SURREY Councillor Linda Annis on Tuesday in a press release titled “Surrey needs 300 new police officers and the truth” attacked wannabe mayor and fellow councillor Brenda Locke (besides, her usual target: Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum).
Of course, attacking McCallum for everything under the sun is to be expected from opposition councillors Annis and Locke, but Annis to lash out at Locke is making Surrey-ites have a good laugh.
Annis attacked McCallum and added: “Brenda Locke’s knee-jerk promise to bring the police transition to a “screeching halt” have left Surrey residents and taxpayers confused and nervous about the volatility and costs associated with public safety in BC’s second largest city.”
Again, after criticizing McCallum, Annis added: “Meanwhile, Brenda Locke’s ‘screeching halt’ approach to police transition doesn’t take into account the untold millions that have been spent to date and the millions more that will be spent over the next 12 months.” Annis said that this “sort of arbitrary decision-making” by Locke “makes taxpayers nervous for their wallets and the safety of our city, when we should always be completely transparent with our residents.”
Then again, after criticizing McCallum, Annis added: “At the same time, Brenda Locke says she wants to bring things to a screeching halt, which is a big red flag for me and every other taxpayer. Frankly, we need to take ego and politics out of the policing equation and give our citizens the facts and figures and confidence they need to make good decisions going forward.”
Annis went on to give her own version about policing costs. She again attacked McCallum and added: “Brenda Locke wants to shut it all down immediately. I think Surrey deserves better, and it starts by knowing the facts, and parking emotions, ego and politics on the sidelines.”
On Wednesday, Locke hit back at Annis.
A press statement from her party stated: “Surrey Connect believes the money currently being spent on the Surrey Police Service transition should be invested in the current RCMP force. It is common knowledge that Surrey’s RCMP is seriously understaffed – That doesn’t warrant a news release.”
It added that the party believed that “the public needs to have significant input into the future of policing in the city” and that a “referendum is clearly the best option.”
Locke’s party said: “Insulting people in a press release is not an “adult conversation.””
However, Annis had pointed out in her press release on Tuesday that she was “the only councillor to run on a policing referendum in the 2018 civic election.”
The fact is, as The VOICE has repeatedly pointed out, that McCallum won as Mayor on the promise to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force and the provincial government is fully supporting him. No referendum drama is going to help RCMP supporters.
Also, McCallum promised voters a SkyTrain extension to Langley – and that is also happening with both the federal and provincial governments supporting McCallum.
