The provincial government is updating the Police Act in an effort to prevent the same mess from occurring that continues to define Surrey’s policing transition to the Surrey Police Service from the Surrey RCMP.
“People deserve to know who is protecting their homes, families and businesses when there is a change in policing in their community,” Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said Monday in Victoria. “These amendments mean that the confusion caused by the City of Surrey won’t be repeated elsewhere in B.C. When passed, these amendments will ensure policing transitions proceed in a way that provides certainty for people and maintains public safety.”
Farnworth said the legislation provides “clarity and finality” to Surrey residents concerning the transition. “Amendments to the Act will specify that the City of Surrey must provide policing services through a municipal police department. It also provides the authority for the solicitor general to cancel the existing agreement between the Province and the City of Surrey for the provision of RCMP services.”
Farnworth said the legislation also provides, “if necessary,” the provincial government with the ability to appoint an administrator to “assume the functions” of the Surrey Police Board to oversee the SPS.
To follow the bill’s progress through the legislator, you can check out www.leg.bc.ca/parliamentary-business/legislation-debates-proceedings/42nd-parliament/4th-session/bills/progress-of-bills
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is not conceding defeat. “We are still all in the process of reviewing it and we will continue to do that,” she said of the legislation released Monday afternoon.
“I’m going to be really clear – the City of Surrey has made a position, we’re not changing that position.
“First and foremost, we’re here to protect the taxpayers of this province,” Locke told reporters. “We know that the cost of this transition is extraordinary.”
She referenced an easel beside her podium displaying a “very conservative” $464 million figure attached to the SPS, not including capital costs and two-officer patrol cars. “This is going to be a tremendous increase to taxes in Surrey,” she warned.
“We will do everything always to protect our taxpayer,” Locke said. “I will do everything always to protect our taxpayer.”
On Oct. 13, the court revealed it has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of British Columbia against the solicitor general aiming to stop the transition from the RCMP. The government has 21 days to file a response. Asked what she thinks Monday’s development will have on Surrey’s case, she replied she “can’t speculate on anything with the courts. And again, we haven’t even really looked at the legislation so I can’t make any speculation in that regard.”
Asked if this means checkmate for Surrey, Coun. Linda Annis replied, “I hope this means that we’re done and we’re moving forward with the transition. I do think the minister’s saying enough is enough, we need to get on with it.”
Locke did say of the legislation that Farnworth could have made his case last December, but did not.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that this minister has taken so long to make a decision,” she said, adding “he could have said a lot of what he’s saying today, he could have said it way back in December. He chose not to, so we’re in this position now.”
Again on the $464 million cost, Locke said, ‘This is going to be generational, this is going to be forever. This is going to be for my kids, my grandkids, and we need to make sure that we have protected the taxpayer in our city.”
During a press scrum after the Legislative Assembly’s Monday sitting, Farnworth was asked what will happen with Surrey’s court petition in light of the legislation, he replied that “the Province always has the ability to govern, and that’s what we’re doing. The court process, that’s up to the City of Surrey.”
Asked when his ministry will file a formal response to Surrey’s court petition, Farnworth replied “that work is done by the legal services branch and they make those decisions.”
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