The Surrey Council votes on the cancellation of LRT, replacing RCMP – BC

Immediately after an oath in the office Monday night, Mayor of Surrey Doug McCallum did not waste time putting two sentences on the table.

The first was to cancel LRT and start work on expanding SkyTrain to Langley.

It also begins to set up a police force in Surrey and to alert federal and provincial governments that the city will terminate its contract with the RCMP.

The proposals were adopted unanimously.

Even the lone opposition counselor, Linda Annis, voted in favor.

"I really think we have to work as a team and I want to start from a positive front," he said.

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RCMP Chief Survey Officer Dwayne McDonald was ready for the inaugural session and suggested his thoughts on moving to a municipal police force.

"I am disappointed, yes, because, as I said, because we provide an excellent service and our statistics back."

Meanwhile, at a press conference after his oath, McCallum told reporters that work is now starting at SkyTrain.

"We have instructed our staff and TransLink staff to stop working on the light rail at this stage. We have power over our own staff so they have stopped any work on the light railwork and have begun to see the what they have to do for SkyTrain ".

TransLink said in a news release that, in view of the decision passed by the City of Surrey Council, we are interrupting work on the Surrey-Newton-Guildford LRT project and suspending the RFQ process while waiting for the Mayors Council the TransLink Surface.

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Surrey will now have to talk about a change in SkyTrain from LRT to the TransLink Mayor's Council, and as soon as this happens, McCallum says it will be full speed.

"We plan to build it around the clock, 7 days a week."

McCallum also says it can be built at the same cost as LRT, $ 1.65 billion.

He also promised to "move very quickly" to build a municipal police force.

Counselor Jack Hundial, a retired staff sergeant with Surrey RCMP, says one of the benefits will be greater accountability.

"One of the key components for your own police force is to have a police council and with this council to have community memberships, your community representatives sit down to make decisions and priorities for policing the community" .

McCallum says first indications that 50 to 60 percent of the Surrey Mounties will move toward a new powerhouse in the city.