Profiling Surrey's political parties: Safe Surrey Coalition, led by Doug McCallum

Incumbent Doug McCallum is hoping to become mayor of B.C.'s second-largest cityfor thefifth time.

McCallum, 78, was first elected mayorin 1996, serving three consecutive terms after being re-elected in 1999 and 2002. He ran again in 2005 and 2014, losing both times before returning to the mayor's chair in 2018.

Now, in 2022, the Safe Surrey Coalition party, led by McCallum, is back in the race with five incumbent councillors and four fresh faces.

Their motto this year:"Doug gets it done."

What Doug hasn't done ahead of election dayis spend much time talking to the public he's skipped several debates, and isthe only mayoral candidate in Vancouver or Surrey to reject an interview with CBC News.

Instead, he's focusedhis campaign on his record specifically his success in delivering past promises.

What is Safe Surrey Coalition?

Safe Surrey Coalition was formed by McCallum ahead of the 2014 civic election.

While McCallum and his council running mates were not successful in their first attempt at office, things changed in 2018 whenthe party captured both the mayor's chair and seven of the eight council positions available.

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But within nine months of that victory, three of the party's councillors Brenda Locke, Steven Pettigrewand Jack Hundial broke away, citing dysfunction in council chambers.

This time around, McCallum is joined by council incumbents Doug Elford, Allison Patton, Mandeep Nagra and Laurie Guerra, and newcomers Stuart Drysdale, Raman Jassar, Debra Antifaev and John Gibeau.

What is their biggest issue?

McCallum's campaign, as evidenced by his party'sslogan, is focused on hissuccess in implementing pastpromises.

"We said we were going to make SkyTrain from our city centre to Langley. It's done. We also said we were going to change our police force from RCMP to our own police force. It's done," said McCallum during an all-candidatesdebate.

He says he'll follow through on new pledges, which include building a 60,000-seat stadium in Surrey and extending the SkyTrain to Newton.

However, details of the timeline and budget for his pledges are few, and critics have seized on them being contingent on funding from other levels of government.

What will they do about policing?

While some mayoral candidates are vowing to halt or reverse the policing transition in Surrey, McCallum says it's a done deal.

"We're actually ahead of schedule and we will be finished completely, a transition that cannot be reversed," he said.

McCallumsays the model of theSurrey Police Service should be seen asa community police, different fromthe RCMP.

"We work in the community, we work with the people, we work with the businesses to solve the problem before they have to phone 911," he said.

What are some of their other promises?

If elected, McCallum is promising to maintain property tax hikes at 2.9 per cent annually for four years.

Some of the other promises listed under 'priorities' on the Safe Surrey Coalitionwebsite, albeit without further detail, include investing in capital projects and infrastructure,and building middle-class housing.

Want to learn more about how the major mayoral contenders in Surrey campaign compare on key issues? Read our platform tracker and explore full profiles of the people running for the city's top job.