Petition calling for referendum on Surrey's police transition falls short of target

A group opposing the planned transition from the RCMP to a municipal police force in Surrey, B.C., says it has collected close to 43,000 signatures from residents calling for a referendum on policing in the city.

Darlene Bennett launched the campaign with the group Surrey Police Vote over concerns about rising costs associated with starting a new municipal police force, which was a key pledge in Mayor Doug McCallum's election campaign in 2018.

The city council voted in favour of the transition in 2018, the public safety minister approved the creation of the Surrey Police Board last year, and Surrey's budget for 2021 showed the transition was $18.5 million over the original $45-million cost estimate.

A statement from Elections B.C. the 42,942 signatures collected by the Surrey Police Vote initiative falls far below the legislative requirement of 10 per cent of voters from all 87 electoral districts in B.C. neededto trigger a referendum.

According to campaign spokesperson Bill Tieleman, the group only planned to petition across the nineelectoral districts in Surrey in hopes ofdemonstrating the need for a regional referendum to the provincial government.

"Absolutely no surprise from Elections B.C. because we didn't campaign in all 87 electoral districts," Tieleman told CBC News.

"What we wanted to do was use an authorized process to show the strong support of Surrey residents for a vote on Surrey policing."

He said, B.C.'s Referendum Act gives provincial cabinet the power to order a referendum in a particular region.

"They can now order, at any point in time, a referendum and that's what we'll be asking them to do formally in the next couple of days," Tieleman said.

Time to 'move on'

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallumhas said previously that he campaigned on creating Surrey's own police department and that voters gave him the mandate to carry out the transition in 2018 when they elected him.

In a statement Tuesday, McCallum said it was "clearly time to move on," andthe Surrey Police Service has been working hard to make the transition safe and smooth.

"Surrey Police will take another significant step forward when the first SPS officers hit the streets alongside Surrey RCMP members by the end of the month," he said.

The petition's signatures represent about 13.5 per cent of about 318,000 registered voters in Surrey's nine districts, according to a 2017 tally from Elections B.C.