McCallum says Metro Vancouver’s Friday budget meeting should be cancelled out of respect for voters

Metro Vancouver’s outgoing board will decide Friday whether to vote on its 2027 budget and five-year financial plan or defer them to a future meeting. Surrey mayor-elect Doug McCallum is calling for the meeting to be cancelled altogether, arguing that incoming politicians should deal with the plan after voters replaced 13 mayors in 21 municipalities on Oct. 17.

“Thirteen days after voters replaced 13 mayors, the old board plans to sit down and pass next year’s budget. That is not how you treat voters,” McCallum said. He urged the board chair and directors to cancel Friday’s meeting. If an item truly cannot wait four weeks, he said, the board should deal with that item and leave everything else to the board chosen by voters. “Nothing in 1,190 pages is more urgent than that,” he said.

Friday is the outgoing board’s final meeting before new councils are sworn in next week. McCallum noted that the next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 27, when the new councils will be operating and will have chosen their directors. By law, the board has until March 31 to adopt its financial plan.

“This is about respect for the voters,” McCallum said. Surrey holds 29 votes on the board, and he said next year’s budget should be decided only by directors chosen by the council Surrey voters elected on Oct. 17.

Jillian Glover, Metro Vancouver’s program manager for media relations and issues management, told the Now-Leader the board will consider other items on Friday. She said the board could decide then whether to receive items such as the 2027 budget for information or refer them to a future meeting. The Local Government Act recognizes the continuity of the board and allows a regional district board to finish what it has started, she said.

The budget scheduled for consideration Friday follows a process that began in April and included public consultation. It proposes a $17 increase, or 1.9 per cent, over last year, below the previously proposed three per cent target. Glover said the budget is typically considered and approved in October so cities have time to develop their own financial plans for the next year. She said the timing follows Metro Vancouver’s established budget process.

During the election campaign, McCallum said his Safe Surrey Coalition would withdraw from the Metro Vancouver Regional District if it won a majority, while remaining connected only for core utility services: water, sewer and waste. The coalition did win a majority. Surrey’s new council is scheduled to hold its inaugural meeting on Monday, Nov. 2.