Monday, January 9, 2023

Thee summary

In the news, it’s hard to know how a municipal issue can get any more fucked up than the “police force of jurisdiction transition” in Surrey. While everyone is now watching to see what Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says - re whether Surrey should stick with the RCMP or move ahead with the Surrey Police Service - one has to wonder what rabbit the provincial government can pull out of the hat to distance itself from this made-in-Surrey problem. Mayor Brenda Locke’s Friday afternoon claim of a 55 per cent property tax hike in 2023 to cover any transition to a SPS is still raising the ire of her opponents. Some are calling it bully tactics. Either way - there are two entities in existence right now and that can’t continue for long. Keeping the RCMP will be expensive. Moving to a SPS will be expensive. A decision will come and it will land like a bomb on one side or the other…expect a new level of ugly ahead.