SURREY, B.C.: The BC Conservatives are supporting the City of Surrey’s calls for additional federal resources to combat the escalating extortion crisis in their community. The federal government has the power to direct additional RCMP officers and other supports to help the municipality deal with this wave of violence.

Surrey has been calling for more resources for months including a police helicopter. It is a clear failure of provincial leadership when municipalities are looking to the federal government for the support the province should be providing.

The Eby government is more focused on communications than criminals, posting photo-ops with Federal Ministers and patting themselves on the back with press conferences announcing what they have done and not what they will do.

Municipalities are on the front lines of this escalating crisis and have been demanding additional support for months, but the Eby government has failed to address the situation with the urgency and resources it deserves.

Conservative Interim Leader Trevor Halford, MLA for Surrey-White Rock, “This crisis did not come out of nowhere. The warning signs were clear, yet Premier Eby’s government failed to act while extortion and violence escalated. When a city council unanimously says the situation exceeds municipal capacity and is forced to ask Ottawa for emergency powers, it reflects a failure of provincial leadership,” said Halford.

Steve Kooner, Critic for the Attorney General, said the situation reflects a cyclic breakdown. “The situation reflects a breakdown in the cycle of enforcement, prosecution, and deterrence. Organized criminal networks were allowed to grow while the provincial government reactively relied on updates, summits, and statements instead of decisive action”, said Kooner.

Macklin McCall, Critic for Public Safety, said Surrey’s request for extraordinary federal measures is a direct indictment of provincial inaction. “Public safety is not optional. Federal resources from either the national RCMP or CSIS would go a long way to tracking these suspects and assisting with results in these investigations. This government has been reactionary and slow to prioritize BC when it comes to this national issue and it’s well past time for that to change,” said McCall.

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Francesca Guetchev, Press Secretary
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