Surrey’s Doug McCallum pressed on stadium promise
Posted August 26, 2022 9:52 am.
Surrey’s Doug McCallum is defending a controversial promise to build a 60,000-seat stadium in the city, should he be re-elected as mayor this fall.
McCallum faced more questions Friday about his plan in an interview on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.
The incumbent mayor has repeatedly cited the growth in the city and the need to build infrastructure to meet increasing demand as the years move on. He has also claimed that he’s been in talks with Vancouver’s major sports teams about the stadium plan.
However, his latest pledge has drawn a lot of reaction — both good and bad.
McCallum was asked about the likelihood of such a project moving forward, especially after suggestions he made that the province could provide funding to make it a reality.
“Well the province owns BC Place, why would they fund a competitor to BC Place that would take one of their main tenants, the BC Lions, out of that building?” asked co-host Jason Brough.
“We work with the governments all the time. We just worked really hard and got a billion dollars out of the federal and provincial government to build SkyTrain out to Surrey because of our growth,” McCallum responded, adding the city will also be providing funding, as well as land, to build the stadium, should that move forward.
“We are going to build a stadium that is very innovative, in that we’re not going to allow any cars there, for example.”
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That’s another point of contention, which he was pressed on.
“Is there a … 60,000-seat stadium in North America or anywhere in the world that does not allow cars near it?” Brough asked.
“There’s one in Sydney that’s recently built,” the leader of the Safe Surrey Coalition said, after previously suggesting that his promised stadium would be accessible by SkyTrain, whenever that is built.
The Sportsnet 650 co-hosts opted to drop the call following the parking question due to the phone quality of the interview, which you can listen to in full here.
Since bringing forward the idea earlier this week, McCallum has faced pushback from his competitors, with MP Gordie Hogg calling it a “white elephant” that would saddle taxpayers with massive debt.
Surrey Forward’s candidate Jinny Sims and Surrey Connect candidate Brenda Locke have also dismissed the project both for its cost and impracticality.
It’s also sparked conversation online, with many dismissing the proposal as laughable, while others have noted there is some merit to the promise.
Urban planning and infrastructure experts have also weighed in with mixed reaction.
