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Surrey's ruling slate gets feisty

After a relatively quiet start, the Surrey First campaign switched into high gear this past week with a succession of releases.

With the kids gloves clearly cast aside, the camp fired off a series of press releases with headlines like "Complacent not in the Surrey First Dictionary" in response to Barinder Rasode's claim that they were sitting idle, and "Doug McCallum Late Again: City Already Bans Uber" regarding his stance on the rideshare company.

In the Rasode response piece, the former Surrey First member is blasted by her former party for seemingly dismissing the work done by the current council. Rasode had come out previously saying "Complacency has built a culture of neglect in Surrey," in relation to the crime in the city.

In the Uber release, McCallum is criticized for promising to ban the ridesharing company from operating in Surrey as the company wouldn't be able to operate under the city's current bylaws. Last week, mayoral candidate Doug McCallum told the Now that if elected, he would ban third-party ridesharing company Uber from operating in Surrey. In turn, he received the endorsement of local cab companies.

However, the best zinger from Surrey First came in response to McCallum's release of his eightpoint financial platform, which promised to put a two-year freeze on taxes, eliminate the Surrey City Development Corporation and cut the operating budget by three per cent, amongst other financial changes. "Please, Somebody Give Doug McCallum a Calendar" was Surrey First's response, claiming McCallum was out of touch with how to run a modern Surrey.

The releases were in stark contrast to previous ones from Surrey First which mostly failed to address other candidate's plans and ideas and instead attempted to paint a rosy picture of Surrey.

After taking what many deemed to be a lacklustre approach to what is arguably the province's most exciting civic election, Surrey First seems to have found that same "fire in the belly" that prompted McCallum to enter the race, and are putting it to use.

The Now