 In March 1939 he was hired to assist art director Hazen Sise of the Montreal Standard newspaper and was appointed photo editor shortly thereafter when Sise left to join Dr. Norman Bethune in Spain.In June Surrey married Bethune's former mistress Margaret Day and exhibited at the New York World's Fair and at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now Art Gallery of Ontario), with André Biéler, Henri Masson and Louis Muhlstock.Later that year, Surrey was a founding member of and frequent exhibitor at the Contemporary Arts Society with Lyman, Brandtner, Roberts, Muhlstock, Paul-Émile Borduas, Prudence Heward, and Marian Dale Scott.