The BC Conservatives are lending their voice to Surrey council’s call for a full public inquiry into Metro Vancouver’s “disorganized mess.”
Linda Hepner, a former Surrey mayor and current MLA for Surrey-Serpentine River called on the provincial minister of housing and municipal affairs to immediately order an inquiry.
“Metro Vancouver has become an unaccountable, disorganized mess. This government promised it would step in two years ago. Another broken promise from this BC NDP government,” Hepner said.
She noted there have been longstanding concerns about Metro’s “financial stewardship, fairness, withholding of records, wastefulness, and possible breaches of legal and contractual obligations.”
Hepner noted the “disaster of a project that is the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant” saw its budget balloon from $700 million to $3.86 billion.
“North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is $3 billion over budget. That’s not the only project that Metro Vancouver has mismanaged. This is a pattern of mismanagement,” Hepner noted.
She slammed the BC NDP government for refusing to act.
“It is time for this government to stop avoiding responsibility and do the right thing for the people of Metro Vancouver,” Hepner said. “Residents and municipalities have rightfully lost trust in Metro Vancouver, and they deserve accountability. I am calling on the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs to do the right thing and order a full public inquiry today.”
On April 13 Surrey council voted to lodge a formal complaint against Metro and called for a public inquiry, with the lieutenant governor’s blessing, into how Metro is doing business, with all costs to be shouldered by Metro.
Mayor Brenda Locke presented a motion in which she declared that Metro “has conducted its business in a manner that is unfairly oppressive to, prejudicial to, and disregards the interests of the City and other member municipalities.”