‘She fought a good fight’: B.C. Premier David Eby tells Surrey it’s time to move on from police transition fight

B.C. Premier David Eby is reaching out a hand to Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, saying it’s time to move on from the ongoing police transition controversy.

Eby says “she fought a good fight” and “raised a lot of important issues,” but adds it’s time to sit down and figure out a path forward together.

He told reporters Tuesday that after years of back and forth about moving away from RCMP to the Surrey Police Service (SPS), there is only one thing that everyone should be focused on: “how to complete this transition efficiently to minimize any cost to the people of Surrey.”

“I do find it frustrating that we’re not on the same page as the city in terms of the need to move forward, to ensure that basic requirement that all residents of Surrey have, that when they call 9-1-1 they get a police response regardless of the uniform,” Eby said.

“I think there is a moment here for us to regroup with the city, to reset.”

The premier’s comments came a day after the province introduced legislation to amend the Police Act to avoid future challenges when a transition is approved and underway. The amendments say Surrey must complete the move to a municipal force.

That followed an announcement from Surrey that the city had launched a legal challenge to request a review of Solicitor General and Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth’s directive in July to adopt the SPS.

“It is very clear that the city will not be successful in any legal challenge. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars. The province is going in this direction, so let’s sit down, let’s move forward,” Eby said.

“I accept the important issues that the mayor has raised on this issue. I think it’s important that she raised concerns about costs, about implementation, and we’re going to be there to be a good partner to address those issues. But whether or not we’re moving forward to a municipal force is no longer up for discussion. We are moving forward to a municipal force in Surrey and for everybody’s benefit, we need to just get on with that work and I look forward to working with the mayor on that.”

In a statement Friday morning, the city said that at a time when “residents are facing existing affordability challenges,” it is opposed to the transition that would result in what it called a “significant additional tax burden.”

However, Eby notes the longer the police transition takes, “the more expensive it gets.”

“If our shared goal is — and I think it should be — ensuring high-quality police services in an efficient way that minimizes costs to taxpayers, then that calls for the city to sit down at the table with the province, not to be going to court to spend more money on lawyers on a decision that’s already been made and that will not be overturned by a court. Let’s sit down and let’s move forward in the best interest of the people of Surrey,” he added, saying it’ll be cheaper and more efficient to put differences aside and come together.

In the July decision, Farnworth noted that the province was putting up $150 million to help Surrey complete the transition to a municipal force. He noted on Oct. 13, 2023, that the city had not yet accepted that offer.

Eby says in sitting down with the city and mayor, he is open to hearing what other support Surrey will need to get this done.

The province has committed to Surrey that we will support them. We understand that there are additional costs here — we will support them in that and I’m happy to have those discussions with Surrey,” he explained Tuesday.

The whole police transition process started in 2018 under the former mayor. The move to the SPS was then halted by Locke when she was elected mayor last year.

-With files from Charlie Carey