Keep Surrey Moving Forward: Linda Hepner’s Message at First Surrey Mayoral Debate

Surrey, BC: In their first opportunity to hear from all three main candidates in the Surrey Mayor’s race last night, voters heard Surrey First would continue its work to move the city forward, address crime with more police officers and neighbourhood policing, and build phase one of a new LRT by 2018.

The mayoralty debate was sponsored by the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association, and mayoral candidate Linda Hepner also announced the creation of a Cultural Corridor along King George Boulevard, noting one in four children participates in the arts.

Hepner said Surrey First would establish a creative hub of cultural and arts facilities that would stretch from City Centre to South Surrey along King George Boulevard, creating a synergy between arts, heritage and business groups to transform Surrey’s arts community into a vibrant, accessible part of the community that also creates jobs. The commitment includes completing the second phase of the Surrey Museum.

“Surrey is looking grown up to the world,” Hepner told the audience. “We’ve moved our economy forward, and initiatives like Innovation Boulevard are gaining us national and international recognition. Surrey First has accomplished a lot in the past nine years, and we want the momentum to continue. We’re asking for the mandate to continue moving Surrey forward, not let it slip back into the past.”

On the subject of public safety, Hepner promised to strengthen the RCMP with 147 new fully trained police officers – 100 of them in the first 24 months. She also committed to a neighbourhood policing model in Surrey, where officers become part of the fabric of the local community, and are provided resources to help police fight crime more proactively in advance.

This was contrasted by Barinder Rasode’s plan to hire 200 loosely trained security guards instead of real police, and Doug McCallum’s claim that he too would hire police officers, but in outlining how to pay for it, said he would increase business taxes and would eliminate the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC) which is owned by the people of Surrey and pays the city a dividend. Hepner pointed out that the SCDC actually stimulates economic development and provides millions in dividends for the city each year, money that can be put toward things like more policing.

All three candidates backed establishing LRT south of the Fraser River, but Hepner said Surrey First has fully committed immediate action, with a 10 kilometre L-shaped line running from Guildford to City Centre and SkyTrain, then south to Newton by 2018. Hepner said it was fundamental to connecting Surrey communities.

“Although public safety, transportation, and keeping taxes and per capita spending the lowest in the region remain priorities, we also have a comprehensive plan to address the many other issues also important to us all in Surrey,” Hepner said. “This includes everything from our Cultural Corridor, to social issues, and funded facilities like Quibble Creek and the Maxine Wright centre. Surrey was also the first municipality in the province to put together a poverty reduction strategy. We’ve gone ahead and done it. We’re at the table and we would like to see our provincial partners at the table too.”