Surrey’s largest town centre has become a hotbed for election promises in recent weeks
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Surrey’s most-populous town centre, Newton, is proving to be a key neighbourhood in the city’s upcoming election as candidates continue to spotlight it in their campaigns.
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Newton is known as the city’s most culturally diverse neighbourhood and has Surrey’s largest South Asian population. This has made it a hub for cultural events and shopping for the city.
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In recent weeks, however, it has also become a hotbed for election promises.
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Sunrise
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Former mayor Doug McCallum, who is running for the office again, used Newton as a backdrop Monday morning to announce his plan to turn a city-owned site into another Surrey hospital, in addition to Surrey Memorial and the new hospital and cancer care centre currently being built in Cloverdale.
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“Our children are put in ambulances and driven across a bridge because there is no pediatric intensive care unit anywhere in Fraser Health. Our mothers are sent to other cities to give birth. Surrey has been treated as a second-class city for as long as I can remember, and we are done accepting it,” McCallum said at his announcement.
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“Emergency, surgery, intensive care, maternity, and care for our children in our own city. Vancouver has Vancouver General. Surrey is about to be the bigger city, and it is going to have Surrey General.”
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McCallum said he could secure funding from higher levels of government, but said acquiring the land was the difficult part.
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The site McCallum plans to turn into a hospital was originally a location he wanted for a community centre on 69 Avenue and King George Boulevard. After McCallum lost in the 2022 election, now-Mayor Brenda Locke canceled the project.
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Instead, Locke held a groundbreaking event a week ago for her own community centre just a few blocks away from the original site.
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“As Surrey’s largest town centre, Newton deserves a community hub that matches its size, diversity and potential,” Locke said at the event. “By bringing recreation, culture and library services together under one roof, we’re creating a vibrant gathering place that will connect residents, support healthy lifestyles, and serve generations to come.”
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Newton has long been a stronghold for McCallum. In the 2022 election, he beat Locke in Newton by a landslide. However, it was not enough to edge out Locke, who marginally won that election with 28 per cent of the vote and McCallum coming in with 27.3 per cent.
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In 2022, a total of 29,469 votes were cast in Newton, significantly higher than in any other neighbourhood of the city.
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The former mayor appears to continue wanting to appeal to the community, with not only the hospital announcement, but also promising better transit in Newton.
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If elected, McCallum says he will build SkyTrain service to Newton along King George Boulevard. Another candidate, Mike Starchuk, said he would also look to build SkyTrain through Newton to South Surrey.
