Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, aka “Doug Paaji” has chosen to put only councillors loyal to him on the new police transition committee, which critics say smells of bad optics for the mayor who has come under heavy criticism from his own team members, three of which, including former cop Jack Hundial, have left his Safe Surrey slate to sit as independents. Opposition councillor Linda Annis and the other three former Safe Surrey councillors are calling the new committee a farce as continue to criticize the mayor’s police plan without further consultation from Surrey an attempt to force an expensive and ineffective police force in place of the established RCMP.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

SURREY – Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, aka “Doug Paaji” has chosen to put only councillors loyal to him on the new police transition committee, which critics say smells of bad optics for the mayor who has come under heavy criticism from his own team members, three of which, including former cop Jack Hundial, have left his Safe Surrey slate to sit as independents.

McCallum appointed the members of the Interim Police Transition Advisory Committee at Monday night’s Regular Council Meeting.

The committee members appointed are:

Mayor Doug McCallum (Chair)

Councillor Doug Elford

Councillor Laurie Guerra

Councillor Mandeep Nagra

Councillor Allison Patton

 “While we await the decision of the provincial government, we will continue to work diligently on the creation of the Surrey Police Department,” said Mayor Doug McCallum. “The goal is to have Surrey Police operating by April 2021, and the members I have appointed are collectively focused on ensuring that we are doing all that we can towards the achievement of that goal.”

The Interim Police Transition Advisory Committee will be chaired by Mayor Doug McCallum and replaces the Public Safety Committee. All items that fall outside of the purview of the Interim Police Transition Advisory Committee that would otherwise have been presented to the Public Safety Committee will be provided to Council through corporate reports, Council-in-Committee, and other committees.

The Interim Police Transition Advisory Committee is expected to be in place for 3 to 6 months and its mandate is to support the policing transition process prior to the establishment of the Surrey Police Board.

Opposition councillor Linda Annis and the other three former Safe Surrey councillors are calling the new committee a farce as continue to criticize the mayor’s police plan without further consultation from Surrey an attempt to force an expensive and ineffective police force in place of the established RCMP.

Annis said McCallum’s decision to shut down the city’s long-standing public safety committee in favour of a one-sided advisory group that only includes himself and his remaining Safe Surrey councillors is one more sign that he’s stopped caring about anyone’s opinion but his own.

 “Doug McCallum has stopped listening to anyone who thinks differently, and that’s not good for our city,” said Annis. “Shutting down the public safety committee was a poor decision because that committee includes every councillor and deals with so much more than just policing,” noted Annis. “But, more than anything, this latest decision is a sad commentary on the state of our city hall and the Mayor’s office. Dissenting or different opinions are no longer welcome, and by only including his remaining Safe Surrey councillors on his advisory committee the Mayor is guaranteed to hear exactly what he wants to hear. But, it’s out-of-touch with our community and taxpayers and that has to concern our community.”

Annis said that as the Mayor and the remaining Safe Surrey councillors stop listening to the community “we can expect to feel their grip on power tighten even more” because that’s the only way they can do exactly what they want, with complete disregard for other opinions or voices.

 “I think we’re going to see more of this sort of isolated and intolerant behavior, and that has to raise red flags for all of us in Surrey.”