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Surrey city councillor Barinder Rasode is announcing a bid Saturday to become the next mayor of the City of Surrey. She poses for a photo in between media engagements in Burnaby, B.C., on September 19, 2014.Jimmy Jeong

Surrey city councillor Barinder Rasode is coming off the political sidelines today to launch a long-expected bid to become the mayor of one of Canada's fastest growing cities, where fighting crime is becoming a central campaign issue.

Ms. Rasode is expected to eventually announce a crime-fighting policy vetted by current and past law-enforcement operatives, said a senior source with her camp. It comes the same week 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch was murdered in what a senior RCMP commander called "a random crime of opportunity" as she was walking home along some railway tracks.

The source said Ms. Rasode will not table a specific crime policy at her rally today, but she views an assertive program to fight crime in Surrey as a precondition to moving on to other issues.

"Her feeling is that Surrey has had a lot of success, but the general feeling among the citizenry that they are not safe in their homes and neighbourhoods has to be dealt with before you can deal with other things," the source said.

Former mayor Doug McCallum, who is running again for the job he lost in an election nine years ago, has made crime a key platform plank. He has promised to spend an additional $21-million each year on fighting crime, raising the money through measures such as dismantling the city development corporation and through new taxes paid by new arrivals in Surrey.

Linda Hepner, a city councillor with Surrey First and endorsed by departing Mayor Dianne Watts as the best candidate to succeed her, has told a local newspaper that crime reduction is also a key issue for her, but she said it is "myopic and simplistic" to simply throw more police at the problem.

Ms. Rasode declined to comment on her campaign ahead of Saturday's launch.

Aside from crime, the campaign source said Ms. Rasode wants to focus on ensuring Surrey better manages its finances to strengthen its case of fiscal responsibility to senior levels of government. Surrey needs provincial and federal support for expanded transportation infrastructure such as light-rail transit, the source said.

"Her basic view is if we're going to go cap in hand to the province or the federal government for transportation priorities," he said. "We have to give them absolute confidence we have our fiscal house in order."

The source, who had permission cleared to talk on condition of anonymity, also said the 45-year-old former labour-relations officer for a professional employees' association is assembling a team to run alongside her, although it won't be a full slate. Her hope is to avoid being a solo mayor facing a council not in her political camp.

There are eight council seats in Surrey. The Surrey First party launched by outgoing mayor Dianne Watts holds all but one – Ms. Rasode's. Ms. Rasode, who has been a councillor for six years, was a member of Ms. Watts's Surrey First party, but walked away in April, saying Surrey First had become too unresponsive to public concerns about crime and excessive city spending.

The three prominent mayoral candidates are vying for support in a city growing by about 1,200 new residents a month, with a newly developed downtown.

The winner will become one of British Columbia's most prominent political leaders – Ms. Watts was considered a possible successor to former premier Gordon Campbell as leader of the B.C. Liberals when he stepped down in 2010. She declined to run for the post. She announced this week she will run for the federal Conservatives in next year's election.

Ms. Hepner said Ms. Rasode is anything but a team player, and that a mayor can only get things done by rallying support in council.

"She's going to put Barinder first and Surrey second," Ms. Hepner said in an interview.

For months, Ms. Rasode has been hinting at a run – assembling a formidable political team that includes experienced federal and provincial Liberal organizer Mark Marissen, and ex- provincial NDP cabinet minister Moe Sihota. However, she had not officially declared she wants to be mayor, even as she weighed in on issues that would be germane in a campaign.

Mr. McCallum said Ms. Rasode's lack of clarity about seeking the mayor's post speaks to a degree of indecision unbecoming a mayor. Asked why he would be a better mayor than Ms. Rasode, he noted that voters have told him over three months of campaigning that they want an experienced mayor – though they might be willing to elect less experienced councillors. In that respect, he said his nine years as mayor puts him in good stead.

If Ms. Rasode wins, she would be the first female South Asian mayor in North America.

"Her view is that if that is an inspiration to some people, that is great," the source said. "She's a whole bunch more than being a South Asian woman. At the end of the day, she's running on behalf of everybody in Surrey. You will see from her policy and campaign style that all communities – ethnic, religious, geographical – will be on equal footing and she is going to aggressively go after votes in all of them."

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