Surrey council launches external investigation into 3 councillors' alleged misleading statements

Surrey council has voted at a closed-door meeting to launch an external investigation into three city councillors, two of whom criticized staff after being forced to file a freedom of information request to access city files.

A statement from the city said the investigation was ordered over concerns the councillors may have violated city policies by disclosing confidential council information to the public and misrepresenting city staff directives. 

It said the closed-door meeting was held on Friday to address recent public statements made by councillors Mike Bose and Linda Annis regarding the city's contract with Hunden Strategic Partners Inc., a Chicago-based real estate consulting firm hired to advise on two new entertainment districts in the city.

Bose and Annis released a statement to the media last week that Bose had requested details of the contract from the city's finance department. The councillor said he was reportedly told that he would need to file a formal freedom of information (FOI) request to access the documents, something Bose described as a "slap in the face."

"I thought that information I was asking for would have been available to me," he told CBC News.

Both the councillors from the opposition party Surrey First are recommending the city cancel its contract with the U.S.-based company over ongoing tensions between Canada and the United States.

"We need to buy Canadian; we need to support our Canadian businesses," Bose said. "We're asking our residents to do that; we need to show leadership and be doing that ourselves."

Mayor Brenda Locke says that Hunden was hired in 2024, well before the current U.S. tariff environment, and that "all contractual arrangements have been conducted lawfully."

"Any suggestion by councillors Bose and Annis that our professional staff acted improperly by directing information requests through the FOI process is unfounded," she said in the city's statement. 

Locke also criticized councillors for involving city staff in political disputes.

"Any councillor who deliberately drags our dedicated staff into partisan agendas will be called to account for misrepresenting the facts," Locke said. 

The city's investigation also involves Coun. Doug Elford, who was also directed to file an FOI request when he inquired about the salary details of two city employees.

"This includes misleading information provided to the media by Councillor Elford that staff should have simply handed him information regarding the salaries of staff members, implying that staff were obstructing him due to his position," the mayor said.

Annis says in the six years she has served as a councillor she has never been asked to file an FOI to access information.