Surrey is a Canadian City in the province of British Columbia (BC). It is one of the cities within the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), and geographically, it is at the center of the larger region known as the Lower Mainland of BC.

Six town centres make up Surrey: Fleetwood, Whalley, Guildford, Newton, Cloverdale, and South Surrey.

History

Surrey was incorporated in 1879 When Englishman H.J. Brewer looked across the Fraser River from New Westminster and saw a land as reminiscent as his native County of Surrey in England, the modern city of Surrey was born. The area then comprised of forests of Douglas-fir, fir, redcedar and hemlock, all basically untouched. Logging began, settlement took place, and Surrey started to take shape. The City of Surrey is one of Canada's fastest growing major cities. In September of 1993, Surrey officially became a city. Currently the second largest city in British Columbia. Approximately 800 people move to Surrey each month.

Government and Politics

Surrey is governed by an eight-member City Council and a seven-member School Board. The current Mayor of Surrey is Doug McCallum. The last elections were held in November 2002, and conservatives won the Mayor's seat, and a majority on both the Council and School Board.

In the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2001 elections), all 7 Surrey's seats were won by the British Columbia Liberal Party, in a by-election in 2004, one was won by the New Democratic Party of British Columbia and also during 2004, a Liberal member left the Liberal party to join the Democratic Reform British Columbia.

In the Canadian House of Commons (2004 elections), the Conservative Party of Canada holds 3 of Surrey's 4 seats, while one is held by a conservative Independent.

Transportation

Transportation overall has played a major role in the development of Surrey. The first regular ferry service across the Fraser River was started in 1882 on the steam ferry "K de K" with the point of departure at Brownsville. The Canadian National Railway, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and Southern Rail of BC rail systems are still active and stretch across Surrey to eastern provinces and southward into the United States.

The Fraser Surrey Docks on the Fraser River service more than 400 deep sea vessels annually, over 2 million tons of cargo from around the world pass through the terminal. It is the largest facility of its kind on the west coast of North America.

Public transport connects Surrey's centres to each other as well as to other Lower Mainland cities and municipalities. Skytrain has four stations within Surrey, and reaches Vancouver within 35 minutes.

With numerous easy access and exit routes, Surrey, once branded the car theft capital of North America, saw a 20 per cent drop in 2004 in car theft thanks to the Bait Car Program .

Demographics

As of 2001, the population of Surrey is approximately 347,825 (up from 304,477 in 1996), a 14.2% increase. 127,015+ people are members of visible minorities, with around 114,000 of these being immigrants.

Miscellaneous

Also known as the City of Parks, Surrey has over 5,400 acres (22 km&sup2) of passive and active parks, 15 golf courses and driving ranges, including the Northview Golf & Country Club, home to the former Air Canada Championship . Approximately 35% of the land designated as agricultural and still being actively farmed today.

Problems in Surrey include poverty, poor education, unemployment, gang problems and a blossoming drug trade, as well as racial tension primarily among the prevalent minorities.

Surrey is also home to the Surrey Campus of Simon Fraser University, as well as the Surrey Campus of Kwantlen University-College .

Relative Location

Reference

Adopted from City of Surrey Official Website Surrey city home page

Adopted from Statistics Canada [1] [2]