SURREY Mayor Brenda Locke on Tuesday announced at a press conference Surrey Connect’s Framework for Real Reform at Metro Vancouver. 

Locke said: “We’re all paying $5.5 billion for a wastewater treatment facility that serves less than ten percent of the region’s population. That is unacceptable, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg. And that is why we are here today. Metro Vancouver needs to be reformed from top to bottom.”

Earlier, Councillor Pardeep Kooner said that the true cost to taxpayers for the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is $5.5 billion. That is $1.6 billion more than the previous number of $3.86 billion. 

Kooner provided a timeline of the project’s cost estimates:

* 2013: $700 million
* 2017: $780 million
* 2021: $1.058 billion
* 2024: $3.86 billion
* Today: $5.5 billion

Kooner said, “Obviously, this is incredibly concerning and Mayor Locke and our team at Surrey Connect have called for an inquiry into this project.” She continued, “It would be impossible to know the real cost of the project unless you crunched the numbers yourself.”

Today’s number of $5.5 billion was calculated by taking the annual charge that every household in Metro Vancouver is paying for the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

Kooner also warned that the cost for the upcoming Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant replacement could exceed $15 billion to $18 billion.

The table below outlines the charge per household in each sewerage area:

Sewerage Area	Annual Charge per Household	Number of Households	Amortization	Calculated Long-Term Cost
North Shore	$864	98,305	30 years	$2.548 billion
Vancouver	$203	333,333	15 years	$1.014 billion
Lulu Island	$106	137,500	15 years	$0.220 billion
Fraser	$120	788,889	15 years	$1.423 billion
DCC Apportionment	–	–	–	$0.270 billion
Total				$5.475 billion

On why Surrey Connect is proposing its framework now, Locke said: “It’s clear that Surrey Connect has been leading the charge all along on calling for reform at Metro Vancouver. We’ve called for a public inquiry into Metro. The City of Surrey is suing Metro. And when governance reforms were put forward that simply cut a few seats on the Metro Vancouver board, among a few other half baked measures, we voted against it. We were hoping that the Metro Vancouver Governance Committee would put forward proposals for real change. Substantive change. But sadly, that wasn’t the case.”

That’s why today, Locke said she was presenting the Surrey Connect Framework for Real Reform at Metro Vancouver. This framework has three main parts:

1. Back to Basics
   • Metro Vancouver should move to core services only.
   • The region has some of the best water in the world, and that’s what works at Metro Vancouver. That’s where their time should be spent: delivering water and sewage services to the region.
   • Moving Metro to core services would involve completely abolishing Invest Vancouver, Regional Planning, and all other duplicated services.
   • Services that are in other orders of government should be transferred to those orders of government. For example, Metro Vancouver social housing should be transferred to BC Housing, and parks should be transferred to their respective city or BC Parks. 
2. Restructuring of the Board
   • Under our proposed model, the Metro Vancouver board would be reduced from 41 to 16 board members.
   • Each municipality with a population under 350,000 would be entitled to one representative.
   • Each municipality over 350,000 people would be entitled to two.
   • Municipalities with a population of less than 50,000 would join a small community round table, which would elect one board representative for all those communities.
3. All stipends for board directors will be abolished. And serious restrictions will be placed on expenses and travel.
   • Taxpayers, rightfully so, are angry with how much directors are being paid.
   • That’s why Surrey Connect is calling for stipends to be abolished.
   • Furthermore, taxpayers were furious with reports of European junkets, costing tens of thousands of dollars. Under this framework, these junkets will be prohibited.
   • Individual cities would be required to cover any costs for reasonable travel of board directors. If they must go to Victoria or Ottawa, for example. That way directors will be directly responsible to their taxpayers for those costs.

Locke said: “While Surrey cannot implement these reforms alone, we are going to continue pressing municipalities to take real action.”

She stressed: “This is a framework for change, and it’s something that the province and municipalities together can implement. The Premier has acknowledged that the province has a role to play in fixing what has been a runaway train at Metro Vancouver.”

On former mayor Doug McCallum’s proposal to leave Metro Vancouver, Locke said: “This isn’t a new issue: I raised these concerns while Doug McCallum was Mayor and I was a City Councillor. McCallum’s response was to remove me from the Metro board.

“Now, he wants to leave Metro Vancouver. That’s not a solution: when the going gets tough, you can’t just walk away. After all, if we leave Metro Vancouver, where would we get our water? Currently most of our water comes from Coquitlam.

“We’re here, offering real solutions.”

Locke asserted: “We need reform. And we need it now. I am calling on all municipalities to act today. The taxpayers in this region deserve leadership and accountability.  And I am calling on the residents of Metro Vancouver to vote accordingly.”