BOTH the BC NDP and the BC Conservatives are desperately trying to woo as many Surrey voters as they can in the final stretch of the provincial election. Here we present what they announced on Thursday.
BC NDP Leader David Eby spent the day in Surrey outlining his vision for the fast-growing city’s future. His plan will lower the cost of gas and groceries, strengthen health care, and get the big projects Surrey needs built–like new SkyTrain expansions and hospital infrastructure.
“Surrey will soon be B.C.’s biggest city, and it’s at the heart of my vision for our province’s future. Building a stronger British Columbia starts right here,” said Eby. “Our plan is fully costed, so I can tell people in Surrey exactly what we’ll build. Mr. Doerkson can’t. He wants to ‘review’ the infrastructure budget, and he won’t say what gets cut.”
Under the BC NDP, Surrey has received $12 billion in major projects, more than any other community. Those projects include the new Surrey hospital in Cloverdale, the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain, and the SFU Surrey medical school. All three are already under construction, and all three are funded through the infrastructure budget that BC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson wants to review.
Doerkson already promised to cancel the Massey Tunnel replacement, which is already underway and start over with a bridge. That would put hundreds out of work, sacrifice $3 billion in federal funding and leave commuters waiting even longer.
“A growing city like Surrey needs a government that will build and hire – not a one that will cancel and fire,” said Eby. “People here have seen that movie before. It means deep cuts, higher costs, and chaos at the worst possible time.”
Eby pointed to the record of the last conservative government. It tolled the Port Mann Bridge and left kids in overcrowded classrooms. And they sold the land for the second hospital in Surrey below its appraised value to a well-connected campaign donor.
Eby also warned that Doerkson’s agenda includes a secret deal with personal injury lawyers that would double car insurance, and billions of dollars in backdoor cuts to health care.
“We’ve got a lot more work to do together. We can’t afford to go back to the days where people in Surrey bear the brunt of cuts and higher costs,” Eby concluded.
Eby’s vision for a stronger, more livable Surrey includes:
* Getting big projects done: A fully costed plan to complete the new hospital, the SkyTrain extension to Langley, and the new medical school. A re-elected BC NDP will also work with the mayor and council to build a SkyTrain extension to Newton and use the land offered by the city to build a new health care facility.
* Lowering the cost of getting around: Taking on big oil and suspending a portion of the gas tax to save people up to 30 cents a litre on gas. Per tank, that’s savings of as much as $20 for families for $116 of diesel for trucks. A re-elected BC NDP will also cap car insurance rates for another three years and offer free transit passes to low-income seniors.
* Strengthening health care: Launching an accelerated “bridging to practice” training program to fast-track qualified international medical graduates living in B.C. into family medicine, committing to 3 new primary care clinics in Surrey, and aggressively recruiting health care professionals and doctors from the U.S.
* Getting homes built faster: Accelerate housing development by bringing in a new 30-day permit guarantee for small residential builds, standardizing technical codes province-wide, and partnering with the federal government to reduce development cost charges by up to 50%.
Giving Surrey the tools to deliver: A Surrey charter with the same kind of authority Vancouver has. This gives local leaders more power to make faster decisions on housing, transit, and community services tailored to Surrey’s growing population.
BC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson unveiled his Surrey Success Plan on Thursday, delivering the SkyTrain to Newton, a new Massey Bridge and a new hospital. After nine years of NDP neglect, one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities will finally get the infrastructure it needs, he said.
A Conservative government will work with the federal government to fund and build SkyTrain along King George Boulevard to Newton Town Centre. Newton has been at the back of the line for rapid transit since light rail plans were scrapped in 2018. Eight years later, families are still waiting.
“Surrey has been doing more than its share for this province, and for nine years the NDP has given it nothing but empty promises,” said Doerkson. “The Surrey Success Plan changes that. We will deliver SkyTrain to Newton, a new bridge, a finished hospital and a new hospital for women and children, and we will build them on time and on budget.”
The Surrey Success Plan brings together four major commitments:
* SkyTrain to Newton Town Centre, bringing rapid transit along King George Boulevard to one of the city’s largest and fastest-growing urban centres.
* A new 10-lane George Massey Bridge, replacing the tunnel the NDP refused to fix after cancelling a bridge that should already be open, and cutting commutes by up to 30 minutes.
* Completing the Surrey Hospital in Cloverdale, which the NDP promised for next year at $1.7 billion but is now delayed until 2030 and running more than a billion dollars over budget.
* A new Women and Children’s Hospital in Surrey, so families no longer have to travel an hour or more into Vancouver for care.
Doerkson said that Surrey’s population has doubled in the last 25 years, but the NDP has failed to keep pace. Families can’t find a family doctor, and commuters lose hours every week stuck in traffic. Under David Eby, major projects have run over budget and behind schedule, while communities like Newton have been left off the map entirely.
A Conservative government will take a different approach, with disciplined project management, clear timelines and accountability to taxpayers for every dollar spent. It will cut taxes for hard-working families, supercharge the economy by doubling and tripling BC’s LNG production, and clean up the streets by giving police the tools they need to keep communities safe. These are serious times, and they call for strong leadership. Conservatives will end the NDP’s lost decade and get Surrey, and all of British Columbia, building again, Doerkson said.
