The Formation of the Safe Surrey Coalition

The Safe Surrey Coalition, headed by former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, is running four candidates for city council. They include small business owner Rina Gill, community advocate Laurie Guerra, journalist Beau Simpson and lawyer Justin Thind.

The group's platform calls for a doubling of police officers on patrol and to speed up the hiring of 95 new RCMP officers. It also commits to foot patrols and better gang awareness programs.

What We Stand For

The formation of the Safe Surrey Coalition represents a serious response to the growing problems of crime and insecurity infiltrating our city. Faced with a Mayor and City Council who continue to demonstrate a complete lack of understanding for the needs of our community, we have come together to offer citizens a clear plan and a decisive commitment to take immediate action.

The campaign is led by Mayoral candidate Doug McCallum who proudly served the City of Surrey as Mayor for 9 years. It includes a group of candidates with diverse community involvement, political affiliations and professional backgrounds who are united by one overpowering concern: Public Safety.

The Safe Surrey Coalition has decided not to pursue a judicial recount of Saturday’s municipal election results after McCallum finished 973 votes behind former councillor Brenda Locke. A party statement said "upon further review from our legal advisers we have decided to no longer pursue a judicial recount."

Transparency

When Safe Surrey Coalition smashed through the political glass last fall, it was on a platform of three big promises: a new SkyTrain line to Langley, scrapping Canada’s largest RCMP detachment and creating a municipal police force. McCallum’s promises have come with a few bumps, including delays and cost overruns.

Earlier this year, two of his former councillors broke away to sit as independents, criticizing his leadership style. They criticized the mayor for failing to consult with residents and brooking no opposition, especially with his policing transition process, which includes cancelling a public safety committee that all Safe Surrey members sat on.

A third dissident, Jack Hundial, departed from the party in July, joining another ex-McCallum councillor who has also left the group, Brenda Locke, under a new party called Surrey Connect. Both groups say they will focus on boosting communication and citizen involvement with city hall, as well as pushing for infrastructure that makes sense for the city’s growth.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is a process by which people, governments and organizations work together to create sustainable visions for their communities. It involves working with, and listening to, people to build strong and authentic relationships that foster collaboration and solve complex problems.

It’s also a process for developing relationships that can help change policies, programs and practices to improve the health and well-being of communities.

In addition, community engagement can help make long-term decisions more inclusive and build better understanding about trade-offs.

It’s important to consider the community’s social networks, culture, constraints, power structures, values, history and perceptions. This can lead to a deeper understanding of the community and increased trust.

Safety

Safety is a key focus of the Safe Surrey Coalition. We believe that assurance of public safety is a fundamental right of every citizen within a community and must be at the forefront of all decisions made.

Our Coalition members are committed to delivering on our pledges and ensuring Surrey is a safer place to live. This is why we have made it a priority to be transparent, engage with our citizens and hold ourselves accountable to the Safe Surrey Promises we have outlined.

Three of the seven councillors elected last fall under the Safe Surrey Coalition banner have since broken ranks with McCallum, citing concerns about his methods in pursuing the transition from RCMP to municipal police. Jack Hundial, Steven Pettigrew and Brenda Locke have all taken exception to McCallum’s methods and his dissolution of a council committee for public safety.