Surrey City Councilors are divided over their support for Mayor Doug McCallum after a crowd shouting for his resignation shortened Monday’s council meeting.
Citing security concerns, McCallum suspended the meeting just seven minutes after two councilors demanded his resignation and the public supported his request.
While some councilors are asking McCallum to resign until his disciplinary hearing in the autumn, others continue to support the mayor.
McCallum will be tried on Oct. 31 by alleged public misdemeanors by a police report he made last September. He accused member of a defense group that opposes the city’s police transition from hitting his foot with his car in a Save-On-Foods parking lot.
News from a recently uncovered but the search warrant claim is not publicly available, video surveillance contradicts some of the mayor’s allegations.
The video recording of Monday’s meeting shows that two minutes after the board meeting, the councilor. Brenda Locke demanded that McCallum take permission until her court hearing in light of the documents.
– @JackHundial
Locke will run for mayor against McCallum in the 2022 municipal election, just over two weeks before McCallum’s trial.
“I won’t do it right now,” McCallum replied.
Minutes later, Coun. Jack Hundial made a similar lawsuit followed by applause from the audience, to which McCallum replied that he would not.
Then people in the audience could be heard shouting.
After McCallum called for a 48-hour hiatus, councilors were escorted to their cars by the RCMP.
The public meeting will resume on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
‘A moment of tension’
“There was absolute chaos,” Coun. Linda Annis told CBC.
Annis said the meeting ended out of concern for the safety of everyone in the room.
“It was a very tense time in the Council Chamber. We left very quickly.”
Annis said the McCallum scandal has taken the spotlight in the town hall recently, distracting itself from other important issues.
Locke and Hundial’s calls for the mayor to step down were echoed.
“Our only focus on the city right now is the mayor’s misbehavior … he has to step aside so we can get on with business,” Annis said.
“They basically made it happen”
Coun. Laurie Guerra accused the two councilors of instigating the bustling scene at Monday’s council meeting.
“They basically made it happen. How would people know they were showing up?” Guerra told CBC.
According to Guerra, many of the people in the audience were from the advocacy group Keep the RCMP in Surrey.
“It’s a political motivation, it’s from certain councilors running against the mayor and that’s what they’re doing. They’re inciting these people to run, to be disruptive … I find it embarrassing,” Guerra said.
Guerra said his lawyers have advised McCallum not to talk about his charges.
“People are innocent until proven guilty.”
The situation has aroused the calls of a municipal integrity commissioner who has the power to investigate and remove elected officials for crimes. Other provinces, such as Ontario and Quebec, already have this position.
BC Minister of Municipal Affairs Nathan Cullen told The Early Edition that he is ready to work with city leaders on this at the annual BC Municipalities Union convention this fall.
McCallum declined to comment to CBC about the meeting and calls for his resignation. He is due to deliver his 2022 state of the city address on Wednesday morning.