Wikipedia

Brenda Locke

Brenda Joy Locke (born 1955) is a Canadian politician who currently serves as the mayor of Surrey, British Columbia. She was elected to the post in 2022 after defeating the incumbent Doug McCallum. She previously served on the Surrey City Council from 2018 to 2022, and in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2005, representing the electoral district of Surrey-Green Timbers as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party.[2]

Her Worship
Brenda Locke
Mayor of Surrey
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 7, 2022
Preceded byDoug McCallum
Surrey City Councillor
In office
November 5, 2018 – November 7, 2022
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Surrey-Green Timbers
In office
May 16, 2001 – May 17, 2005
Preceded bySue Hammell
Succeeded bySue Hammell
Minister of State for Mental Health and Addiction Services of British Columbia
In office
September 20, 2004 – June 16, 2005
PremierGordon Campbell
Preceded bySusan Brice
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born1955[1]
Vancouver, British Columbia
Political partySurrey Connect (municipal)
BC Liberal (provincial)
Other political
affiliations		Safe Surrey Coalition (2018–2019)
TeamSurrey (2014)
Liberal Party of Canada (ca. 2006-2008)
Spouse
John
​
(m. 1975)​
Children2
ResidenceSurrey, British Columbia

Background

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Born in Vancouver, Locke worked as the office manager for the Richmond Association for Children's Services from 1979 to 1983, then as the executive director of the BC Liquor Licensee and Retailers Association from 1985 to 2001.[1][3]

Married since 1975, she and her husband John have two children together, and have been residents of Surrey since 1980.[1][3]

Political career

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In the 2001 provincial election, Locke ran for the British Columbia Liberal Party in Surrey-Green Timbers, and defeated New Democrat incumbent Sue Hammell to become the riding's member of the Legislative Assembly.[4][5] She served as chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, and member of the Legislative Standing Committee on Education, the Multicultural Committee, Women's Caucus Committee and the Government Caucus Committee on Health.[3] On September 20, 2004, she was appointed to the cabinet by Premier Gordon Campbell to serve as Minister of State for Mental Health and Addiction Services.[6]

Locke faced Hammell again in the 2005 provincial election; this time Hammell defeated Locke to reclaim the seat.[4][5] Locke subsequently ran as the federal Liberal Party candidate in Fleetwood—Port Kells in the 2006 and 2008 federal elections, but lost both times to Conservative incumbent Nina Grewal.[4][5]

In the 2014 municipal election, Locke teamed up with real-estate agent Stephen Gammer under the political party, TeamSurrey, to run for city council. She came in 18th place, with 2.28% of the vote.[7][8] In the 2017 provincial election, she ran for the BC Liberal party in her former seat of Surrey-Green Timbers but was defeated by Rachna Singh.[9] While she was out of office, Locke worked as executive director for the B.C. Massage Therapist Association.[10]

At the October 20, 2018 municipal election, Locke was elected to Surrey City Council as a part of the Safe Surrey Coalition (SSC).[11] While she initially approved of mayor Doug McCallum's plan to replace the Surrey RCMP with a municipal police force,[12] in the following months she became critical of McCallum's approach on the matter, culminating in her departure from the SSC on June 27, 2019 to become an independent councillor.[13][14] In January 2020, along with fellow ex-SSC city councillor Jack Hundial, she founded a new political slate called Surrey Connect.[15] She announced in July 2021 her intention to run for mayor of Surrey under the Surrey Connect banner,[12] and proposed halting the police transition during her campaign.[16]

On October 15, 2022, Locke defeated the incumbent McCallum to become mayor.[16] Although city council voted to retain the services of the RCMP,[17] the city was ordered by the provincial government in July 2023 to proceed with the police transition.[18] That October, Locke announced in a statement the city would seek a judicial review on the provincial order.[19] The case was dismissed by the Supreme Court of British Columbia in May 2024,[20] with the Surrey Police Service scheduled to assume jurisdiction over the city on November 29, 2024.[21]

Electoral record

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B.C. General Election 2001: Surrey-Green Timbers
Party Candidate Votes % ± Expenditures
Liberal Brenda Locke 7,539 48.95% 15.16% $46,658
  NDP Sue Hammell 5,592 36.31% -13.80% $37,237
Unity C. Lewis Robinson 1,067 6.93% n/a $7,196
Marijuana Dennis Kalsi 561 3.65% n/a $394
Reform Jim Paterson 538 3.49% -2.28% $3,277
Communist Harjit Singh Daudharia 103 0.67% 0.37% $332
Total valid votes 15,400 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 151 0.98%
Turnout 15,551 66.77%


