Conservatives and BC NDP promise to build a third hospital for Surrey, with new mayor promising City-owned land

The Conservative Party of British Columbia is promising to build a new specialized hospital for women and children in Surrey, bringing more care closer to home for families who otherwise travel to BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver.

Last week, Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson announced the provincial election commitment, which would effectively provide Surrey with its third hospital.

In 2030, Surrey is expected to gain its second hospital from the completion and opening of the new hospital and BC Cancer Centre in Cloverdale. Construction on the $2.9-billion project with 168 beds, an emergency department, surgical facilities, and the oncology centre first began in 2023.

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The Conservatives assert a dedicated children’s and women’s hospital would address the burden on families who spend an hour or more travelling to Vancouver for treatment. This platform promise also brings back a similar commitment the party made during the October 2024 provincial election campaign.

The announcement does not identify a potential site. However, Surrey mayor-elect Doug McCallum has some ideas for where it could go.

McCallum welcomed the Conservatives’ platform promise for an additional hospital, noting that it aligned with his Safe Surrey Coalition party’s platform. He is suggesting offering the 7.2-acre, City of Surrey-owned site of 6965 King George Blvd. — situated at the southwest corner of the intersection of King George Boulevard and 70b Avenue in Newton — to achieve the project. This property was previously slated for the municipal government’s project of building the major new Newton Community Centre, until plans for the project were relocated to a different site a few blocks to the north.

“Three weeks ago I said Surrey was going to tell Victoria what its priorities are, and that a hospital came first. Both leaders have now answered, and I thank them for it. This is not a partisan issue,” said McCallum, who was re-elected this past weekend in the civic election that also saw his Safe Surrey Coalition secure a supermajority in Surrey City Council.

“Our mothers are sent to other cities to give birth, and our children are driven across a bridge because there is no pediatric intensive care anywhere in Fraser Health. Whoever wins on October 24, Surrey’s answer is the same. Good. Now let’s get it built,” continued McCallum.

McCallum pointed to Vancouver having more than a handful of hospitals serving 730,000 residents, including Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, Mount St. Joseph Hospital, and BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital, as well as UBC Hospital and Burnaby Hospital, which both also serve the city as they are located just beyond Vancouver’s formal municipal boundaries to the west and east, respectively.

It should also be noted that several of these Vancouver-located hospitals are also provincial-level hospitals with highly specialized treatment facilities that serve the sickest patients from across B.C. As well, several of these hospitals also serve the additional function of being teaching and research hospitals, especially for the UBC Faculty of Medicine.

The mayor-elect takes issue with the fact that Surrey currently has just one hospital — Surrey Memorial Hospital — for a population that is similar to Vancouver’s, with Surrey being exponentially larger in land area. For years, this hospital has been severely strained due to the South of Fraser sub-region’s rapid population growth and aging demographics.

Last week, Premier David Eby’s BC NDP also made a commitment to build a third hospital in Surrey, but they were less specific on what it would be, instead promising to work with Surrey’s municipal government if City-owned land were “made available to expand healthcare services.”

“If the local government is offering land for sites to develop to deliver healthcare in this fast-growing community, then of course, yes, we would work with them,” said Eby.

“We’ve got lots more work to do on health care in Surrey and across the province of B.C., and that’s why we’re asking the wealthiest to pay a little bit more so we have the resources to be able to deliver that care.”

The BC NDP also highlighted the opening of the province’s second medical school for training new doctors and nurses, with the new Stephens Family School of Medicine at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus welcoming its first class this past summer. Currently, the medical school is operating out of temporary facilities, but that arrangement would eventually be replaced by permanent facilities in a few years. Construction on a $520-million project of a brand-new, purpose-built medical school building in Surrey City Centre is expected to begin in late 2026.

As well, Eby’s party also notes that they are continuing efforts to expand and improve services at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

However, earlier this year during the 2026 budget announcement, the BC NDP-led provincial government controversially cancelled the second phase of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment after updated cost estimates showed the project was significantly over budget. The provincial government had also implemented a strategy to slow down its capital spending due to staggering annual deficits and soaring debt.

Just a day before his snap provincial election call, Eby’s administration announced a revised strategy to proceed with the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment work in smaller additional phases. They announced $210 million in funding to expand and upgrade the aging hospital’s emergency department and surgical unit, including 16 additional emergency treatment spaces and four upgraded operating rooms. Expanded cancer care and a new acute care tower would follow to realize the full scope of the project’s second phase.

McCallum noted that during the first working meeting of the new makeup of City Council after inauguration, his party will dedicate this site in Newton to the hospital, and vow to expedite every municipal permit within 60 days, which he says was the same timeline his previous City Council met for the Cloverdale hospital project.

Doerkson accused the BC NDP-led provincial government of failing to provide enough healthcare capacity for Surrey’s growing population, pointing to difficulties finding family doctors and lengthy waits for appointments, diagnostic scans, and surgery.

“David Eby is good at making announcements and very bad at finishing projects,” said Doerkson.

For the current Cloverdale hospital project that is under construction, the Conservatives are promising a completion that is “on time and on budget.”

General voting day for the provincial election is this Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. Voters will elect an MLA to represent their riding, helping determine which party forms government and who becomes the next premier.

This is completely separate from the civic election that concluded this past weekend, which involved selecting a mayor, city councillors, and other local representatives for municipal governments across B.C.

You might also like:
• Doug McCallum sets his sights on building a new hospital in Surrey
• Doug McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition wins supermajority in City Council
• Opinion: B.C. cannot fix its hospital crisis without investing in long-term care
• Lorne Doerkson's B.C. Conservatives promise 10-lane George Massey Bridge instead of $8.5-billion, eight-lane immersed tunnel
• How to vote in the 2026 B.C. provincial election, including advance voting