Vaughn Palmer: Eby drops hints of a ‘no’ to Surrey returning to RCMP

VICTORIA — Though Premier David Eby travelled all the way to Winnipeg to meet with the other Canadian premiers this week, he was still dogged by questions about the bitter standoff over policing in Surrey.

“I think the people of Surrey are tired of the issue of policing,” said Eby during a news conference Tuesday. “Certainly, I feel the fatigue as well, and we’re looking forward to resolution of this issue.”

Yet the premier knew more than he could say about Surrey’s current proposal to abandon its stand-alone police force and return to the RCMP for policing services.

“I have reviewed those materials myself as well,” he told reporters. “I’ve entered into the non-disclosure agreement to be able to do that, so I can’t speak about what they presented.”

Surrey insisted on the non-disclosure agreement, after the province imposed a non-disclosure agreement on the report where it asked the city to abandon the plan to return to the RCMP.