Surrey mayor back in court on public mischief trial amid ethics debate at city hall

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum is scheduled to appear virtually in court Monday in his public mischief trial.

His appearance comes on the same day a controversial amendment to Surrey’s Council Code of Conduct Bylaw is once again up for discussion at city hall.

The proposed change would prevent Surrey’s ethics commissioner from hearing new complaints until the next municipal election is over.

The bylaw was supposed to be discussed at a council meeting back in January, but Mayor Doug McCallum recommended removing the motion just hours before the meeting was set to start.

If passed, the amendment would “suspend the processing of all complaints received in the period from April 12 of the year of the general local election until the day after the general voting day." 

For comparison, both Edmonton and Toronto only pause their investigations for the three months prior.

The motion has sparked outrage among some councillors and residents as McCallum is currently facing an ethics complaint himself for staying on as chair of the Surrey Police Service while dealing with a public mischief charge.

That investigation would not be impacted by the proposed changes to the bylaw, as it is already underway.

“The work of the ethics commissioner is valuable and the misinformation circulating about the bylaw is unfortunate,” wrote McCallum in a statement back in January. “The goal is to strengthen the bylaw to ensure the office of the ethics commissioner is not used for partisan purposes during the election period."

Coun. Jack Hundial pushed for Surrey to create the ethics commissioner’s office in 2019.

He called the proposal disappointing.

“I've heard nothing but complaints from the public over this last weekend, about how they're looking to attempt to limit the scope of the investigations,” said Hundial.

He does not believe the mayor is using the office for its intended purpose.

“Gerrymandered is probably the best way to put it by the majority on council, and it really limits the scope of it and well really this was not the intent behind it,” he said.

A small group of protesters gathered outside city hall Monday morning calling on McCallum to resign and to oppose the amendment.

“I want him to resign. I want him gone,” said Mariyln Smith, a supporter of the Keep the RCMP in Surrey campaign.

“Stop wasting our time. Stop spending our money and take responsibility for your own actions.” 

McCallum’s criminal public mischief charge stems from an allegation that an opponent to the transition from the RCMP to a municipal police service ran over his foot in a grocery store parking lot back in September.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

McCallum was scheduled to appear virtually for a pre-trial conference in that trial late Monday morning.