Surrey First made the big reveal on Wednesday that Coun. Linda Hepner will be putting herself forward as the party's mayoral candidate for the municipal elections this fall.
On Thursday, previous mayoral candidate and president of British Columbia Peoples Party Vikram Bajwa officially announced his intent to run an opposition slate against Surrey First through a press release. Bajwa had originally declared to the Now his intent to run for mayor in April.
Held at SFU's Surrey campus, Surrey First's announcement was attended by many of the city's community stakeholders and politicians.
"While today Dianne has passed the torch, the purpose for Surrey First remains the same," said Hepner. "I'm committed to building on the momentum that we have created over the last nine years, and creating more jobs here in Surrey for our residents."
Also among the announcements were new three new additions to the Surrey First councillor slate. The new faces are Vera LeFranc, senior manager of community projects for Vancity and a coordinator of the Surrey Homeless and
Housing Fund, Dave Woods, a retired RCMP Staff Sgt and former district commander for Port Kells/Cloverdale and longtime firefighter Mike Starchuk who was not present at the event.
The three new members will join incumbent councillors Tom Gill, Bruce Hayne, Mary Martin, Barbara Steele and Judy Villeneuve who will all be seeking reelection this fall.
Meanwhile, the new Surrey First members are happy to be where they are.
"I feel incredibly proud to be on the Surrey First team," said LeFranc.
Woods felt similarly pleased to be among the Surrey First group.
"I've known the councillors for a long time... but I was honoured they asked me, frankly," he said.
LeFranc, Starchuk and Woods replace Hepner, Marvin Hunt and Barinder Rasode as the party's council candidates. Hunt left his councillor position earlier this year after being elected the MLA for Surrey-Panorama in the 2013 provincial election, while Rasode split from Surrey First in April citing disagreements with the party.
Hepner was first elected to Surrey council in 2005 and was subsequently re-elected in 2008 and 2011. Prior to her political career, Hepner worked as the city's manager of economic development for more than 20 years before retiring and running for office in 2005.
And while Hepner and Bajwa are now the only two players to declare their intent to run in Surrey's mayoral election, all
eyes are now on Rasode and former mayor Doug McCallum.
After splitting from Surrey First a few months ago, there's been much talk within the community that Rasode has her eye on the mayor's seat.
Asked Wednesday if Hepner's announcement would lead to her own declaration Rasode played coy, saying she's aware of the talk in the community.
However, short of confirming a mayoral bid, Rasode said she would do what she felt the community wanted her to do.
"It is something that I'm very seriously considering and if residents in Surrey want my name on the ballot, that will be evident after the work I'm doing over the summer," she said.
Rasode said she plans to continue her community engagement in order to build a mandate from residents and get a true feel for issues affecting the city.
Bajwa has also said that he'd like to invite Rasode to sit on the politically diverse BCCP slate.
"We're going to include people from Green, from NDP, from Liberals," he said to the Now. "We are in touch with (Rasode) and we are trying to convince her that we all should put up a united face versus the Surrey First. If, for that reason, I have to readjust my situation or my nominee, I am most willing to do that."
While Rasode has all but confirmed her run for mayor, she says she would not be joining Bajwa and the BCCP slate.
McCallum - who served as Surrey mayor from 1996 to 2005, when he was defeated by Dianne Watts while seeking a fourth term - says he has given himself a twoweek deadline to decide if he will make a run for the mayor's chair.
"I'm certainly thinking about it," he told the Now, adding he has "a real drive" to make Surrey better and is "a little upset" with city finances.
"We need to address some of these problems," he said.
With files from Tom Zytaruk