Surrey, B.C. (October 9, 2025): Surrey First councillor and candidate for mayor Linda Annis says Brenda Locke’s plan for multiple city-funded medical clinics is a taxpayer burden that should “raise the blood pressure” of every Surrey resident.

 

“Right now in Victoria, the Minister of Health is smiling from ear-to-ear because Brenda Locke is prepared to shift health care costs from the province to Surrey taxpayers,” said Annis. “I understand Brenda is frustrated. So am I, and so is every other taxpayer in Surrey. But to start up a health bureaucracy at city hall is not a prescription for better health care, it’s just a costly and bitter pill that will give our taxpayers even higher blood pressure. Instead of starting up a costly bureaucracy in city hall, we need our 10 Surrey MLAs and all of city council to be working together to deliver better care and more funding for our growing city. It’s time to flex our political muscle, because frankly, health care decisions in B.C. are political, not bureaucratic.

 

“The fact is, the provincial government is shortchanging our residents,” noted Annis. “In 2023, Vancouver Coastal Health received $3033 in funding per person in their region, while those of us in Fraser Health got just $2229 per person. Now, Brenda Locke wants to make that even worse by having the city start up and pay for medical clinics with our limited tax dollars.”

 

Annis said she does not support hiring a health care administrator at city hall, something that will cost at least $400,000 per year, Including salary, benefits, assistants and offices.

 

“This new position has added costs and scope creep written all over it,” noted Annis. “What we have here is the start of a costly, bureaucratic nightmare for our taxpayers, something that will only grow in size and cost over time. Health care is the province’s job, but they would love nothing more than to download costs on our taxpayers, and that’s what Brenda Locke is doing.”

 

Annis said it is irresponsible to let the provincial government off the hook when it comes to supplying Surrey with properly funded health care,

 

“Taxpayers can start to look for yet another line item on their tax bill, and it won’t end there,” explained Annis. “Instead of shifting the costs to our taxpayers, we need to take a stronger leadership role that puts our MLAs and all of council to work against this downloading to Surrey taxpayers. Every MLA, regardless of party, needs to step up and go to work to get the people of Surrey their fair share of health care funding.  If they are not prepared to do that, why did we elect them?”