㽶Ƶֱ

Skip to content

Opposition slams 㽶Ƶֱsledgehammer㽶Ƶֱ legislation related to Surrey policing dispute

Former public safety minister Mike Morris says NDP 㽶Ƶֱusurping㽶Ƶֱ cities㽶Ƶֱ say on policing
web1_230406-sul-newsurreystockimages-surreyrcmpsurreypolice_6
Surrey Police patch from Twitter Surrey RCMP by Anna Burns

Former Liberal public safety minister and solicitor general Mike Morris says the NDP provincial government is 㽶Ƶֱusurping㽶Ƶֱ the ability of cities to decide who polices them by introducing amendments to the Police Act on Monday designed to force Surrey to proceed with the Surrey Police Service rather than the Surrey RCMP.

Morris, who currently serves as the Official Opposition㽶Ƶֱs shadow minister to Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, said from the get-go he could not understand how the provincial government arrived at its firm stance on ordering Surrey to go with the SPS.

㽶ƵֱThe information was not there, the Province has been very reluctant to reveal the information that they used, that the minister used, in arriving at his decision to move forward and here we are today where they are usurping the sanctity or decision-making process that municipalities have in deciding who polices their municipality,㽶Ƶֱ Morris told reporters Tuesday. 㽶ƵֱI think this is the wrong direction to go and intend to look at this in depth during the committee stage moving forward over the next few days.㽶Ƶֱ

Morris, now with BC United (formerly BC Liberals), was public safety minister and solicitor general from December 2015 to July 2017.

Peter Milobar, labour critic with BC United, charged that this is 㽶Ƶֱjust the latest㽶Ƶֱ in the provincial government㽶Ƶֱs 㽶Ƶֱheavy hand㽶Ƶֱ approach to municipalities.

㽶ƵֱThis is a piece of legislation that is changing because frankly the government㽶Ƶֱs mishandling of this file so badly and it㽶Ƶֱs created them to have to change a piece of legislation that has functioned perfectly fine on police forces and decisions local governments make on who will police them literally for decades in this province.

Milobar said the 㽶Ƶֱlack of transparency㽶Ƶֱ in this transition is 㽶Ƶֱvery concerning㽶Ƶֱ and has ramifications for municipalities across the province that have RCMP detachments that the provincial government 㽶Ƶֱwill not talk about.㽶Ƶֱ

㽶ƵֱObviously a detachment the size of Surrey has a very large portion of the overall municipal complement in the province of B.C. Those costs are going to be now shouldered by all the other municipalities out there that are over 5,000 people that have RCMP as their police of jurisdiction, and so there㽶Ƶֱs a lot of transparency issues.㽶Ƶֱ

Milobar charged the provincial government with bringing in a 㽶Ƶֱsledgehammer piece of legislation instead of dealing with the issue that they㽶Ƶֱve created in the first place.㽶Ƶֱ



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
Read more



(or

㽶Ƶֱ

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }