Surrey mayor says he’s ready to call in RCMP after raucous council meeting

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After a raucous council assembly on Monday, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum has pledged to “beef up” safety at metropolis corridor and, if vital, herald police to maintain order.

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McCallum abruptly adjourned the night council assembly, minutes after it started, as shouts rang out from members of the general public calling on him to step down. The assembly has been rescheduled to Wednesday.

McCallum instructed Postmedia Information on Tuesday that he had simply spoken to Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, officer in control of the Surrey RCMP, and “instructed to him we would need to name the RCMP tomorrow evening, and we’d anticipate they might come shortly and cope with the state of affairs.”

McCallum has confronted calls to step apart since he was charged final December with one depend of public mischief, following a September confrontation in a grocery retailer parking zone with a gaggle opposing town’s transition from the RCMP to a municipal police drive.

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After the incident, McCallum instructed police and the media {that a} lady drove over his foot, however police paperwork filed in courtroom mentioned surveillance video instructed in any other case.

Initially of the Monday council assembly, three councillors not affiliated with the mayor’s Protected Surrey Coalition social gathering known as on the mayor to step apart till the prison cost in opposition to him is resolved. A gaggle of residents within the public space of council chambers heckled the mayor.

Reached Tuesday, McCallum mentioned town “will put extra bylaw officers readily available and we are going to beef up our safety workers” for Wednesday’s assembly, “in order that it will likely be lots safer for our workers and for our council.”

The mayor mentioned he believes council conferences needs to be open to the general public and he hopes town will have the ability to proceed to proceed holding public in-person conferences. However, he mentioned, council might change to on-line conferences in the event that they select, as they did throughout the early a part of the COVID-19.

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McCallum mentioned he wouldn’t stand down from his job. His trial is ready for shortly after this fall’s municipal elections.

Surrey Join Coun. Brenda Locke, who’s operating for mayor in opposition to McCallum, mentioned this council time period has been “chaotic, and severely missing any management.”

The B.C. authorities launched legislation in April that can require elected officers to be placed on necessary depart when charged with a prison offence, till the matter is resolve. The laws shouldn’t be but in drive.

Talking to reporters Tuesday in Victoria, Municipal Affairs Minister Nathan Cullen mentioned the laws wouldn’t be utilized retroactively.

“The case of what’s taking place in Surrey, I feel proves the case for why the laws is required. It’s difficult as a result of our second largest metropolis is unable to conduct its enterprise due to that disruption and confusion,” Cullen mentioned. “For the individuals of Surrey, you possibly can perceive their frustration.”

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Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser College’s metropolis program, mentioned the uproar in Surrey demonstrates the frustrations many individuals appear to be feeling throughout a time of uncertainty, change, and challenges.

“At a time after we’re hopefully popping out of COVID, it’s an age of frustration, and it’s popping out in several types of points … It’s not simply Surrey, however it’s simply flared up in Surrey this week,” Yan mentioned. “The pandemic, I feel, actually bottled up plenty of frustrations individuals had about their metropolis, whether or not it’s regulation and order, housing affordability, infrastructure … It’s civic politics within the age of rage.”

With recordsdata from Katie DeRosa

dfumano@postmedia.com

twitter.com/fumano

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