City politics

Living in this city is interesting.  Our last city election was a three way race.  The vote was split and I was not happy with the results.  Our re-elected mayor was in office from 1996 to 2005.  He ran in the next two elections, and lost but won in 2018.   Doug McCallum our current mayor won with 45,564 votes.  The other top candidates had 56,000 votes between them.  However, it's a democracy and you accept the results.

Doug McCallum ran on two contentious issues:  Scrap the LRT in Surrey and replace the RCMP with a New Municipal Police Force.  LRT was not wanted by many people in Surrey as it was a north-south train and would take a lane on a much used road.  Most people wanted a raised SkyTrain, going east-west where commuters badly need it.  Doug said he would scrap the LRT and build SkyTrain to Langley for the same cost as the LRT.   He was wrong with his costing.  SkyTrain can only go 7 KMs, not 16.8 KM as he promised.  His numbers were way off.

The RCMP does an excellent job.  If Doug can replace the RCMP with a municipal force for the same or less people would accept it.  The  cost report was given to council and they could not talk about anything in the report.  When I spoke to a City Councillor regarding the report, she said "all I can say is it's troubling".  That was back in the fall.  The report went to Victoria and we still don't know what is in the report.  No taxpayer has seen the report, only heard there will be a 10% increase in police costs.  That was the estimate given to the press.

Why is it secret?   There was a meeting before the election when Doug McCallum and a Surrey Developer with alleged questionable business practices, went to Victoria and met with Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.  When a city councillor questioned the meeting, a defamation lawsuit was filed.  What are they hiding and what transpired at the meeting?  Did they make a deal?  I hope they met to discuss other items and not make a back door deal.

Pending lawsuit

Wally Oppal was appointed by the Premier to over see the transition.  He is a seasoned counsel, arbitrator and mediator providing strategic advice on dispute resolution and public sector related matters.  Doug McCallum said the cost would be 10.9% more than the RCMP.  With his track record of false claims regarding the LRT/SkyTrain costs no one believes this.  39,000 people have signed a petition to scrap the transition and keep the RCMP.

The City has stopped all police and firefighter hires, because of budget restraint.  There are 1,000 people moving to Surrey every month and we haven't had more police officers

On February 28th, Wally Oppal will be speaking at the Surrey Board of Trade.  I already have my ticket.

My question is, does corruption and payoffs exist in our city and does it extend to the province?  Time will answer this.