 | Saturday, June 04, 2022
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | Continued heated debates around Doug McCallum aren’t actually changing much | | |  | | | It was just another week in Surrey politics.
A council meeting on Monday lasted seven minutes before being adjourned due to a rowdy crowd.
Two days later, Mayor Doug McCallum said he wouldn't chair police board meetings until the election, though he also said it had nothing to do with the criminal charge he’s facing.
And when the meeting resumed Wednesday night, hundreds of people showed up in support of McCallum — including many wearing matching t-shirts — as council voted to allow themselves to hold virtual sessions in the future.
It bears noting that this is a level of controversy and open animosity not seen anywhere else in Metro Vancouver. Even in places like Port Moody or West Vancouver, where there’s a stark divide on council and occasionally raucous meetings, the mayor and council have taken efforts to ensure functional meetings and lower the temperature.
But it also bears noting that for the last six months, Surrey’s political dynamic has been stuck in a repetitive cycle: someone demands that McCallum resigns, McCallum says no. The same four councillors that have always supported him continue to do so, while the same four councillors that have voted against him for the last three years continue to criticize him.
The councillor running for mayor in October, Brenda Locke, says the change to the Surrey police force should stop. McCallum says it will continue — and crucially, the provincial government continues to agree, because of his majority on council.
People shout online, but the fundamentals of the conflict haven’t budged.
However, that could change as soon as this week. Surrey Forward, a new political party, is holding a launch party on Wednesday. NDP MLA Jinny Sims and Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal have been considering their own mayoral runs for months. A firm decision will have to be made soon.
That could change the conversation. Instead of Locke and McCallum rehashing the same battles, a new candidate will make new arguments: on policing, on housing affordability, on all sorts of issues. The focus could turn to Surrey’s future, rather than litigating McCallum’s 2021 criminal charge or 2018 decision on an independent police force.
It probably won’t put an end to the bad blood in Surrey.
But it will shake up what by now is a pretty established fault line in the city’s politics. | | |  | | | 1. Political departures | | | Of course, election season is approaching across B.C., with people both announcing their candidacy and stepping away from politics. There were two noteworthy additions to the latter category this week: Squamish mayor Karen Elliott said she wouldn't seek a second term, and Delta councillor Lois Jackson said she would end a remarkable career in local politics that spanned 50 years, including 19 years as mayor.
Read more in the Delta Optimist | | |  | | | 2. Transit | Speaking of Squamish, it’s one of the communities impacted by a transit strike in the Sea-to-Sky corridor, the longest in B.C.’s history. But unlike the relationship between Metro Vancouver communities and TransLink, there’s less direct local oversight of transit beyond Hope — a situation that has mayors and councillors frustrated as the strike enters a fifth month.
Read more | | | |  | | | 3. Langley City | Heading back to electoral politics, the race in Langley City took shape this week, as councillor and transit wonk Nathan Pachal announced he would challenge incumbent Val van den Broek for mayor this October. But the subtext of the race is a longstanding dispute between the mayor and council over her conduct, which escalated this week over allegations of intimidation. Read more | | | | | |  | | | 4. Vancouver | One of Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s three big commitments during his term has been safe supply of drugs — which was approved by the federal government (with caveats) this week. Meanwhile, council wrapped up weeks of hearing from the public on the Broadway Plan on Tuesday, and will vote next Thursday, but expect plenty of amendments and amendments to those amendments.
Read more in Vancouver is Awesome | | | |  | | | 5. Racist land titles | For the last couple of years, West Vancouver has been exploring what to do about racist covenants on land titles primarily located in the British Properties area that, while no longer enforceable, still exist. And like a lot of municipal debates, the solution from West Vancouver comes down to asking the province for funding and to find a broader solution, given their prevalence in many communities. Read more in the North Shore News | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
