The Province newspaper did their Surrey Power List – it seems like for not any really good reason – slow news day on Sunday I guess. They picked the usual suspects – the mayor and Liberal cabinet minister – and two Indo-Canadians in media and social service. You would think the powerful would be from the South Asian business community or land development which has been the backbone of Surrey’s rise from as the Province stated “bad rep and being the butt of just about every joke about drug addicts and criminals”, to “Shrek-like.” I guess that means Surrey is a dumb, ugly green monster but very much liked by some. Charan Gill, CEO, Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society and radio host Harjinder Thind were part of the 10 or so people. They are good guys who, like many of them in Surrey’s South Asian/Indo-Canadian community, trying to do their best for their community. I don’t know if they have much power. Try one of the big temple leaders or business tycoons/land developers and you might have some shred of power – in this case judging from most of the nominees – the power is financial!
–By R. Paul Dhillon
