SURREY, B.C. - Imagine Surrey mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk is calling on Surrey Connect Councillor Rob Stutt to tell voters whether he discussed former police chief Norm Lipinski’s employment with Mayor Brenda Locke before the police board meeting where Lipinski was fired.
Stutt chaired the Surrey Police Board meeting of May 29, 2026, at which Lipinski was dismissed. According to an Imagine Surrey release issued October 13, Stutt was elected in 2022 on Locke’s Surrey Connect slate and was among five board members appointed in the weeks before the firing.
Starchuk posed three questions for Stutt to answer before election day on October 17: whether he discussed the chief’s employment or the meeting’s purpose with Locke, her office, or anyone at Surrey Connect before May 29; whether he voted to dismiss the chief; and what he told the mayor about the proceedings.
Lipinski filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on September 28 seeking judicial review of his June 1 termination, which he described as without cause. The allegations have not been tested in court. The police board has said it is reviewing the petition.
Locke has said the petition is against the board and has nothing to do with her or the city. Surrey Connect maintains that staffing decisions rest solely with the independent board.
Neither Councillor Stutt nor Surrey Connect had publicly responded to Starchuk’s questions at the time of the October 13 release.
(Source: Imagine Surrey, October 13, 2026)
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