Surrey mayor's stadium idea met with questions, criticism from political opponents

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum officially launched his re-election campaign Thursday with a big promise: to build a 60,000-seat stadium in the city.

The surprise proposal has elicited a lot of skepticism and criticism from his political opponents, as well as questions about the cost and how it would be paid for, which are both unknowns at this time.

McCallum said the stadium would be located west of the Surrey Sport and Leisure Complex on the Fraser Highway near the site of a future SkyTrain station, and people would only be able to access it by transit.

“We’re not going to have any cars there or any parking lots,” he said. “The economic benefits of sport tourism is huge.”

The proposed stadium would have more seating than BC Place, where crowds are often below capacity.

McCallum, who successfully campaigned in 2018 on switching to a municipal police force from the RCMP, and building a SkyTrain to Langley instead of using light rail, said funding could come from other levels of government or corporate partners.

“I think we will be able to get money,” he said, and added if re-elected, he would bring a motion forward right away to build the stadium and then start work on the business plan. “We need this type of facility. It’s very, very important for us to get it built quickly.”

The BC Lions, who practice in Surrey, said Thursday they had no knowledge of the plan.

Other mayoral candidates are taking aim, saying there are bigger priorities for the city, and criticizing the plan for being short on detail.

SurreyForward mayoral candidate Jinny Sims said the announcement left her “gobsmacked.”

“We don’t have anchoring teams. When I look at BC Place, I know how they struggle,” she said. “Surrey desperately needs infrastructure. We need sports complexes for our kids to play. We need soccer fields. We need ice rinks…he’s had four years to build infrastructure.”

Surrey First’s mayoral candidate Gordie Hogg said the stadium plan seemed like a “white elephant that wandered out of left field.”

“Reminds me a little bit of the proposal the mayor had a few years ago for the canals like Venice in the Bridgeview part of Surrey,” he said. “Certainly as I talk with citizens of Surrey, their issues are public safety, and they’re concerned about being engaged and being part of decision-making processes, and being consulted. They’re talking about housing and transit.”

City councillor and Surrey Connect mayoral candidate Brenda Locke called the mayor’s promise “quite reckless.”

“I think he should have talked to the residents of Surrey first before he did this, because I have never heard the Surrey residents asking for this,” she said. “We don’t have enough parks, and we don’t have enough fields for our kids, so to come along and try and build something for a bunch of millionaire athletes doesn’t make an ounce of sense.”

United Surrey candidate Sukh Dhaliwal said he believed the announcement was just a distraction attempt.

“Mayor McCallum is desperate,” he said. “This is just political tactics to keep his job, and divert the attention of the people of Surrey from his record that he messed up Surrey over the past four years.”

The president and CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, Anita Huberman, said the proposed stadium is not currently in the city’s capital plan.

“We don’t know how we’re going to pay for it, and there’s been no engagement,” she said. “We need other pieces of economic infrastructure before a stadium. We need transportation infrastructure to connect our large geographic area. We need a performing arts centre. We need a convention centre with hotels to be able to bring in these amazing conferences and even sporting conventions.”

Along with the stadium, McCallum said other priorities for the Safe Surrey Coalition include seeing the skytrain line extended to Newton, creating more affordable housing, and road widening and other improvements.