McCallum election promise: land deals will no longer happen behind closed doors at Surrey city hall
Surrey, BC – “the public is losing trust in Surrey city hall, and Brenda Locke’s closed-door meetings are the reason.” Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum says in a recent press release.
“Under Brenda Locke, the public is kept in the dark,” said McCallum. “Land deals get decided behind closed doors. The public finds out after the money is spent, if they find out at all. People in this city are losing trust in their own city hall, and can you blame them? That is what secrecy does. It kills trust, one closed meeting at a time.”
McCallum is making it an election promise: under his leadership, a Safe Surrey Coalition council will not have any closed meetings, except for personnel matters and where federal or provincial statutes require it. All property actions will be discussed and acted on in open meetings.
“Here is my promise to Surrey. Every land deal, in the open. Every purchase, every sale, every swap of the public’s land, discussed and voted on in front of the people who own it,” said McCallum. “No more closed doors. No more finding out after the cheque has cleared. If a deal can’t be defended in public, my council won’t do it.”
McCallum said restoring trust starts with opening the doors.
“Trust doesn’t come back with speeches. It comes back when the doors open and the public can see their business being done,” said McCallum. “Brenda Locke keeps Surrey in the dark. I will turn the lights on. You don’t need secrecy to get things done. You need secrecy to get away with things. On October 17, Surrey can open the doors of city hall again.”
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