A lawyer for B.C.’s Public Safety Ministry says the City of Surrey is seeking a “radical expansion” of freedom-of-expression protections under Canada’s charter in its legal dispute with the province over policing in the city.
“Essentially what the city of Surrey is saying is that because mayor and council were elected on a platform of keeping the RCMP in Surrey although there were also a lot of other components to their platform… And because this was a part of the mandate that they started acting on as soon as they took office. It is essentially the will of the people who expressed that will by voting them in and therefore participated in freedom of expression. For the province to say ‘we’re not going to honor that’, they’ve essentially quashed the people’s right to speak and be heard…”
