In 2005 Dianne Watts became the first woman elected Mayor of Surrey.

In her first term, Mayor Watts has focused on building consensus for new approaches to the challenges facing Surrey. She led the effort to adopt successful strategies used in other cities to create Surrey's new Crime Reduction Strategy which puts more police on our streets.

Under Mayor Watts Surrey became the first city in BC to establish a Housing and Homelessness Foundation  to tackle homelessness head-on and the first to adopt a Whistleblower Policy, protecting employees who report fraud and waste in government.

Mayor Watts worked hard to develop a new Transportation Plan for Surrey and believes the new Sustainability Charter will balance new investment and job creation with the preservation of green space and farmland.

Mayor Watts and her husband Brian are raising two daughters in Cloverdale.
Mayor Watts is a member of the Surrey First Coalition.