Here are the candidates for Surrey mayor and council

Surrey council's finance committee holds a public meeting to consider the draft five-year (2020 - 2024) financial plan in council chambers at Surrey City Hall on Monday, Dec. 2, 2019.  (Maggie MacPherson/CBC - image credit)
Surrey council's finance committee holds a public meeting to consider the draft five-year (2020 - 2024) financial plan in council chambers at Surrey City Hall on Monday, Dec. 2, 2019. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC - image credit)

In just over two weeks, residents of Surrey, British Columbia, can begin casting their votes for the mayor, councillor and school trustee candidates they want to see at the helm of their city.

The Metro Vancouver municipality, with a population of more than half a million people, has a mayoral seat, eight city councillor positions, and six school trustee roles to fill. Eight people are running for mayor, more than 50 candidates for council and 20 individuals are battling for seats on the school board.

Municipal election day is Oct. 15, with advanced voting days on Oct. 5, 8, 9 and 12. More information can be found on the city's website, including how to register and where to vote.

Here is the list of candidates for mayor and council.

People's Council Surrey (mayor + 5 candidates):
Amrit Birring is the candidate for mayor. Joe Kennedy, Kultar Singh, Tejnoor Cheema, Kiran K. Hundal and Shweta Bassi are the party's council candidates.

United Surrey (mayor + 8 candidates): 
Surrey-Newton Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal is the new party's candidate for mayor. Julie Tapley, Jasbir Sandhu, Becky Zhou, Nicole Bennett, Andy Dhillon, Margarett Lange, Zubeen Sahib and Jeff Bridge are running for council.

Surrey First (mayor + 8 candidates): 
Former Surrey MLA and MP Gordie Hogg is the mayoral candidate for Surrey First. Incumbent councillor Linda Annis is running for council, along with Bilal Cheema, Mary-Em Waddington, Paul Orazietti, Ajit Mehat, Mike Bose, Sargy Chima and Kulwinder Saini.

Surrey Connect (mayor + 8 candidates):
Brenda Locke, who has served on council for four years, is the candidate for mayor. Rob Stutt, Pardeep Kooner, Gordon Hepner, Harry Bains (not the MLA), Rochelle Prasad, Sebastian Sajda, Wil Kwok and Ramona Kaptyn are Surrey Connect's candidates for council.

Safe Surrey Coalition (mayor + 8 candidates):
Incumbent Mayor Doug McCallum is seeking another four-year term. The party's council candidates include incumbents Doug Elford, Allison Patton, Mandeep Nagra and Laurie Guerra, as well as Stuart Drysdale, Raman Jassar, Debra Antifaev and John Gibeau.

Surrey Forward (mayor + 7 candidates):
Jinny Sims, MLA for Surrey-Panorama, is running for mayor under the Surrey Forward banner. June Liu, Ramon Bandong, Theresa Pidcock, Philip Aguirre, Jody Toor, Arsh Mander and Paramjit S. Malhi are the candidates for council.

Independents running for mayor (2 candidates):
Kuldip Pelia and John Milton Wolanski are running as independent candidates for mayor.

Independents running for council (11 candidates): 
Ben Arcand, Narima Dela Cruz, Nav Dhanoya, Rina Gill, Kristofor Kinney, Bosco Misquitta, Kam Pawar, incumbent councillor Steven Pettigrew, Manjeet Singh Sahota, Preet Sandhu and Ming Zheng are running as independent candidates for Surrey city council.