Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum says he’d like to see what he calls a “wandering canal” running through his city.
He floated the idea on Thursday at a Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association event.
McCallum said he envisions the canal running from the Fraser River to the agricultural lands in south Surrey along “a street that’s not used that much.”
In fact, he says he has asked the city’s engineering department to start the search for such an underutilized road.
McCallum concedes it is an idea that is outside the box.
“The idea certainly came to me when I noticed that in Qatar, when I was there, that shopping centres had canals instead of walkways in a lot of their shopping centres. But if you look at other places, like Venice, they have canals that they use for transportation.”
Downtown Surrey BIA CEO Elizabeth Model says she’s open to the idea.
“I think it’s important, whatever we do in Surrey, to keep our minds open to new and different ideas,” she said.
McCallum says he’d also like to see the Fraser River waterfront in the Bridgeview neighbourhood developed into a walkway.
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