Former Liberal public safety minister and solicitor general Mike Morris says the NDP provincial government is sa国际传媒渦surpingsa国际传媒� the ability of cities to decide who polices them by introducing amendments to the Police Act on Monday designed to force Surrey to proceed with the Surrey Police Service rather than the Surrey RCMP.

Morris, who currently serves as the Official Oppositionsa国际传媒檚 shadow minister to Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, said from the get-go he could not understand how the provincial government arrived at its firm stance on ordering Surrey to go with the SPS.

sa国际传媒淭he information was not there, the Province has been very reluctant to reveal the information that they used, that the minister used, in arriving at his decision to move forward and here we are today where they are usurping the sanctity or decision-making process that municipalities have in deciding who polices their municipality,sa国际传媒� Morris told reporters Tuesday. sa国际传媒淚 think this is the wrong direction to go and intend to look at this in depth during the committee stage moving forward over the next few days.sa国际传媒�

Morris, now with BC United (formerly BC Liberals), was public safety minister and solicitor general from December 2015 to July 2017.

Peter Milobar, labour critic with BC United, charged that this is sa国际传媒渏ust the latestsa国际传媒� in the provincial governmentsa国际传媒檚 sa国际传媒渉eavy handsa国际传媒� approach to municipalities.

sa国际传媒淭his is a piece of legislation that is changing because frankly the governmentsa国际传媒檚 mishandling of this file so badly and itsa国际传媒檚 created them to have to change a piece of legislation that has functioned perfectly fine on police forces and decisions local governments make on who will police them literally for decades in this province.

Milobar said the sa国际传媒渓ack of transparencysa国际传媒� in this transition is sa国际传媒渧ery concerningsa国际传媒� and has ramifications for municipalities across the province that have RCMP detachments that the provincial government sa国际传媒渨ill not talk about.sa国际传媒�

sa国际传媒淥bviously a detachment the size of Surrey has a very large portion of the overall municipal complement in the province of B.C. Those costs are going to be now shouldered by all the other municipalities out there that are over 5,000 people that have RCMP as their police of jurisdiction, and so theresa国际传媒檚 a lot of transparency issues.sa国际传媒�

Milobar charged the provincial government with bringing in a sa国际传媒渟ledgehammer piece of legislation instead of dealing with the issue that theysa国际传媒檝e created in the first place.sa国际传媒