Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth鈥檚 order to press on with the Surrey Police Service is akin to replacing the 鈥渨inner with the runner-up鈥� by overriding Surrey council鈥檚 desire under Mayor Brenda Locke to keep the RCMP and enforcing the previous council鈥檚 desire, under former mayor Doug McCallum, to install the SPS as the city鈥檚 police of jurisdiction.
That鈥檚 what Justice Kevin Loo heard Wednesday from lawyer Craig Dennis, representing the City of Surrey in its petition for a judicial review aimed at quashing Farnworth鈥檚 July 19, 2023 order to replace the RCMP with the SPS.
The provincial government, Dennis argued, 鈥渉as nullified the mandate to keep the RCMP delivered to council by voters.鈥�
The five-day hearing began April 29 in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
鈥淚n purpose and effect, it controls the electorate鈥檚 attempt to convey meaning by significantly interfering with the vote, specifically by nullifying the electoral mandate that city council keep the RCMP in Surrey, and in the process it undermined the confidence Surrey residents can reasonably repose in their future elections. Where Canadians perceive elections to be unfair, voter apathy follows shortly thereafter,鈥� Dennis argued.
鈥淭he Province characterized council鈥檚 resolutions as moves to revert to the RCMP. This ignores a fundamental point 鈥� the SPS has never become Surrey鈥檚 police of jurisdiction. Surrey has only ever sought to keep the RCMP as its police of jurisdiction.
鈥淭he status quo then is the RCMP. Surrey鈥檚 not meaning to revert to anything,鈥� Dennis noted. 鈥淪urrey voters delivered a mandate in the 2022 municipal election for keeping the RCMP as Surrey鈥檚 police of jurisdiction. Access to the voting platform has already occurred. Far from seeking access to a platform, Surrey seeks to implement that mandate free from provincial interference.鈥�
Surrey never displaced the RCMP as police of jurisdiction, he pointed out. 鈥淎s public opinion soured to the transition the 2021 citizens鈥� initiative first proposed a referendum being held. The 2022 election was then fought not on whether Surrey should revert to to the RCMP but whether it should keep the RCMP as its police of jurisdiction.鈥�
This, he said, was the 鈥渞aison d鈥櫭猼re鈥� of Locke鈥檚 Surrey Connect slate and was the central issue in the city鈥檚 2022 civic election, in which she defeated McCallum. 鈥淭his only confirmed what should have been clear to all observers, that the election was centrally about the fate of Surrey policing and Surrey voters had spoken in favour of keeping the RCMP.鈥�
鈥淪urrey voters delivered a mandate to keep the RCMP which is inextricable from the vote itself and the integrity of that electoral result, not the policy outcome, is what Surrey seeks to protect from provincial interference,鈥� Dennis told Loo.
鈥淭his is no small matter for municipal democracy,鈥� he said, noting that election results that fail to deliver results are bound to damage public confidence.
鈥淲hy vote if policies are not implemented? Why run for office, why participate?鈥�
