As the Surrey police battle moves toward a judicial review next month, the war of words between the NDP government and the Surrey Connect city council majority has gone quiet.
A Surrey source, not authorized to speak publicly, said that is because the province has offered more money if city council agrees to replace the RCMP with the Surrey Police Service (SPS).
Last summer, Solicitor General Mike Farnworth promised $150 million over five years if Surrey gave up and went with the SPS. But Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, whose Surrey Connect party ran in 2022 on a promise to keep the RCMP, said that was too little.
Surrey’s petition to the B.C. Supreme Court and its ad campaign launched late last year both said the cop swap would cost Surrey taxpayers an extra $464 million over 10 years.
The source said the province’s director of police services Glen Lewis contacted City of Surrey officials to offer another $110 million over 10 years. Lewis wants media blackout on negotiations.
Neither Lewis, Farnworth nor Locke have responded for comment.
The combined $260 million would support transition to the SPS and include all future capital costs, including an information technology system estimated at a minimum $90 million.
It would also make Surrey responsible for costs to lobby the federal government to amend federal policing and labour laws to allow RCMP officers to work under SPS command during the transition. Surrey would also assume costs of First Nations consultation and compliance with B.C.’s version of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
For the province, time is of the essence for two reasons.
The first is the scheduled five-day B.C. Supreme Court judicial review beginning April 29. The two sides are expected in court on March 15 on procedural matters.
The other date is the provincial election, scheduled for Oct. 19. The NDP won seven of the nine Surrey seats in the 2020 election. This fall, a 10th will be up for grabs.
The NDP majority amended the Police Act in October to accelerate the SPS replacement of the RCMP. City of Surrey applied for a judicial review, aimed at overturning the province’s decision.
In November, Farnworth replaced the Surrey Police Board with a single administrator, retired Abbotsford Police chief Mike Serr. In January, Serr proposed a $142-million budget for the SPS in 2024.
