B.C. not offering Surrey any more money for police transition: Eby
Posted October 23, 2023 3:32 pm.
As the saga over Surrey’s police transition to a municipal force drags on, B.C.’s premier is making it clear the province is not offering any additional money to help with it.
David Eby said Monday that the $150 million initially offered to the city to help continue its transition to the Surrey Police Service (SPS) will be all that there is.
“There’s $150 million on the table that Surrey hasn’t taken us up on. They have a surplus in their policing budget. They have a surplus overall. There is no more money … we don’t know what the mayor’s talking about when she says there’s more costs, it’s just impossible,” he told reporters during an unrelated news conference.
Eby says the city and province have different perspectives on what financials have been shared, and what more is needed.
“The challenge that I have, the challenge that Minister Farnworth has, that our government has, is that we need a partner on the other side of the table to have discussions about implementation and I know that there are ways to address issues like training,” he said.
The premier adds that the province has yet to see Surrey’s financial breakdown of the police transition.
“We are not, to the best of my knowledge, aware from the City of Surrey of any of the costing data related to policing, related to transition, related to their budget,” he explained.
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Last week, B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth introduced legislation aimed at ensuring Surrey’s police transition continues, along with parameters preventing other cities from engaging in a similar back-and-forth in the future.
The bill came just days after Surrey launched legal action against the province over a July 19 decision that saw Farnworth direct the city to continue its transition to the SPS.
This is all part of a years-long saga that has spanned two different mayors and two premiers since the municipal police force was first pitched in 2018.
With files from Hana Mae Nassar and Charlie Carey
