Surrey Civic Coalition is doing its best to mount concerted opposition to Mayor Dianne Watts and her allies on council and the board of education, but the fact remains there is little to oppose.
The lack of issues on which to campaign against Watts and Surrey First was illustrated by the comments of Stephanie Ryan at the first of two SCC nomination meetings Saturday. Ryan, a young and energetic candidate for council who first ran in 2008 and was recently SCC president, bemoaned the issue of portables on Surrey school grounds.
She’s right – it’s a problem. But it will be hard for SCC to blame either Watts’ council or board of education allies for doing nothing about it. The problem rests in Victoria, where the provincial Liberals have been stingy with school capital dollars for years.
The portable issue illustrates another one of SCC’s challenges. Because it is closely allied with the NDP through interlocking memberships, some of its energy is focused on the provincial scene. Of course, many local issues have strong connections to Victoria.
Yet Watts and the two Surrey First groups (one for council and one for the board of education) also have their differences with Victoria. They aren’t trying to make them into wedge issues for use in a provincial election, but seek to solve them through dialogue.
Every effort the NDP has made to be a force in Surrey politics has ended in defeat. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, For All Surrey Group (FAST) was made up exclusively of NDPers wanting to unseat council and school board members. Several of them were successful. Garry Watkins was a member of council for years. Jim Karpoff served a term on council, and was later NDP MP for Surrey-North. Betty McClurg was a long-time school trustee.
FAST fell apart as a result of the unpopularity of the Dave Barrett NDP government.
The next and most direct NDP involvement in the Surrey civic scene was that of Surrey Civic Electors – an arm of the provincial NDP. It too had some initial success, controlling the school board, and electing Bob Bose to three terms as mayor. Gary Robinson (running again for council this year) was one of his allies on council, as was Bruce Ralston, now Surrey-Whalley MLA.
Penny Priddy, who served in the Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark NDP cabinets, was an SCE trustee, although she was first elected with Surrey Municipal Electors, a group that included candidates of all political persuasions.
In addition to its dominance by NDP members, SCC is running against a Surrey First slate that includes several NDPers. At the board of education, two NDP members who were first elected with SCC have switched to the Surrey First Education group, striking a near-fatal blow to SCC’s chances of taking over the board this fall.
Watts, clearly the guiding light at Surrey First, is a popular mayor and a firm centrist. She is more issue-based than ideological. While she is associated with the BC Liberals, she doesn’t hesitate to criticize them over issues like portables, the Port Mann Bridge tolling plan and lack of transit.
Her popularity gives all those allied with her on council and the school board a huge advantage.
SCC has given it a good try in recent elections and will do so again this fall – but it isn’t likely to make much of a dent in the Watts machine.
Frank Bucholtz is the editor of The Langley Times. He writes weekly for The Leader.