Profiling Surrey's political parties: United Surrey, led by Sukh Dhaliwal

Political veteran and federal Liberal MP for Surrey-Newton Sukh Dhaliwal is hoping to defeat an incumbent mayor he once supported.

In July, the Surrey mayoral candidate held a flashy campaign kick-off at a banquet hall with an audience of more than a thousand people.

But it's the organizing done behind the scenes, attempting to attract voters from across the city, that could make the difference.

To win, Dhaliwal, whose platform attempts to appeal to homeowners and developers, will have to expand his support beyond Newton — which has been his political base as an MP from 2006 to 2011, and again since 2015.

In the 1990s, he was a key supporter of Doug McCallum and for years, Dhaliwal was rumoured to be a kingmaker in Surrey's civic elections.

Now the question is whether he can do the same for himself.

What is United Surrey?

Sukh Dhaliwal started United Surrey in the run-up to the 2022 civic election, and says the party is focused on fostering unity to deliver city services for taxpayers.

The party's candidates for council are former federal NDP MP Jasbir Sandhu, along with Julie Tapley, Becky Zhou, Nicole Bennett, Andy Dhillon, Margarett Lange, Zubeen Sahib and Jeff Bridge.

As a professional engineer who co-founded a land surveying company in Surrey, Dhaliwal knows numbers. He earned almost 54 per cent of the vote in the 2021 federal election to become MP for the fifth time.

What is their biggest issue?

Even though Dhaliwal's party is not taking a controversial stance on major issues, he is making a big promise.

He says his goal is to clean up the development permit process, first by streamlining it and introducing more oversight for projects already approved under McCallum's recent time in office, and then adding other measures to ensure projects don't jump the queue at city hall.

"We will work with federal government, provincial government to bring in more resources from their side to hire new inspectors, new plan checkers, new planners to make sure that we are able to deliver our promise in three weeks for a single family and three months for the multi-family," said Dhaliwal.

He estimates 1,500 people are moving to Surrey every month and to meet the demand for housing, he says, the city needs 500 new dwellings a month.

His ambitious "333 plan" promises a fast turnaround for development applications: three days for renovation permits, three weeks for a singe family home, and three months for a multi-family unit.

What will they do about policing?

Dhaliwal promises the status quo on the transition from Surrey RCMP to Surrey Police, which was one of McCallum's biggest and most controversial campaign promises in the last election, and has been slowly moving forward with in the four years since.

"Public safety is a top priority to our team, United Surrey, and we are going to make sure that this transition happens," said Dhaliwal.

He says he will be transparent about the costs and timeline involved, which are details that have been questioned during McCallum's time in office, and which the mayor has changed targets on.

Dhaliwal's campaign has also promised a new Surrey-based regional police training facility to deal with officer shortages across Metro Vancouver.

What are some of their other promises?

Dhaliwal's campaign is also promising better city services, including hiring 15 more firefighters a year for five years.

He says his focus is clear: "It is about cleaning up the mess.

"If there is someone with experience, with credentials, you know, whether it's a professional experience, whether it's a small business experience, whether it's a political experience ... I bring that to the city."

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.