THE Safe Surrey Coalition, reacting to the just-released City of Surrey draft corporate report on the policing transition, pointed out on Monday that the findings of City of Surrey staff that remaining with the RCMP will save $235.4 million is a huge discrepancy from what Mayor Brenda Locke and her party claimed during the election campaign.

The estimates that were apparently confirmed by now-elected Councillor Pardeep Kooner, who is a CPA, declared that savings would be $520 million, representing a $285 million shortfall, the SSC noted.

It added: “In addition, these projections from the city do not factor in the range of costs associated with deconstructing the three unions that are currently constituted within the framework of the Surrey Police Service. Early estimates speculate that the supposed savings may drop to $150 million.”

Safe Surrey Coalition called on Locke to provide a fulsome explanation of how she came to the grossly inaccurate figures that are responsible for her victory.

It said: “Further, we are hoping to see an apology from the Mayor’s entire caucus, who are now known to have been elected on the false information they provided to the electorate.”

As The VOICE  has repeatedly pointed out, former mayor Doug McCallum won the election in 2018 with 45,564 votes — 41.08% of the total votes — to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force, whereas Locke  won with only 33,311 votes — 28.14% of the total votes to keep the RCMP in the city. What is more, Locke won by fewer than 1,000 votes.