimeters

Street clearing works, but the sidewalks around parks barely get touched. Kids and seniors shouldn't be walking in the road.

Create a Transportation Committee to advise mayor and council

A standing committee of the people who use Surrey's roads and transit every day: bus riders, truckers, taxi and rideshare drivers, tourism operators, cyclists, seniors, people with disabilities, business owners, and students. It meets in public, sets the order of the City's asks to TransLink and the province, and reports to council every quarter on what got built and what didn't.

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Sidewalks & Bike Paths

Imagine promises

Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Build connected cycling routes, protected greenway corridors, and secure bike parking at transit hubs

Planned in consultation with community groups, including HUB Cycling and Movement YVR.

Traffic Safety Around Schools

Imagine promises

Add crossing guards where needed and targeted speed enforcement in school zones
Adopt Vision Zero to end pedestrian deaths, with raised crosswalks, safer intersections, protected corners, and traffic calming on high-risk streets
Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Transit Projects

Imagine promises

Commission the business case for SkyTrain to South Surrey via Newton in year one, and protect the right of way

A mass transit feasibility study and business case for the King George corridor, so senior governments commit to it and South Surrey is next in line after current SkyTrain construction. We'll ask Ottawa and Victoria for the money by name.

Deliver three bus rapid transit routes by 2030: the City builds its share and presses TransLink to fund the service and stations in its 2027 investment plan

BRT 1: Scott Road, Strawberry Hill, and East Newton, converting the R6 RapidBus to full BRT and extending it to 152 Street via 72 Avenue. BRT 2: Surrey Central to Semiahmoo via King George Boulevard and Newton, prioritized for the next round of SkyTrain expansion. BRT 3: Surrey Central to Guildford, then down 152 Street through East Newton to Semiahmoo, with a stop serving Highway 10 and a possible branch to Carvolth Exchange. The City's share is the road works, signal priority, and curb lanes.

Lower transit fares through a City bulk-buy, so a Surrey resident's one-zone monthly pass costs a flat $70

Victoria's City Hall bought youth bus passes in bulk, and Surrey, on its way to a million people, has the buying power to do the same. The City will negotiate a bulk fare agreement with TransLink, starting with low-income adults in 2027 and reaching every resident by 2030, delivered through the SurreyPass. Today an adult monthly pass starts at $117.20.

Make the case, by name, for commuter rail in Surrey: Scott Road to the Fraser Valley through Newton and Cloverdale

As the province writes its passenger rail strategy, with stations at Scott Road, Kennedy-Nordel Way, Newton, Sullivan, and Cloverdale.

Push for a Surrey station on any Vancouver-Seattle-Portland high-speed rail line, offering City land and fast-tracked planning
Develop Scott Road Station into a multi-modal transit hub

Scott Road is Surrey's front door for anyone coming across the Pattullo Bridge. Working with TransLink and the province, plan it as a real hub: the BRT 1 terminus, a commuter rail stop, park-and-ride, secure bike parking, public washrooms, and homes and shops built around it, tied into the Waterfront District next door.

Demand more buses, more frequency, more night service, and faster project delivery from TransLink, and report every quarter on what Surrey asked for and got
Build public washrooms with TransLink at every major transit hub, including every current and future SkyTrain station in Surrey

Including the Newton, Scottsdale, and Guildford exchanges and the South Surrey Park and Ride. We'll press TransLink to build the station washrooms, with City cost-sharing where needed.

Negotiate more NightBus service with TransLink, toward 24/7 transit on Surrey's busiest routes

A city of nurses, warehouse crews, airport shifts, and restaurant closers should not lose its transit at 1 am. Starting with the King George, Scott Road, 152 Street, and Fraser Highway corridors and the exchanges shift workers use.

Press TransLink to add express routes: Scottsdale to Willowbrook along Highway 10, and Surrey Central to Carvolth Exchange

From Imagine Surrey's signed platform, Contract for a Better Surrey (Platform 2026).

Walking & Cycling

Imagine promises

Build connected cycling routes, protected greenway corridors, and secure bike parking at transit hubs

Planned in consultation with community groups, including HUB Cycling and Movement YVR.

Build 50 kilometres of net new sidewalks in four years, on roads that have none today

A published Missing Sidewalks Map with annual targets, school and transit routes first, paired with safer crossings and lighting. Repaved sidewalks don't count toward the 50, and sidewalks that need repaving still get done at the same pace.

Expand park space by 5% beyond the City's current land-buying program, and greenways by 10%, including a signature Greenway Loop that connects Surrey

Biography

submitted to Surrey's elections office by the candidate

Perminder Chohan is a Surrey resident of 35 years, known for his long-standing commitment to philanthropy, community development, and economic empowerment. As President of Lifewise Financial Group, he has built a respected business that supports families and entrepreneurs across British Columbia. His background also includes hands-on experience in construction and development, giving him a practical understanding of Surrey’s growth and infrastructure needs. Beyond business, Perminder has dedicated decades to community service, working closely with cultural organizations, youth programs, and local charities. He has trained and mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs, helping them launch successful businesses and contribute to Surrey’s economic vitality. His work reflects a deep belief in opportunity, education, and lifting others through service.

See Perminder Chohan's election promises

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