SURREY, B.C. - Surrey’s new city council holds its first regular meeting tonight, Monday, November 9, 2026, at 7 p.m. at Surrey City Hall, one week after Mayor Doug McCallum and the new council were sworn in. The agenda is led by the mayor’s own report, which asks council to adopt 16 priorities and direct staff to act on them immediately, alongside more than $22 million in contract awards, including the excavation contract for the Centre Block medical school site and a new synthetic turf field at Newton Athletic Park.
The meeting is open to the public at City Hall, 13450 104 Avenue, and is livestreamed on the City’s website at surrey.ca.
The Mayor’s Report: 16 priorities
Item D.1, the Mayor’s Report, is a motion to establish council’s priorities and direct staff to take immediate action on them. The agenda lists 16 items. A passed motion directs staff to act and report back; it is not by itself a funding approval, and the largest items will still need their own staff reports, budgets and council votes before money is spent.
The 16 priorities in the Mayor’s Report are:
- Fast-track rezoning of City-owned land in Newton for a new hospital
- A four-year property-tax freeze
- Zero tolerance on crime and extortion, with more police officers
- SkyTrain down King George Boulevard to Newton
- Surrey as a Global City
- A helicopter and drone fleet for Surrey Police Service within 90 days
- New pools for Clayton Heights, City Centre, Newton and Cloverdale
- Crescent Beach and Ocean Park zoning
- Recreation for all: free seniors fees, free swim lessons for ages 3 to 16, and a four-year recreation-fee freeze
- A Farm Local Plan
- An independent forensic audit of land dealings, covering the Arena Project, the 152nd Street and 76th Avenue parkland, and the Tynehead training facility
- Withdrawal from the Metro Vancouver Regional District board, keeping core services only
- A 60-day guarantee for residential building permits
- Free business licences for the first two years
- Purchase of the Rosemary Heights Retreat Centre lands as a park
- Integrating the Surrey City Development Corporation into City operations
Centre Block excavation contract (R199)
Council will vote on Corporate Report R199, which recommends authorizing the City, as joint venturer with Simon Fraser University, to enter into a contract with PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. for Tender Package No. 1, the excavation and shoring work for Phase One of Centre Block, the future permanent home of the SFU Stephens Family School of Medicine in City Centre.
The report puts the contract at $17,561,926.20 including taxes, with an expenditure authorization limit of $19,318,118.82 including taxes and contingencies. The City’s share is $5,749,072.16: based on the cost-sharing analysis in the report, SFU carries 70.24 per cent of Phase One costs and the City 29.76 per cent. PCL is scheduled to mobilize in December 2026, with excavation and shoring running from February to May 2027, and Phase One completed and ready for use in the third quarter of 2030.
Apna News reported the contract details ahead of tonight’s vote: Surrey Council to Vote on Centre Block Contract.
(Source: City of Surrey, Corporate Report R199, November 9, 2026)
Newton Athletic Park turf field (R200)
Corporate Report R200 recommends awarding Contract No. 1220-030-2026-058 to Wilco Civil Inc. for the design-build of a synthetic turf field at Newton Athletic Park. The award is $4,717,441.05 including taxes, the lowest of six proposals the City received, with an expenditure authorization limit of $5,189,185.16 including taxes and contingency.
The field is a 70-by-110-metre FIFA-quality soccer field with an adjacent warmup and practice area at the south end of the park, with lighting and landscape finishing. Design is expected to start this month, with construction complete in early September 2027. The field is part of the larger $27.5 million Investment in Newton Parks project, with up to $11 million funded through the federal Build Communities Strong Fund.
(Source: City of Surrey, Corporate Report R200, November 9, 2026)
Also on tonight’s agenda
Three further reports are before council: R204, the official results of the 2026 local government and school trustee election; R207, an amending agreement for electrical inspections on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project; and R208, a contribution agreement connected to the Build Communities Strong Fund. A separate Land Use and Public Hearing agenda earlier in the evening covers planning items only; the contract votes sit in the 7 p.m. meeting.
Why tonight matters
It is the first working meeting of the council elected on October 17, and the Mayor’s Report effectively sets the four-year agenda in a single vote: property taxes, policing, a hospital site in Newton, new pools, permit timelines and Surrey’s seat at the Metro Vancouver table. Which of the 16 priorities pass unchanged, and which get amended or deferred, will be the first real signal of how this council intends to govern.
Apna News will report the outcomes of tonight’s votes after the meeting.
(Source: City of Surrey, Regular Council agenda and corporate reports, November 9, 2026)
By Apna News
