She has been on the Metro Board for four years, and has been part of their biggest and most expensive mistakes, and been paid thousands: Linda Annis
Surrey, B.C. (April 15, 2026): With just six months until municipal elections, Brenda Locke has suddenly realized that Metro Vancouver has failed taxpayers in Surrey and across the region, and she wants the province to fix it.
“After being on the Metro Board for four years and being part of every costly mistake the organization has made, Mayor Locke now believes it is time to shake up Metro Vancouver and hold it accountable,” said Councillor and Surrey First candidate for mayor Linda Annis. “Instead of calling on her fellow board members to fix their organization’s problems, Brenda Locke wants the province to step in and sort things out. That admission only proves that the board and the organization are both broken.
“For years, councillors Daniel Fontaine of New Westminster, Kash Heed of Richmond, Richard Lee of Burnaby and I have been raising red flags about Metro Vancouver’s North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant fiasco, costly international travel, its dysfunctional board and governance model, and the meeting fees paid to board directors like Brenda Locke. The wastewater treatment project is $3 billion over budget and no one has been held accountable, and the Metro board cancelled a transparent review, which means the public and taxpayers are still in the dark, with no details or answers in sight.”
Annis said between her mayor salary, Metro board fees and other payments from regional organizations, Locke is paid almost as much as BC’s premier.
“Metro Vancouver pays over $1.2 million a year to elected municipal officials to attend meetings,” said Annis. “We could save almost $5 million over the course of the next four-year term if those payments stopped, which is something I wholeheartedly support.”
Annis signed the Metro Vancouver Accountability Charter three months ago. The charter, a commitment to voters and taxpayers, says mayors should only receive their municipal salary, with no additional meeting fees or stipends. Other parts of the charter call for a full, independent review of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, an independent core services review of Metro programs, and hiring an auditor general for local government and Metro Vancouver. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, New Westminster mayoral candidate Daniel Fontaine, and Richmond mayoral candidate Kash Heed have also signed the five-point Accountability Charter.
“If Brenda Locke is serious, I invite her to join us, and sign the Accountability Charter and make a real commitment to taxpayers in Surrey,” explained Annis. “Otherwise, it’s hard to take her concerns seriously after she has spent four years on the Metro board collecting meeting fees, then suddenly being critical of Metro just months before the election and wanting the province to fix the problems created by the board and Metro management.”