No Surrey MPs were chosen to be a full minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney's cabinet – sworn in Tuesday – but veteran Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai got a junior post in a supporting role as secretary of state for international development.
Other B.C. MPs named to Carney's cabinet are Liberal newcomers Gregor Robertson (Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby) as housing and infrastructure minister and minister responsible for pacific economic development Canada, and Delta MP Jill McKnight (minister of veterans affairs; associate minister of national defence). Kelowna MP Stephen Fuhr is secretary of state for defence procurement and Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke MP Stephanie McLean is secretary of state for seniors.
The cabinet has 28 ministers and 10 secretaries of state.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is pleased with Sarai's post, saying it's an important one. She's also glad to see McKnight in cabinet, noting that her riding embraces a part of Surrey.
Locke had issued a statement calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to choose a Surrey MP for his cabinet, ahead of her 2025 State of the City Address set for Wednesday, May 14 at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel.
Given Surrey's "extraordinary growth," size and proximity to the U.S. and its "impending status as the first city in British Columbia to reach one million residents," she said, "we believe it is essential that Surrey has a strong voice at the federal cabinet table."
The mayor's annual address will be from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and will be livestreamed. Once again, this year's "cost-neutral" event is sold out (418 seats), at $150 apiece, as well as in combinations and sponsored tickets. Last year's sold out, with tickets selling at $150 apiece and $1,650 for a table of 11. All told, 430 tickets were sold for that one.
In her statement, issued May 7, she congratulated Prime Minister Mark Carney on his election win and aimed to impress on him her desire to see him choose one of the newly elected Surrey MPs for his cabinet.
"This would ensure the unique needs and opportunities of our rapidly growing city are represented in the federal government," she said. "We believe this is a crucial step to support our continued development and to ensure that Surrey receives the attention and resources it deserves as a major Canadian city."
Asked what cabinet portfolio she'd like to see a Surrey MP hold, if she had her druthers, she replied that so many would make sense for Surrey but PacifiCan (Pacific Economic Development Canada) is one that comes to mind right away. PacifiCan is already in Surrey and that's all-around economic development so that would be a great one. But there's lots more – there's infrastructure, there's transportation, there's so many more. Housing. There's just so many different areas that Surrey really is where the action is in British Columbia."
Meantime, to buttress her request, she included some interesting statistical information, noting the city is growing by 28 residents daily on average.
"We are not just a city on the rise; we are a city that is rapidly becoming one of Canada's most significant urban centres," she stressed, with each community within it "experiencing development on a scale comparable to that of a city in its own right."
City Centre is the most dense, having grown by 25 per cent between 2016 and 2021, meaning one in four people there is new to the area. Moreover, Newton is Surrey's fastest-growing town centre business-wise, with its business base growing by a seven per cent in a single year and Newton containing more than a third of Surrey's businesses.
"And with over 158,000 residents, Newton is equivalent to having an entire city the size of Coquitlam right within our own," Locke noted. "City-wide, more than 281,000 people employed in Surrey – that is 20 per cent of the region’s employment, with more than 24,000 businesses located in our great city.
Surrey's influence as the economic engine of Western Canada is undeniable."
Locke also noted Surrey has the "most available developable industrial land" in the Lower Mainland, at roughly 365 hectares. "In a region facing a severe shortage of industrial space, this is a massive opportunity."
