IT seems obvious that BC Liberal MLAs Trevor Halford and Shirley Bond and former BC Liberal MLA Brenda Locke, who is now the Mayor of Surrey, had planned their attack on Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth in the House during Question Hour on Tuesday in connection with the Surrey policing transition, accusing him of dragging his feet in the matter.

But Farnworth gave it back good and proper (view the videos below), making it abundantly clear that public safety will be the main factor in his decision.

From the exchanges, it becomes evident that Halford and Bond were only interested in scoring points against the government while shedding crocodile tears for Surrey-ites, who Locke claims with her unverified financial figures will face an exorbitant increase of 17.5 percent in property taxes.

In spite of Farnworth repeatedly stressing that the process had to ensure public safety for Surrey-ites, the BC liberals only seemed interested in pressuring the minister to make a hasty decision on the matter, whereas any responsible politician would in fact praise Farnworth for his due diligence.

Also, the heckling by BC Liberal MLAs betrayed a lack of both decency and responsibility. Why couldn’t they let Farnworth complete what he was saying without interrupting him and then ask any supplementary questions so that British Columbians would know all the facts?

Farnworth was right to have chided the MLAs for not doing their homework!

On Wednesday, BC Liberal MLA Mike de Jong tried to browbeat Farnworth, but the latter
slammed him back, making him also look pathetic. Farnworth also quoted BC Liberal Kevin Falcon’s assurance to the Punjabi Press Club of B.C. in March 2022 that he would work hard for a smooth and successful transition from the RCMP to Surrey Police Service.

From Farnworth’s revelations, it becomes quite clear that the RCMP do NOT have enough officers to ensure proper staffing and that both the RCMP and the City of Surrey had submitted fudged plans for reversing the policing transition.

In fact, that is why Locke has been in a panic that was so vividly exposed by her threat of a 17.5-per-cent increase in property taxes on the Saturday of a long weekend. She apparently wanted to create panic among Surrey-ites before others could refute her ludicrous figures.

But all that crafty strategy has once again blown up in her face.

VOICE Opinion Column

VIDEOS:

VIDEOS:

MLA Trevor Halford, Question Period, Tuesday, February 21, 2023

MLA Shirley Bond, Question Period, Tuesday, February 21, 2023