SURREY, B.C. - Metro Vancouver has rejected Surrey mayor-elect Doug McCallum’s call to cancel this Friday’s board meeting, confirming that the 2027 budget will be considered and voted on October 30, 2026 by the outgoing board, before the region’s newly elected councils are sworn in.
McCallum made the call on Monday, October 26, 2026, in a statement addressed to the Board chair and directors, arguing that an outgoing board should not approve next year’s regional budget days after voters elected new mayors and councils across the region.
“Thirteen days after voters replaced 13 mayors, the old Board plans to sit down and pass next year’s budget. That is not how you treat voters,” McCallum said in the statement. “I am calling on the Board chair and the directors to cancel Friday’s meeting. If something truly cannot wait four weeks, deal with that one item and leave everything else for the Board the voters chose. Nothing in 1,190 pages is more urgent than that.”
What McCallum is asking for
McCallum is asking the Board to cancel the October 30 meeting outright, with one exception: if any single item genuinely cannot wait, the Board should deal with that item alone and defer everything else, including the 2027 Budget and Five-Year Financial Plan, to the new Board.
Metro Vancouver is the regional government for 21 Lower Mainland municipalities. Its board is made up of directors appointed by each member council, not directly elected by voters, so a change of mayors and councils changes the Board.
Why he says the timing matters
McCallum’s argument rests on the scale of the change voters delivered on October 17, 2026. In his statement, he said voters in 13 of the region’s 21 municipalities chose a new mayor, including Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, Delta and both Langleys, and that those municipalities hold 114 of the 145 Board votes and are home to more than 2.1 million people. He said such a turnover is unlike most election years, when only a few seats change.
“This is not about any individual director. It is about respect for the voters. Surrey holds 29 votes on that Board, and not one of them should be cast on next year’s budget by anyone other than the directors chosen by the council Surrey elected on October 17,” McCallum said.
What is on Friday’s agenda
Metro Vancouver’s own agendas page confirms that all four of its boards have agenda packages posted for meetings on October 30, 2026, posted on October 23, 2026: the regional district board (MVRD), the water district board (GVWD), the sewerage and drainage district board (GVS&DD) and the housing corporation board (MVHC). McCallum said they run to 1,190 pages in total. The published listing confirms the sewerage and drainage district package alone is 458 pages; the other three boards’ page counts were not shown in the listing checked for this article, so the 1,190-page total is reported here as McCallum’s figure.
Metro Vancouver’s budget process page confirms the final 2027 Budget and 2027-2031 Financial Plan are scheduled for adoption in October 2026, after public engagement in February to March and August to September 2026. A five-year financial plan sets, for each of the next five years, what each regional service will spend and where the money will come from. For Metro Vancouver, that plan sets what every household pays for regional water, sewer, garbage and parks.
McCallum said the average home already pays nearly $900 a year for those regional services. Metro Vancouver’s own draft 2027-2031 plan puts the region-wide average household impact at $897 for 2026 and $914 for 2027, consistent with that figure.
There is time to wait, McCallum argues
A central plank of McCallum’s case is that delaying the budget would not break the law. Under section 374 of British Columbia’s Local Government Act, a regional district must adopt its financial plan by bylaw by March 31 of each year. McCallum said the Board therefore has until March 31, and that its next regular meeting, which he put at November 27, would fall after every new council has been sworn in and named its directors. McCallum won the Surrey mayoral race on October 17 with 42,741 votes to incumbent Brenda Locke’s 30,886, according to the City of Surrey’s official results.
Why this matters to Surrey
McCallum’s statement calls Surrey the fastest-growing city in British Columbia; on his figures it is also the largest single voting bloc on the regional Board, with 29 of the 145 votes. Every dollar the Board approves for water, sewer, garbage and parks flows through to Surrey households through city utility bills or property taxes, in Newton, Guildford, Fleetwood, Cloverdale and South Surrey. A budget adopted by outgoing directors would lock in those charges before Surrey’s new council names its directors. The dispute also sits inside a longer fight: during the campaign, McCallum promised to pull Surrey out of Metro Vancouver while keeping the core services that must stay connected, namely water, sewer and waste.
Metro Vancouver says the vote goes ahead
Metro Vancouver declined the request the same day. A Metro Vancouver spokesperson confirmed on Monday that the 2027 budget would be considered and voted on this Friday, as reported by Postmedia.
“The budget is considered and approved in October to provide enough time for member jurisdictions to prepare their own financial plans for the coming year, and to meet legislative requirements for when budgets should be established,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that Metro Vancouver board meetings are held on the last Friday of every month regardless of the election cycle. Friday’s meetings therefore proceed as scheduled, and the budget McCallum asked to defer is set to be decided by the outgoing board.
Source: Metro Vancouver agendas and minutes, October 30, 2026 board agenda packages; Metro Vancouver 2027 Budget and 2027-2031 Financial Plan process page; B.C. Local Government Act, section 374. McCallum’s statement as carried October 27, 2026; Metro Vancouver’s response as reported by Postmedia, October 27, 2026.
