The people of Surrey are starting to question their new Mayor.
Since his election victory, Doug McCallum has declared many questionable things to Surrey residents.
According to reports, he said there was a bigger drop in children participating in sports than there actually was, he has made inaccurate statements about the skytrain and exaggerated the number of rinks in Surrey.
The residents of Surrey have taken notice, and are beginning to express doubts.
I am a professional residing Surrey. With Doug McCallum at the helm, I am truly worried now for the future of this city. Surrey has so much potential, but I question the thought process behind almost every decision our current mayor is making.
— Brenda Webster (@1963bbjj) December 15, 2018
“During the election campaign, Doug McCallum stated, with a certain amount of pride, that he answered all of his phone calls. But since being elected, his evasiveness has proven otherwise.” https://t.co/SQQN5jBmho
— Gunraj Gill (@gunrajgill) December 14, 2018
@mikefarnworthbc Doug McCallum is playing with the lives and safety of Surreyites in order to sabatoge the RCMP. This is criminalistic behaviour. This man needs to be removed from office.
— Cassidy Starchild (@CassStarchild) December 18, 2018
Chair and a founding member of Surrey Students NOW, Cindy Dalglish said in a statement Tuesday, the Mayor’s claims are far from the truth.
Others are questioning how long McCallum has been out of office, saying there are things about the job that have changed since then.
Claims Made By Doug McCallum
Other head scratching statements McCallum has told the public include:
- In his plan to switch from the Newton-Surrey-Guildford LRT to a Skytrain extension to Langley he cited a Translink study that didn’t exist. Claiming he could save millions of dollars.
- McCallum overstated the amount of debt Surrey has.
- He claimed the land underneath the Cloverdale Sport and Ice Complex is unstable and more expensive than originally reported.
- His plans to eradicate the RCMP – to be fair, he has received support here. But the irony is that earlier this week he stated the majority of council are “comfortable that the RCMP will continue to keep Surrey safe”. This was shortly after finalizing a budget highlighting no new police officers for the city in 2019, but a large component of his campaign was about public safety – a major ongoing issue in the city.
Can’t quite fathom how the mayor can say “ the surrey rcmp will continue to KEEP people safe at current staffing levels when when his entire campaign was that we aren’t safe in Surrey #SurreyBC
— Gerry (@GerryGwjg) December 20, 2018
But perhaps it’s all part of his big picture? At least according to one theory:
@mikefarnworthbc What Doug McCallum is doing, is making Surrey worse in the short term, so he & his police force can swoop in and "clean up" Surrey. So he can claim his force is better than the RCMP.
— Cassidy Starchild (@CassStarchild) December 18, 2018
Will Mayor Doug McCallum be able to fulfill the promises he’s made? Is it too early to panic?
It’s fair to say the residents of Surrey will surely be keeping a close eye on their mayor heading into 2019.
