Finance professional and Filipino community member Ramon Bandong wants to become city councillor of Surrey.
Bandong is running for a seat in Surrey city council in the 2022 fall election under the Surrey Forward party.
Surrey Forward launched its campaign June 8, with B.C. NDP MLA Jinny Sims as the party’s mayoral candidate.
In addition to Bandong, Sims’s party is fielding council candidates June Liu, Jim Bennett, and Theresa Pidcock.
“If you look at city hall right now, it’s broken,” Sims said in a CTV News report.
“And what Surrey needs is open, transparent, accountable governance where people are actually focused on doing good work for Surrey, rather than fighting each other. We’ve become a national and international embarrassment,” Sims added.
Doug McCallum is current mayor of Surrey.
Prior to becoming B.C. NDP MLA representing Surrey-Panorama, Sims served as an NDP MP, and the president of the BC Teachers’ Federation.
Sims said she’ll be taking an unpaid leave of absence from the provincial legislature starting June 9 to focus on the mayoral race.
Sims and Surrey councillor Brenda Locke are going to challenge McCallum for the mayoral post.
There are talks that Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents Surrey—Newton, may also run for city mayor.
The municipal election is set for October 15, 2022.
McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition currently has a majority in city council.
Locke’s party is Surrey Connect.