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If not for Surrey's new city hall, Doug McCallum might have stayed retired from politics, travelling the world to spend time with his far-flung children and grandchildren and leaving the book closed on his political career.

His record would have remained the nine years he was mayor until his 2005 defeat by Dianne Watts, now ending her own nine-year run.

But thanks to Surrey's $97-million city hall, a hallmark of the Watts administration, there may be a new volume in Mr. McCallum's political history in one of B.C's fastest-growing cities.

Describing the building opened in February as a "monument" to the current council with an atrium design that wastes space and unreasonable parking costs, to him, city hall was a bad business decision. "I have always looked at politics as the business of running the taxpayer's dollars. I looked at [politics] as a business."

Born and raised in Vancouver, Mr. McCallum settled with his family in Surrey because his father had a home at Crescent Beach where the family spent three months of each year.

Mr. McCallum studied commerce at UBC, but remains one year short of a degree. For years, his day job was in various managerial roles for packaging company Bonar and Bemis Ltd. Eventually, he got involved with a move to unite the centre-right movement in Surrey municipal politics – an effort that saw the creation of the Surrey Electors Team and his own election as a councillor in 1993 and later as mayor for a four-term run that included being chairman of TransLink.

If elected anew, he says he would be a calmer mayor. Mr. McCallum, who cycles every morning in Crescent Beach, says he has lost 25 pounds since being mayor. "I feel a lot younger today than when I was mayor. I am dedicated to getting the job done and have that fire to do it, but probably in a more relaxed and probably in a more diplomatic way."

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