Mayor Dianne Watts has been on a mission to remake Surrey in image and in reality since she was elected in 2005, from burb to big city in all ways.

The business mission to India in the latest of a series of public events designed to bolster Surrey as a business centre. But no one should make the mistake of thinking it’s anything but hard work to achieve that. Surrey was first an agricultural community and then a bedroom suburb for decades, where politicians were happy to coast on a simple tidal wave of residential development.

Residential development still dominates Surrey’s economy. Of the $1 billion in building permits issued last year, only a fifth of that was for commercial or industrial space.

As my story notes, people were impressed with the level of pre-planning that has gone into Surrey’s mission to India. But the mayor is being careful not to say this is going to turn Surrey into some kind of international hub of financial dynamism. It’s all about nurturing the businesses already there — a cautious and probably more realistic goal.