Time to consider ways to be rid of McCallum as mayor of Surrey

As a longtime resident of Surrey, it was with rising horror that I read Randy Shore’s article about what the transition to a municipal police force will mean to our city, and the drain it is placing on the needs of our citizenry.

We’ve read that Coun. Linda Annis has “condemned the plan as a threat to public safety” and rightfully so. No new firefighters, no new police officers are to be hired in 2020, this despite the fact that both departments have demonstrated the need for more recruits, and the fact that our city’s population grows by 1,000 people every month, which demands a need for more safety officers.

Even as Mayor Doug McCallum decries the problem of crime, he chokes off the very funds meant to engage youth with productive alternatives to gang life.

Ellie King, managing artistic director of the Royal Canadian Theatre Company, points out in the article that the pittance allotted the arts in the next five years is “disastrous.” Doing the math, the pathetic $850,000 for the five-year plan works out to just over 30 cents a year per person living in Surrey. It’s not enough for a family of four to buy a single burger to share; certainly not enough to run effective arts and athletic programs.

The irony here is that more than 5,000 residents, through 15 open house events and online consultations, created a master plan for the arts, a plan that had been scheduled to go before council this month.

Obviously, that exercise in active democracy was merely token lip service and a waste of people’s time.

Despite having three of his elected Safe Surrey Coalition councillors dropping that affiliation in reaction to some of his actions, McCallum continues to claim that the people are behind him and that he’s fulfilling his campaign promises.

What he fails to point out is that while he was elected with 41 per cent of the mayoralty vote, his two closest rivals for mayor polled 51 per cent between them, indicating that more than half of Surrey’s electorate did not choose him. Clearly not “everyone” is behind him.

As our neighbours to the south are showing us, there are ways to clean house when an unacceptable person attains office. Maybe it’s time for us to explore similar plans for dealing with our seemingly out-of-control mayor before he can cause any more harm.