2005 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Green Timbers
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic Sue Hammell 10,836 60.82 24.51
Liberal Brenda Locke 5,619 31.54 −17.41
Green Sebastian Sajda 791 4.44 –
Marijuana Amanda Boggan 225 1.26 −2.39
Emerged Democracy Rob Norberg 151 0.85 –
Democratic Reform Ravi Chand 142 0.80 –
Communist Harjit Singh Daudharia 52 0.29 0.38
Total 17,816 100.00
2006 Canadian federal election: Fleetwood—Port Kells
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Nina Grewal 14,577 33.5 -2.3 $72,464
Liberal Brenda Locke 13,749 31.6 2.1 $54,768
New Democratic Barry Bell 10,961 25.2 -2.8 $18,907
Independent Jack Cook 3,202 7.4 7.4 $75,818
Green Duncan McDonald 1,059 2.4 -3.9 --
Total valid votes 43,548 100.0
Total rejected ballots 127 0.3 -0.3
Turnout 43,675 59 0
Conservative hold Swing -2.2 –
2008 Canadian federal election: Fleetwood—Port Kells
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Nina Grewal 21,389 44.7 11.2 $79,909
Liberal Brenda Locke 12,502 26.1 -5.5 $75,331
New Democratic Nao Fernando 10,916 22.8 -2.4 $65,022
Green Brian Newbold 3,045 6.4 4.0 --
Total valid votes/Expense limit 47,852 100.0 $88,579
Total rejected ballots 219 0.5 0.2
Turnout 48,071 56 3
2017 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Green Timbers
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic Rachna Singh 8,945 58.29 0.23 $58,322
Liberal Brenda Locke 5,056 32.95 −1.57 $20,975
Green Saira Aujla 1,112 7.25 3.2 $7,739
No affiliation Vikram Bajwa 163 1.06 – $7,980
Your Political Party Kanwaljit Singh Moti 69 0.44 – $3,612
Total valid votes 15,345 100.00 –
Total rejected ballots 163 1.05 −0.14
Turnout 15,508 54.61 2.29
Registered voters 28,400
Source: Elections BC[22][23]
2022 Surrey mayoral election
Party Mayoral candidate Vote %
  Surrey Connect Brenda Locke 33,311 28.14
  Safe Surrey Coalition Doug McCallum (X) 32,338 27.31
  Surrey First Gordie Hogg 24,916 21.05
  Surrey Forward Jinny Sims 14,895 12.58
  United Surrey Sukh Dhaliwal 9,629 8.13
  People's Council Surrey Amrit Birring 2,270 1.92
  Independent John Wolanski 646 0.55
  Independent Kuldip Pelia 385 0.33

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Locke, Hon. Brenda". Canadian Parliamentary Guide. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  2. ^ Anne Edwards, Seeking Balance: Conversations with BC Women in Politics. Caitlin Press, 2008. ISBN 1894759311.
  3. ^ a b c "MLA: Brenda Locke". Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004.
  4. ^ a b c "Candidates: Brenda Joy Locke". Canadian Elections Database. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c McElroy, Justin (May 1, 2017). "B.C. Votes 2017: Surrey-Green Timbers riding profile". CBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  6. ^ "Campbell Cabinet: 37th Parliament 2001-2005, 38th Parliament 2005-2009, 39th Parliament 2009-2011" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  7. ^ Bailey, Ian (October 12, 2014). "Independents rally together in Surrey mayoral race". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  8. ^ Reid, Amy (October 16, 2014). "TeamSurrey unveils platform focusing on crime reduction". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  9. ^ Zytaruk, Tom (October 24, 2018). "Poll-topper Brenda Locke's heart is in social planning". North Delta Reporter. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  10. ^ "Contact Us | Registered Massage Therapists' Association of British Columbia". Archived from the original on October 31, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  11. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ a b Wood, Graeme (July 21, 2021). "From friend to foe: Surrey's Brenda Locke to challenge Doug McCallum in 2022". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  13. ^ Little, Simon; Macdonald, Gord (June 28, 2019). "2nd councillor quits Surrey mayor's Safe Surrey Coalition, citing 'dysfunctional' council". Global News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  14. ^ Recksiedler, Dean; Nassar, Hana Mae. "City Councillor Brenda Locke bolts from Safe Surrey Coalition". CKWX. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  15. ^ Collins, Lauren (January 7, 2020). "Hundial and Locke's new slate looks to 'Connect' with Surrey residents". Surrey Now-Leader. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Watson, Bridgette (October 16, 2022). "Brenda Locke elected mayor of Surrey, CBC News projects". CBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  17. ^ Larsen, Karin (June 16, 2023). "Surrey police decision far from settled after council votes to retain RCMP". CBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  18. ^ Meissner, Dirk (July 19, 2023). "Province orders City of Surrey to stick with transition to municipal police force". CBC News. Canadian Press. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  19. ^ Steacy, Lisa (October 13, 2023). "Surrey mayor announces legal action in ongoing fight over police transition". CTV News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  20. ^ Wyton, Moira; Proctor, Jason (May 23, 2024). "B.C. has right to order Surrey police transition, judge rules". CBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  21. ^ Larsen, Karin (April 23, 2024). "Date set for transition from RCMP to Surrey Police Service". CBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  22. ^ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  23. ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
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