Safe Surrey Coalition and former mayor Doug McCallum are alleging foreign interference in the upcoming municipal elections in Surrey, Delta and Vancouver and are calling for a formal investigation into several social media accounts they believe are behind it.
McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition issued a press release July 28 concerning a “network” of at least four Facebook pages posing as local news in Surrey, Delta and Vancouver being operated out of India, “paid for in Indian rupees, and billed to an entity at a Government of India research facility” which are “aimed at Canadian voters one week into the pre-campaign period for the October 17 election.”
The press release also claims the pages are posting content that paints Mayor Brenda Locke in a positive way.
Locke told a Now-Leader reporter Tuesday (July 28) that, “I’m not sure what the deal is,” she told the Now-Leader. “He’s saying there’s foreign interference?”
“I have no knowledge of this, so I have no idea what he’s talking about. He knows obviously something I don’t or maybe he doesn’t know. I have no idea what this is all about,” Locke said.
So who is behind the four social media pages that the Safe Surrey Coalition alleges are involved in election tampering?
The social media accounts in question:
I Love Surrey is listed under the category Friendship. Created March 21, 2025. No organizations are listed that manage this page. It only has one inactive ad listed that ran from May 5-6, 2025 and was paid in Indian rupees for 100, but did not show who paid for it. The ad was removed because Facebook found it did not follow their rules on “ads about social issues, elections or politics.”
Delta Speaks is listed under the category of Local & Travel Website and was created on January 21, 2026. It has 2,000 followers. The page has run four ads, but one was removed as it did not follow Meta’s rules on “ads about social issues, elections or politics.”
I Love Delta is listed under the category of Local & Travel Website and was created on Dec. 3, 2018. It has run no ads and changed its page name one time.
I Love Vancouver is a community group that was made in 2019. The early posts from April 16 to October 21, 2019 are in Hindi. The group changed its profile picture and cover photo on April 20, 2025, to I Love Vancouver. There are no posts on the page again until April 30, 2025, which was a post about “Signs You’re Definitely from Vancouver” which showed a cartoon raccoon eating sushi with a coffee cup nearby. The next post is of an AI video of a cat going down a highway on a skateboard. After that, the page starts posting mainly news content.
Similar accounts we found:
Surrey Speak, which has been disabled on Facebook for “not following” Meta’s “Advertising Standards,” is now gone, but another page, Surrey Voice, was created July 9, 2026 (see below for more info). The Surrey Speak page took stories from the Surrey Now-Leader and other media posted them as its own without permission or credit. This page ran five ads between Nov. 23 and Dec. 30, 2025 and three of them were removed so the payer could not be seen. The other two ads were paid for by ACTS (Advanced Computing Training School) at C-DAC Innovation Park, Pune, India. C-DAC, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, is a research arm of India’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
One of the removed ads included a video about Surrey Speaks, which appeared to show an AI woman talking about what the page was about and at the end showed the logo of Surrey Speaks, which included the CN Tower in Toronto.
Surrey Voice was created on July 9, 2026 and is listed under the category of Blogger and has over 2,400 followers. The site has run two ads since it was created, but it does not show who paid for them or the currency.
Investigative Journalism Foundation investigation
A lengthy investigation by the Investigative Journalism Foundation found that Surrey Speaks, I Love Surrey, and I Love Vancouver were all listed under the Network 24/7 platform. The Now-Leader was able to independently confirm this.
“At Network 24/7, we don’t just create content — we build digital ecosystems that power culture-driven marketing at scale. Our platforms and products are purpose-built to help brands connect, grow, and influence 24/7,” reads a post on network247.ca.
The site does not say if the other social media pages are a part of its platform but does say it manages over 100 social media pages including Surrey Desi Network, Surrey Locals Hub, Surrey Dog Lover, True Surrey Lover, Business Owners Canada and AI4Doctors
What we know about the pages’ connections to India:
• Three out of the four sites have people who manage the page who are in India.
- I Love Surrey has five in India and three in Canada
- I Love Delta has seven in India and one in Canada
- I Love Vancouver has six in India, two in Canada and one in the United States
- Delta Speaks does not list where the people who manage the page are located
• Locations for the people who manage Surrey Speaks and Surrey Voice are not listed.
• The ads for I Love Surrey, I Love Delta, and Delta Speaks Facebook pages were paid for in Indian rupees.
• Only the three ads run by Delta Speaks between January and March 2026 and two Surrey Speaks ads show ACTS at C-DAC Innovation Park, Pune as the advertiser and payer of the ads. Otherwise, no pay information is listed.
What we do not know:
• Who paid for the ads on I Love Surrey and I Love Delta
• Where the people who manage Surrey Speaks and Surrey Voice pages are located
• Why ACTS at C-DAC Innovation Park, Pune is paying for some of the ads.
Is foreign interference in elections taking place:
The Now-Leader reached out to Elections BC, and the senior director of communications, Danielle Johnston, said that it reviews every complaint it receives and takes “allegations of foreign interference seriously.”
She added that they are aware of the four Facebook pages that Safe Surrey Coalition identified.
“An initial review of the pages in question does not appear to show a violation of election advertising rules under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA). Under LECFA, election advertising is regulated during the pre-campaign period (July 20 to September 18, 2026) and campaign period (September 19 to October 17, 2026).
“During the pre-campaign period, election advertising is any paid communication that directly promotes or opposes a candidate or elector organization. This includes social media posts that have a placement cost (for example, a boosted post on Facebook). Free communication on the internet, such as unpaid social media posts, are not election advertising,” Johnston said.
“While some of the identified Facebook pages have paid for boosted posts in the past, these appear to have been paid for outside the pre-campaign period and therefore do not meet the definition of election advertising under LECFA.”
Elections BC formed an election integrity working group in 2023 and partners with provincial and federal agencies that also have the responsibility of protecting the integrity of elections. Members of the group include the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.
Johnston said the group is active leading up to the municipal elections this fall and “can respond quickly if a threat materializes.”
– With files from Tom Zytaruk