Doug Paaji And Team Give RCMP and LRT The Boot At Swearing In Ceremony

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SURREY  – Newly elected Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, aka Doug Paaji, and team wasted no time in giving both the RCMP and LRT the boot right after being sworn in on Monday evening.

The newly elected mayor and council in Surrey, British Columbia immediately passed motions to replace the city’s RCMP detachment with a municipal police force and back out of plans for a light-rail transit link. It was part of their election promises and they said it would be their council’s first order of business.

“What City Council has done is immediately deliver on the wishes of the people of Surrey,” said Mayor McCallum. “It was very clear to me that with all the people I spoke to and heard from that SkyTrain and Surrey establishing its own municipal police force are what is best for our city. As the elected representatives of the citizens of Surrey, we are delivering not just what we promised to do, but we are acting on what the people have said would be best for their city.”

The motions – passed unanimously after Monday’s swearing in of the council – are the key planks of McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition platform, as well as seven of the eight councillors elected last month. But the sole Surrey First councillor Linda Annis also voted with McCallum’s team to get rid of LRT and RCMP.

McCallum told reporters that scrapping the largest RCMP detachment in the country in favour of a municipal police force and rejecting light rail in favour of an elevated SkyTrain link are the best choices for Surrey.

He says he has support for both initiatives from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, and he believes the switch to municipal policing can be accomplished within the next two years at a cost to the city of about $120 million.

Assistant RCMP Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, who is in charge of the Surrey detachment, has already said his officers will remain on the job throughout any changes.

TransLink, the authority responsible for Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation network, issued a release Monday night saying it’s pausing work on the light-rail project while awaiting further direction from Surrey council.