In the Globe and Mail, Saturday July 1, an article by Frances Bula (“Mayor Shut out Surrey Police while reinstating RCMP”) lays bare the kind of process that Surrey’s mayor, Brenda Locke, engaged in to facilitate the national police force’s reinstatement as Surrey’s police force. It’s not, as they say, “a good look”.
- The mayor met “More than a dozen” times with the RCMP while rebuffing the Surrey Police Service who tried to meet with her on numerous occasions. This combination points to a prejudicial process.
- Locke had her first meeting with the RCMP on October 27th, 2022, even before she was sworn in.
- ON DECEMBER 2 A MEETING TOOK PLACE WITH THE RCMP AND CITY MANAGER VINCE LALONDE AND COUNCILLOR RON STUTT. IN JUNE, “MR. STUTT WAS WAS FOUND TO BE IN A CONFLICT OF INTEREST BY THE CITY’S ETHICS COMMISSIONER BECAUSE IN NOVEMBER HE VOTED TO REINSTATE THE RCMP WHILE HIS SON WAS STILL WORKING AS A MOUNTIE IN SURREY. In and of itself, both the meeting and the revelations should set off bells and whistles.
- On December 6, Mayor Locke met with then RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki while in Ottawa.
- The Globe “previously reported that the union representing the RCMP has spent more than A MILLION DOLLARS in political advertising…as it works to maintain support for the RCMP in jurisdictions that have been contemplating transitions to regional forces.” Ladies and gentlemen, this is YOUR tax money being used so that our incompetent, racist, sexist and brutal police force can maintain its presence where its credibility is in serious question. They are using this money to deceive people about the inferior quality of their work. “THE UNION ALSO CONTRIBUTED $104,000 OF A SURREY ADVOCACY GROUP’S $118,000 CAMPAIGN TO FORCE A REFERENDUM OF THE POLICING DECISION.
- Mayor Locke’s Surrey Connect party “raised $290,000 in direct contributions from individuals” who had an interest in keeping the RCMP.
This entire process began just as Mayor Doug McCallum was sworn into office. Years ago I saw a group of seniors (all women) distributing leaflets to keep the RCMP in Surrey. Just who were they working for?