Surrey residents will have their say on a binding referendum on Surrey鈥檚 controversial policing transition after Elections BC has approved an initiative petition application that has been launched by the widow of a Surrey murder victim.
Darlene Bennett, whose husband Paul Bennett was shot dead in front of their home in Cloverdale in 2018 in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity, must collect the signatures of at least 10 per cent of registered voters in all of B.C.鈥檚 87 electoral districts, and submit them by Nov. 15, to make it stick.
Darlene Bennett screen shot
鈥淚 am very excited, hopeful with Elections BC passing the citizens initiative for a binding referendum in Surrey on the policing issue,鈥� Bennett said Thursday. 鈥淚 hope this gives the residents of Surrey a voice. I hope they will be heard and I hope everyone is able to make an informed decision.鈥�
鈥淚 think the residents of Surrey deserve this. This is their public safety, they鈥檙e paying for it, they deserve to have a voice, and they deserve to be heard.鈥�
Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, who campaigned on replacing the Surrey RCMP with a city-made police force, said this latest development 鈥渨ill not slow down the building of our independent Surrey Police.
鈥淭ransitioning to an independent police service was the number one election issue for residents in 2018, and shortly after this council was sworn in, it unanimously voted in support of the Surrey Police Transition,鈥� McCallum said. 鈥淭he province has said before that it is not interested in a referendum, and this will not change, as they have been supportive of the transition since day one.
鈥淭he idea of a provincial referendum on a municipal matter is extremely dangerous for every city鈥檚 democratic process,鈥� McCallum added. 鈥淥ur residents are clearly in support of this transition, and we are pressing forward everyday, moving closer to fully operating the Surrey Police Service.鈥�
According to an Elections BC statement issued Thursday, the purpose of the draft bill 鈥渋s to have the provincial government conduct a regional binding referendum in the City of Surrey on the question of whether the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) should be retained as the police service or whether a proposed Surrey Police Service should replace the RCMP.鈥�
鈥淚f held,鈥� Elections BC explained, 鈥渢he referendum would be comprised of a single question regarding whether to retain the RCMP as Surrey鈥檚 police service or create a new Surrey Police Service, as proposed. The referendum would be binding under Section 4 of the BC Referendum Act.鈥�
After the petition will be issued on Aug. 16 Bennett will have 90 days to collect the necessary signatures. Anyone opposed to the initiative who intends to advertise or canvass for signatures against it must register with Elections BC and has until July 19 to do so.
Surrey city Councillor Brenda Locke, who has before council, is elated.
鈥淚t will be binding,鈥� Locke said of Bennett鈥檚 referendum campaign. 鈥淒on鈥檛 get me wrong, it will be difficult, it will be hard. But I do think there is motivation outside of Surrey.鈥�
Meantime, Locke plans to pursue her referendum-related motions despite the mayor having found them to be out of order.
鈥淢y lawyer鈥檚 opinion is just so clean and so clear how in the heck we ever got the opinion from our lawyer, at least the way the mayor described it, I don鈥檛 know. So I definitely will be bringing it up at the next (council) meeting.鈥�
Councillor Jack Hundial called Elections BC鈥檚 decision a 鈥済reat step forward in having the taxpayers getting a say.
鈥淲ith the engagement process approved at the last council meeting, the true test will now be to see if the mayor and his team will actually stand by allowing citizens to have a voice,鈥� he said.
Councillor Doug Elford, of the Safe Surrey Coalition, said of Bennett鈥檚 campaign and Election BC鈥檚 decision, 鈥渢his is just a part of a process that the government鈥檚 going through.
鈥淭o be honest I think it鈥檚 going to be more symbolic than anything else,鈥� he said, considering her timeline and the number of signatures she must collect. 鈥淭o me, I鈥檇 really like to see a referendum on myself, that is my preference, and I think that is more important than trying to turn back something that I believe is already way down the road. We鈥檙e hiring constables now and I just don鈥檛 see this turning around.鈥�
In February Hundial and LockeSurrey鈥檚 policing transition province-wide, sending out a letter to more than 1,000 elected officials in local governments calling for a feasibility study and warning them that this unprecedented transition will come with financial consequences for all B.C. cities that are policed by the RCMP.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of local governments that are not happy with this,鈥� Locke said.
Meantime, Bennett鈥檚 is the second initiative petition application to be approved this year and the 14th since the Recall and Initiative Act came into force in 1995. She is being helped by Bill Tieleman, who helped former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm conduct a referendum campaign that defeated the Harmonized Sales Tax in 2011.
Bill Tieleman screen shot
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited to be involved in this campaign because I think it is what is democracy at its best 鈥� it鈥檚 local citizens, in this case in Surrey and also in other parts of the province, saying that they want to have a say, they want to have a voice in who polices them in Surrey,鈥� Tieleman said. 鈥淭his is a very expensive decision, a very controversial decision, and it鈥檚 only right that the voters of Surrey have the final say, not politicians, not bureaucrats.鈥�
Tieleman said they will be focusing particularly on Surrey鈥檚 nine provincial ridings because 鈥渢his is a Surrey issue, it鈥檚 not a provincial issue. And that鈥檚 one of the flaws in the Initiative Act, it doesn鈥檛 allow for a regional referendum in a regional initiative.鈥�
However, he noted, the BC Referendum Act allows cabinet to designate a regional referendum and it could decide 鈥渁t any point in time鈥� that Surrey deserves to have a referendum.
鈥淚 think what we鈥檙e attempting to show here is that there is strong support in Surrey for a actual referendum on the policing issue and we believe and hope that when citizens come out and show their support for this initiative that the government will have to listen.鈥�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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