A supporter of a referendum on the future of policing in Surrey, British Columbia, claims he was issued a bylaw ticket on Saturday.
By mid-November, the Surrey Police Vote organization hopes to have collected 37,000 signatures. It can petition the province to organize a referendum asking Surrey residents whether they want to keep the RCMP or transition to the Surrey Police Service if it collects enough signatures, which Mayor Doug McCallum supports.
On Saturday, bylaw enforcers at Dogwood Park allegedly issued a ticket to a petition volunteer.
They took issue with the fact that I had this sign on the back of my car, claiming I was breaking ordinances, according to Paul Daynes.
Coun. Brenda Locke, who will run against McCallum in next year’s municipal election, called the incident “unfortunate.”
“I think it’s quite a stretch of the imagination to look at the bylaw that they claim was broken,” Locke said. “I don’t believe that has ever happened before in Surrey.”
McCallum allegedly got into an altercation with volunteers outside a local grocery store last weekend. He claimed a woman collided with him.
The Surrey RCMP are looking into the matter.
The mayor’s claims against canvassers, they believe, aren’t hurting their cause. According to a statement from the group, Elections BC has approved the initiative, and they have collected more than 10,000 signatures.
“Despite our best attempts to harass, threaten, and humiliate people,” Daynes remarked, “the interest is phenomenal.”
For further information, Global News has contacted the mayor’s office.
Source_ globalnews.ca
