VancouverMETRO VANCOUVER NEWS
David Eby vows to support a Surrey Charter so the city can control its own future
At a Surrey campaign stop, BC NDP Leader David Eby promised to support a city charter and outlined two transit pledges if the party is re-elected: eliminating a $45 bus pass charge for low-income seniors and funding bus rapid transit to White Rock with $250 million.
BC NDP Leader David Eby was in Surrey on Thursday morning, Oct. 15, for another campaign event as B.C.’s election approaches. At a Chevron station on 120 Street, Eby and other NDP candidates announced two transit-related pledges and promised support for a Surrey Charter. If re-elected, Eby said, an NDP government would eliminate the $45 charge low-income seniors pay to get a bus pass and commit $250 million to bus rapid transit from Surrey to White Rock. The project is currently in TransLink’s planning stage.
Eby said the charter pledge reflects Surrey’s development. He said Surrey may already be B.C.’s largest city and will also be a hub of economic activity for the province and the country. He said the NDP would support the City of Surrey and its residents in pursuing a charter so the city could control its own future and deliver for residents, as Vancouver does under its charter. He described the pledge as recognizing that Surrey has arrived.
In 2024, Surrey city council approved in concept a proposed charter that would give city hall additional powers, responsibilities and exemptions to address the city’s size and diversity. The Vancouver Charter is a provincial statute passed in 1953. It gives Vancouver a distinct set of rules and powers; other B.C. municipalities are governed under the provincial Local Government Act. Vancouver’s website says the charter authorizes council to pass bylaws on matters such as noise and land use, buy and sell property, collect certain taxes, approve spending, take on debt, provide grants, and hire and dismiss employees.
On Oct. 1, Eby was at a Fleetwood gas station and promised to suspend the provincial motor fuel tax by 10 cents a litre, one of two measures intended to help protect drivers from rising pump prices. B.C.’s political leaders have visited Surrey frequently throughout October. The city’s support was split between the NDP and Conservatives in the 2024 provincial election.
Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, Eby said a re-elected NDP government would work with municipal leaders who have offered land to the province for a new health-care facility in Surrey. He was referring to a civic election promise by the Safe Surrey Coalition to build a new hospital in Newton on King George Boulevard. Eby’s Thursday event can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/live/BuATf_3NOK8. With a file from Zytaruk.