Surrey mayor warns other cities policed by RCMP will ‘get hit with significant costs’
Premier David Eby said there will be no more money for the City of Surrey beyond $150 million that was promised by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth this past summer to help the city shoulder the cost of transitioning to the Surrey Police Service from the Surrey RCMP.
But Mayor Brenda Locke maintains those “line items” can be found in the city’s Oct. 13 petition to the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking a judicial review of Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth’s July 19 order for the city to continue with the transition to the SPS, contrary to the wishes of council’s majority.
“I think they don’t know what to do and they are trying to pressure me into withdrawing the petition,” Locke said. “They want to have a simple solution to a very, very complicated situation and they’re having a hard time proving their case. I have asked them many times to tell me why they’re doing this.
“Let me be very clear again – I will not sit on the sidelines and accept a provincial plan that will cost Surrey taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, lead to significant tax increases, and that will deliver no public safety benefit,” she said during council’s regular meeting on Oct. 16.