A look into Surrey city council one year later

🔊 Listen to Post

It’s been one year since Surrey’s city council was elected with Brenda Locke at the head as mayor.

Locke was elected with only 28 per cent of the vote, but because there were three other major candidates, she squeaked out a win against former Mayor Doug McCallum. Her party, Surrey Connect, also won the council majority with four of eight council seats.

However, this hasn’t been Locke’s year. Her flagship promise to keep the RCMP in Surrey was shut down by the province when Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth decided Surrey must continue the transition to the Surrey Police Service and the province would hand the city $150 million to help cover the costs.

Between accusing Farnworth of misogyny, refusing the province’s money, and being accused of playing politics in a leaked letter for intentionally delaying the transition, Locke has been losing the policing battle. She launched a court challenge against the province, and Farnworth responded by introducing legislation to make the process of police transitions clear going forward.

Another big loss for Locke is property taxes. To help fund the police transition, Locke had to bump them up by 12.5 per cent. She also didn’t roll back McCallum’s parcel tax increase which is a flat fee on every property, regardless of value or size. Since police transition costs haven’t gone down, taxes will likely once again be boosted by more than what Surrey residents would like.

One of the no-brainer choices council could have made was to allow cannabis stores in the city. City staff gave council a plan to have one store in each major area to start with, and the land would be owned by the city and leased out. It was a great idea for a city that has been adamant not to embrace the business that would come with this. Council rejected it because they didn’t want to be “pot landlords,” and there’s still no framework for Surrey to get cannabis stores five years after it was legalized. 

What this council can’t be accused of is being a bunch of NIMBYs, or not in my backyard. Surrey is growing, and council is consistently approving high rises, townhomes, and other dense housing. However, they could do better if they mandated that a percentage of units built by developers be below-market, affordable rentals, or otherwise more helpful to folks who can’t afford $2,000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. But every bit of housing helps the crisis we’re in.

Another huge win is bringing back the Surrey City Development Corporation, which is a city-run development corporation that will allow the municipal government to build housing in the city.

There’s other administrative wins this council has done to improve the city in ways most people don’t see. They’ve brought back committees like parks and recreation, arts and culture, and environment which community members sit on, give their input, and help guide what council does. They’ve also scrapped the freedom of information (FOI) fee introduced by the last council, which makes it easier for residents to look into what the city is doing.

All in all, it’s been a mixed bag and not much of an improvement over McCallum’s time in office. The city’s relationship with the province is in rough shape, and the police transition continues to be an absolute mess where millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted. But Locke has fixed some of McCallum’s biggest failures. There’s progress on housing, but council not being open to cannabis stores is a huge economic failure without justification.

For Surrey’s sake, I hope the next three years are better than this past year has been.