WATCH: Surrey mayoral candidate Doug McCallum speaks with Aaron McArthur on Prime
The city may be growing by leaps and bounds, but voters in Surrey are dealing with some of the same questions they’ve had in past elections.
How best to battle crime. How to deal with urban sprawl. And whether to elect Doug McCallum mayor.
McCallum, who served as Surrey’s mayor from 1996 to 2005, was defeated by Dianne Watts three elections ago.
But he’s back this year with a new team (the “Safe Surrey Coalition”) and a renewed desire to lead B.C.’s second largest city.
“In the last couple of years, I’ve got this fire in my belly,” he said to Aaron McArthur on Prime.
“I’ve lost 35 pounds, and I’ve got more energy than when I was mayor.”
McCallum says that crime is his number one priority, and the message seems to be resonating. An Insights West poll released on Tuesday had crime as the number one priority for 55 per cent of respondents – and McCallum led the poll at 40 per cent, compared to 32 per cent for Surrey First’s Linda Hepner and 21 per cent for Barinder Rasode.
READ MORE: RCMP in Surrey want 47 more cops
“We need to address crime,” he said. “People are frustrated. They’re angry, with no action by this council for the last couple of years. They want to see more police on patrol, more people on the streets, because the communities have not seen them in the last little while.”
- Burnaby man charged in stabbing death of woman found on Vancouver street: police
- B.C. woman ordered to pay over half a million dollars over real estate ‘Ponzi scheme’
- Second B.C. grant program facing scrutiny amid conflict concerns
- B.C. plants milestone 10 billionth tree since reforestation efforts began
McCallum is proposing to freeze property taxes and decrease city spending by three per cent, while shutting down the Surrey City Development Corporation and ending trips made by councillors to places outside Canada.
“Council has made huge mistakes like the new city hall. $150 million, not one penny of that goes to the citizens. It’s a monument basically to council,” says McCallum.
“We’re going to tighten our fiscal policy, but at the same time we’re going to increase the public safety.”
McCallum rivals have argued his numbers don’t add up and have urged voters to look at his previous tenure as mayor, where he grew unpopular in his final years. In 2005, his limiting of a sexual harassment investigation into a senior manager received much criticism.
But he argues that his experience is exactly what Surrey needs.
Comments