Taxpayers pay for Surrey police survey that will guide NDP campaign

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VICTORIA – The New Democrats are using public money to conduct an opinion poll in Surrey this month to see how their handling of the police standoff is influencing that city’s electorate.

Finance Minister Katrine Conroy admitted in the legislature last week to approving the survey, even as she downplayed the importance of the New Democrats’ survey on that issue in a key battleground in this year’s election.

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“Voting is done in the Surrey community,” Conroy confirmed under persistent questioning from BC United MLA Peter Milobar. “Investigations are ongoing at this time. But it’s in the field, so we don’t have the results yet.”

He also could not confirm the cost, although he did acknowledge that a similar general survey, conducted last year, cost about $25,000.

What was the point of conducting surveys on policing in Surrey?

The New Democrats say the provincial government-ordered transition from the RCMP to Surrey Police Services is a done deal and cannot be reversed, even in court.

Was Conroy suggesting that an unfavorable election result could lead the government to reverse the decision?

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth had made it “pretty clear,” Conroy responded. “The answer is no.'”

Milobar lunged at him.

“Well, then it’s a shame that we’re spending money on polls that will be essentially irrelevant, because the decision has already been made and the transition is going to happen, regardless of what the poll actually says. “So it seems strange to be in the field with all the other things we might be polling about as a government these days.”

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Unless, of course, the poll was conducted to help the NDP craft a viable re-election strategy in a community where it holds seven of the nine seats and hopes to win the 10th to be added this year through electoral redistribution.

The issue was of provincial importance, Conroy said.

“What’s happening in Surrey also affects the entire province because it’s also about the RCMP.

Milobar pressed the Finance Minister over suspicious evidence that emerged in relation to an earlier inquiry in Surrey into the policing issue.

Bob Mackin, owner of online news service The Breaker, obtained a copy of that earlier survey under the province’s access to information law.

He found it included breakdowns of how policing was developing in six areas of Surrey: Fleetwood, Whalley/Centre, South Surrey, Newton, Guildford and Cloverdale.

Those are also the names of six of Surrey’s nine provincial electoral districts. The others are White Rock, Green Timbers and Panorama.

“Why the need to get into those granular details of the neighborhood,” Milobar asked, when Conroy also insisted that “this is really about community-wide policing?”

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The goal was to get a sense of what the issue was viewed in “Surrey’s major recognized communities,” Conroy explained.

“Everyone refers to them as important communities within Surrey. And there are also variations in the communities used, such as socioeconomics, age, income, and ethnicity. … These are all important factors in getting a full picture of communities individually and communities as a whole when conducting research.”

Good. And it is only a coincidence that the six regions also share the names of six of Surrey’s current nine constituencies.

The survey should conclude at the end of this month. How would the figures be shared then?

Well, not with just anyone, Conroy assured the legislature.

“We share research and insights with senior officials across government who are responsible for shaping public policy and making decisions related to government delivery.”

It is not necessary when Conroy, quoting Farnworth, said the decision has already been made and is irreversible.

Who else? NDP AML? Re-election strategists? The party’s formidable array of trolls on social media?

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“Just cabinet,” Conroy said.

In another striking coincidence, four of the cabinet ministers – Bruce Ralston, Harry Bains, Rachna Singh and Jagrup Brar – represent Surrey constituencies, where the poll’s insights could be of more than passing interest as the election approaches.

What if a member of the public wanted to know the results after the data was collected?

“The government is prepared to share information through the freedom of information process,” Conroy said.

Not everything, mind you.

“Through the freedom of information process, some investigations are redacted when they are deemed confidential by cabinet.”

There is no need for confidentiality in this case. The cabinet has already made its decision and made it public: Surrey must proceed with the SPS, with no turning back.

Conroy did not dispute that the findings should be shared with the public.

“No one is playing around with freedom of information requests here,” he assured Milobar. “I am confident that if the member requests an FOI for a general survey investigation relating to Surrey Police, the member or whoever requests it will get it.”

Consider me skeptical of the minister’s statement.

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But I have no doubt that the New Democrats and their re-election team will have the results of this taxpayer-funded political research as soon as they need them.

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