Surrey’s new council votes unanimously for police force, against LRT
Posted November 5, 2018 8:24 pm.
Last Updated November 5, 2018 10:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Surrey’s new city council has approved motions to move away from the RCMP and establish its own police force, as well as scrapping light-rail transit for a new SkyTrain line to Langley.
Mayor Doug McCallum’s next step is to go to Mayors’ Council to change 10-year plan wording to include SkyTrain. He adds he has provincial government support to move away from RCMP.
McCallum wants a police force in two years, and says it will cost around $133 million. The city has to pay 90 per cent of that, coming up to $120 million.
He says in total it would cost 10-12 per cent more than the current RCMP in Surrey.
McCallum says work is already underway to switch transit projects in Surrey.
“We have instructed our staff and TransLink staff to stop working on the light-rail at this stage,” McCallum says. “We have authority over our own staff, so they have already stopped any work on the light-rail project, and they actually have already started to look at the work they have to do for SkyTrain.”
In a press release, TransLink says it is “pausing” work on the Surrey-Newton-Guildford LRT project while it awaits the next steps from the Mayors’ Council and the TransLink board.
“We are committed to improving rapid transit in Surrey and Langley and we look forward to working with the Mayors’ Council, the City of Surrey, and the City and Township of Langley to advance the best options for the people south of the Fraser and the entire region as quickly as possible,” TransLink writes.
Speaking to a packed Surrey City Hall earlier on Monday night, McCallum said Surrey has outgrown the RCMP and should move into a different direction.
— with files from Taran Parmar
