SF's First Indo-Canadian Mayoral Candidate Will Face An Uphill Battle To The Mayor's Chair As Surrey First Faces Voters' Backlash!

The announcement Tom Gill as Surrey First's mayoral candidate choice comes one day after Surrey Councillor Bruce Hayne split from the party, paving the way for a rival right-of-centre slate led by Hayne and backed by much of the business and community crowd that supports Surrey First.

SURREY – Surrey First has for the first time decided to go with an Indo-Canadian as it's mayoral candidate  in the October civic election but Tom Gill will face an uphill battle as his party faces voter fatigue and backlash over the out of control gangs and drugs issue.
The announcement Gill as Surrey First's mayoral candidate choice comes one day after Surrey Councillor Bruce Hayne split from the party, paving the way for a rival right-of-centre slate led by Hayne and backed by much of the business and community crowd that supports Surrey First.
While fellow Surrey First councillors Dave Woods, Vera LeFranc and Mike Starchuk expressed interest in a mayoral run, but Gill was chosen despite the fact that he has been losing support in his own Indo-Canadian community. Perhaps Gill was an easy choice as now the massive fundraising effort falls on his shoulders and gives Hayne, who is expected to make his mayoral candidacy official soon, an opponent in Gill he has a chance to beat. 
But other high profile slates, including one much rumoured one with BC-Liberal has-been Rich Coleman running for mayor under his own slate, are expected to enter the much heated political battle in Surrey.
In an interview with the Now-Leader Friday afternoon, Gill said Surrey First has made a “significant change in the last decade” and that he is “looking forward to the next 10 years.”
Gill, an accountant who has served on council since 2005, said he has a seven-point plan that he would implement as mayor.
“When you look at what’s been happening in the community, public safety, crime, gangs and drugs is a significant issue in our community,” he said. “We will be looking at building on the success we’ve had to date, both working with federal and provincial governments.”
Gill also proposed “enhancements” to the Surrey Public Safety Committee by way of an advisory board and utilizing “additional expertise.”
Gill’s mayoral candidacy announcement comes one day after Councillor Bruce Hayne resigned from Surrey First, claiming his decision stems from a lack of transparency and a difference in “vision.”
“Me and Bruce have been friends over the last number of years,” Gill said when asked to comment on Hayne’s split. “I have nothing to say, he’s entitled to his aspirations.”
Hayne told the Now-Leader he too will run in the October civic election but wouldn’t reveal if he’d run as a council or mayoral candidate, or if he would run as part of a team.
Hayne said his split was a “matter of integrity.”
“I have great respect for many of my colleagues but quite frankly the way that we have been dealing with certain issues and files, it’s just not open and transparent the way I’d like it to be,” Hayne told the Now-Leader Wednesday. I simply have a different vision and direction for the city than I see Surrey First going, and continuing to go, so I have to break away and sit as an independent.”
Hayne – a former businessman and past president of the Surrey Board of Trade – said he doesn’t agree “with the leadership of Surrey First and where it’s going” and his “heart is just not in Surrey First anymore.”
Meantime, three new slates — Surrey Community Alliance, Proudly Surrey and People First Surrey — have materialized in Surrey that intend to challenge Surrey First party in the Oct. 20 civic election.
Just over 100,000 people cast a ballot in Surrey in the 2014 civic election, up from 70,253 in 2011. Out of 287,940 eligible Surrey voters, the city said 101,558 cast a ballot – a 35.3 per cent voter turnout. That is up from 2008 and 2011 elections, which saw a 24.1 per cent and 25 per cent turnout respectively, reported Peace Arch News.