Surrey RCMP accuses opponents of trying to undermine public confidence in federal force
CBC
The officer in charge of Surrey's RCMP detachment said the mayor's municipal coalition crossed a line with a recent tweet criticizing the force.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards said he plans to speak to Mayor Doug McCallum about Saturday's tweet, which he characterized as part of "deliberate efforts to undermine confidence" in public safety.
On Saturday, McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition tweeted about a public opinion survey conducted by the incoming Surrey Police Service, which is set to replace the federal force, a key campaign promise of the mayor.
The tweet showed a cardboard cutout of an RCMP officer holding a vehicle-speed detector, with the words, "Only 6% of #SurreyBC residents support keeping the @SurreyRCMP & their cardboard cutouts."
The local force is set to deploy its first officers at the end of this month, but for the foreseeable future will remain under the RCMP's command, Edwards told CBC News. Many details of the controversial transition remain unresolved.
"Public support is vital to maintaining safety in the city, and I cannot allow deliberate efforts to undermine that confidence, because it will affect each and every one of us," Edwards said in an interview Sunday. "It is impacting or has the potential to impact public safety in this city."
A petition to hold a vote on who should police the city failed to garner enough votes to trigger a provincially overseen referendum earlier this month, but more than 42,000 people signed their names.
The opinion survey cited in the municipal coalition's tweet Saturday did not in fact ask any questions about whether its respondents favoured the RCMP or a municipal force in the city. Instead, according to pollster Insights West, there was an "open-ended" space provided for respondents.
"The survey purposefully did not ask specific questions about whether residents were in favour of the Surrey Police Service (SPS) replacing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police," wrote Eli Sopow of Insights West. "However, the open-ended portion of the question about policing priorities for Surrey was taken as an opportunity by some to offer such opinions.
"In such a case the results showed that six per cent of residents who provided their opinion of Surrey policing priorities indicated their support for keeping the RCMP as the policing service for the city."
According to Bill Tieleman, a spokesperson for the recent referendum campaign on policing in the city, the Safe Surrey Coalition's characterization of that survey response was misleading and "completely unscientific."
"This is an absolutely ridiculous thing to say," Tieleman told CBC News on Sunday. "The support for the RCMP in Surrey is remarkably strong, despite Mayor McCallum and other councillors' comments otherwise.
"This is a demeaning and completely unscientific thing for the Safe Surrey Coalition to put out."
Neither McCallum nor his Safe Surrey Coalition responded to requests for interviews Sunday.
A Brampton lawyer allegedly connected to fugitive Ryan Wedding was granted bail Tuesday morning by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Rankin Inlet hamlet councillors recently passed a motion that has had them avoid drinking alcohol for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, with the goal of setting a positive example for the community.
Jason Jacques says he learned a lot about the importance of choosing his words carefully in his first few months as the interim parliamentary budget officer (PBO).
Durham police say a man is dead after suffering multiple stab wounds in Oshawa Tuesday morning.
An internal review of technical outages that caused significant delays at airports and international land borders this fall has exposed critical flaws with the Canada Border Services Agency's IT services.
Two people are in life-threatening condition after being pulled from a house fire in Scarborough Tuesday morning, according to Toronto Fire Services.
Whenever the door opens at the British Grenadier Bookshop, proprietor Steve Douglas doesn’t know who is going to walk through.
A northeastern Ontario potato farmer says he’s shipping more bags of potatoes to southern Ontario to make up for waning demand.
Halifax’s registry of rental properties is now available to the public online, showing what HRM staff believe are the “bulk” of rentals in the city.
A New Brunswick tenant says he’s being pushed out of his rented bungalow as retribution for complaining about his landlord, but his landlord says she’s the victim of an unfair tenancy tribunal ruling that is preventing her from using the unit to house family.
Snow and freezing rain could affect morning commutes on Tuesday, according to a special weather statement issued by Environment Canada.
Daniel Jolivet, 68, had his first taste of freedom this weekend after spending the last 33 years behind bars.
Peguis First Nation is suing former chief Glenn Hudson over allegations he failed to act in the best interest of the band and financially benefitted from breaches of duty — including claims that he enriched himself, his family and supporters.