Jinny Sims’ Surrey Forward is accusing Brenda Locke’s Surrey Connect of breaking election laws but the party’s campaign manager denies the party has done anything wrong. In a press release Wednesday, Surrey Forward accused Surrey Connect of receiving direct contributions from the Keep The RCMP in Surrey, a Third Party Advertiser which is backing Surrey Connect which has vowed to keep the RCMP and get rid of Doug McCallum’s Surrey Police. But Surrey Connect denied they have broken any election rules. In an email response to DESIBUZZCanada on the Surrey Forward accusations, Surrey Connect’s campaign manager Kristy said: “Surrey Connect is grateful for the support of many grassroots community groups active in Surrey. While we understand that other campaigns seek to damage these grassroots community groups for their own political gain, Surrey Connect will continue to advocate for issues that make sense for our community. We deny these allegations. We have at all times complied with election rules and the election act. We request that all
By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada
SURREY – Jinny Sims’ Surrey Forward is accusing Brenda Locke’s Surrey Connect of breaking election laws but the party’s campaign manager denies the party has done anything wrong.
In a press release Wednesday, Surrey Forward said the election laws in British Columbia are clear: third party advertisers cannot collude nor sponsor elector associations.
They accused Surrey Connect of receiving direct contributions from the Keep The RCMP in Surrey, a Third Party Advertiser which is backing Surrey Connect which has vowed to keep the RCMP and get rid of Doug McCallum’s Surrey Police.
“This is simply unacceptable,” said Stephen Carter, Campaign Manager for Surrey Forward. “The Local Election Campaign Financing Act is very clear, a third party advertiser such as Keep the RCMP in Surrey, must operate independently from the candidates or elector association.”
“In a campaign where the current Mayor is facing significant criminal charges, a second candidate has been convicted of criminal activity in the past, it is amazing that a third candidate is willing to take these unlawful liberties with a third party advertiser.”
Surrey Forward said what is worse, it appears that all the signatures collected by Keep The RCMP in Surrey have been shared, either formally or informally, with Surrey Connect.
“There are no circumstances where this type of collusion is appropriate,” Carter said. “If Surrey Connect cannot be trusted to run a campaign, what can they be trusted with?”
But Surrey Connect denied they have broken any election rules. In an email response to DESIBUZZCanada on the Surrey Forward accusations, Surrey Connect’s campaign manager Kristy said: “Surrey Connect is grateful for the support of many grassroots community groups active in Surrey. While we understand that other campaigns seek to damage these grassroots community groups for their own political gain, Surrey Connect will continue to advocate for issues that make sense for our community. We deny these allegations. We have at all times complied with election rules and the election act. We request that all community groups follow the rules as they express their support for positive change in Surrey.”
But Surrey Forward said they will be filing complaints with Elections BC.
“These complaints will name Keep The RCMP in Surrey, Surrey Connect, Brenda Locke and Ramona Kaptyn,” Carter said. “It is our expectation that the investigation and consequences will be applied prior to October 15.”
