The City of Surrey says a group that supports keeping the city's RCMP force will not be allowed to set up a booth at the city's official Canada Day festivities.

The Keep the RCMP in Surrey Campaign made a request to participate through the city's website and says city staff informed them their application was denied.

"They said, unfortunately, that they're not going to accept my application," said organizer Ivan Scott. "They said that it didn't seem appropriate and didn't seem right for the day."

In a statement, the City of Surrey said the Canada Day event is meant to be an inclusive, politics-free environment.

"The booths and activities on-site focus on family activities and community celebrations and, as such, the City of Surrey currently does not include any booths with political messaging or canvassing of event attendees on-site," reads the statement.

The city says there will be a designated political speech and rally area outside of the Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre in Cloverdale.

"This designated area will allow groups to have visibility and have their message heard or canvass for signatures throughout the day," the statement said.

Over the past several weeks, the Keep the RCMP in Surrey Campaign has collected nearly 4,000 signatures from city residents who support the RCMP over a transition to the city's own municipal force.

"First of all, we're not protesting anything," said Scott. "We're just encouraging people to have their right to voice their opinion by signing our petition."

Scott said the area outside the official celebration offered by the city is too small to accommodate the group's table and tent.

He said the group will likely get volunteers on foot with clipboards to attempt to collect signatures from people attending the Canada Day party.

Volunteers from the campaign have set up at a number of other events throughout the city in recent weeks, including at all of the public consultations sessions about the transition.

Scott says he began the campaign because he feels a switch to a municipal force will be more expensive for Surrey taxpayers without actually improving community safety.