Surrey’s would-be mayors debate
Eight candidates in wide-open race talk crime, police, transit and growth
Surrey mayoral hopefuls squared off during an all-candidates’ meeting Wednesday, tackling issues facing B.C.’s fastest-growing city, including business growth, transit and public safety.
In a recent survey, Surrey residents identified crime as their top concern — making it an outlier in a region where municipal concerns are dominated by housing and affordability issues.
That concern was reflected in some of the candidates’ answers to the evening ’s first question on what the top issue facing Surrey businesses is, and what they would do to address the problem.
“Public safety is the No. 1 thing for businesses,” said former mayor Doug McCallum, noting he had talked to Newton-area businesses and learned three of them are moving out of Surrey because of gang violence and concerns over employee safety.
“They are moving right out of Surrey to Langley.”
The only way to address public safety and keep businesses in town is for Surrey to establish its own police force, he insisted, reiterating his pledge to withdraw from the RCMP and form a municipal police force at the earliest opportunity.
Coun. Tom Gill, who represents reigning party Surrey First, also raised the importance of public safety in creating an environment that’s conducive to businesses and their customers.
Aside from ensuring low taxes and working to provide a skilled workforce, Gill said “businesses need peace of mind that they will operate in an environment that’s crime free,” although he did not expand on solutions.
He said he supports a referendum on the RCMP versus municipal force issue.
Coun. Bruce Hayne, who quit Surrey First in the summer to form Integrity Now, said small businesses would benefit most from the reduction of red tape.
“The city has to get out of the way” and instead focus on creating an environment that encourages and fosters investment in the region, he said.
Later, community organizer Imtiaz Popat, who is running under Progressive Sustainable Surrey, accused McCallum of failing to deal with gang violence during his tenure as mayor from 1996 to 2005.
“The gang problems started when Doug McCallum was mayor,” he said. “We need to do things differently.”
Popat said citizens have “lost trust” in the RCMP. He also supports an independent police force, as well as a “multi-pronged approach” that includes hiring more youth and family case workers.
All eight candidates vying to be mayor attended the meeting — organized by the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association — including Pauline Greaves of Proudly Surrey, Rajesh Jayaprakash of People First Surrey, and independents Francois Nantel and John Wolanski.
The race for mayor in Surrey appears wide open, following the decision of current mayor Linda Hepner to not seek re-election, defections from the once-dominant Surrey First Party, and dissatisfaction over gun violence, safety and some development decisions.
One hot-button issue for the community is the ongoing debate over the future of Surrey’s transit system.
McCallum had vowed to scrap the funded light-rail transit line in Surrey in favour of a SkyTrain line, despite the provincial government saying the 10.5-kilometre line that will run between Guildford, City Centre and Newton is a done deal.
Ditching the light-rail project, which has dollars in place from the federal, provincial and regional governments, would be a mistake, said Gill. “We got it. Let’s not walk away from that.”
Hayne called the proposals to ditch light rail and the RCMP “simplistic solutions to very complex issues.”
The Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association is also hosting a meeting for council candidates on Thursday at the Whalley Legion and a meeting for school board candidates Friday at Chuck Bailey Rec Centre.
Voters go to the polls on Oct. 20.