Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, who is already facing mischief charges, backtracked on suspending the city’s Ethics Commissioner after outraged critics said the mayor and council were doing this for their own benefit. The original motion to suspend new investigations by the Surrey Ethics Commissioner Office (SECO) should never have been placed on the Jan 31st, 2022 agenda in the first place, said opposition councilor Brenda Locke. She said the move to Suspend investigations by SECO was felt as a betrayal by the residents of Surrey

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada

SURREY – Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, who is already facing mischief charges, backtracked on suspending the city’s Ethics Commissioner after outraged critics said the mayor and council were doing this for their own benefit.

The original motion to suspend new investigations by the Surrey Ethics Commissioner Office (SECO) should never have been placed on the Jan 31st, 2022 agenda in the first place, said opposition councilor Brenda Locke. She said the move to Suspend investigations by SECO was felt as a betrayal by the residents of Surrey

 “The Office of the Ethics Commissioners plays an important role in democracy in Surrey, especially given the controversy with a sitting Mayor who is criminally charged and sits as the Chair of the Police Board,” Locke said.

 “I am hearing from residents that this irrational move to change a bylaw governing ethical behaviour was driven by outside facts. I expect we have not seen the end of this yet. I am happy to see that the SECO can continue to listen and investigate the concerns from the public,” said councilor Jack Hundial.

McCallum put out a statement Monday saying at today’s Regular Council Land Use meeting at 5:30pm, I will be introducing a motion to remove from tonight’s Regular Council Public Hearing agenda item H 15, the bylaw to suspend the processing and investigation of new complaints by the Surrey Ethics Commissioner in the period leading up to the 2022 Local General Election. 

“The work of the Ethics Commissioner is valuable and the misinformation circulating about the bylaw is unfortunate. If the motion is approved by Council, I will ask the Ethics Commissioner to bring a report to a future open Council meeting for consideration on how to improve the bylaw. The goal is to strengthen the bylaw to ensure the Office of the Ethics Commissioner is not used for partisan purposes during the election period,” McCallum said.

While suspending an Ethics or Integrity Office is a practice for some cities to do so during an election period, Locke said this is not the time for Surrey residents to be shut out from another process.

“ With Mayor McCallum before the courts charged for Public Mischief, this is not the time to stop taking in complaints from the public,” she said.

 Hundial, who ran on and introduced the Surrey Ethics Commissioner Office (SECO) to Council said earlier: “This was to create transparency and confidence in local government. This was to serve the public’s interest and not to shield elected officials. SECO is there to provide education and guidance to elected officials and balance the concerns of the public when they observe wrongdoing of their elected officials.”