One city councillor say there isn't room in the budget for a canal in Surrey

The mayor of Surrey says he plans to follow through on a plan to build a canal in the city

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The mayor of Surrey says the idea to build a canal in the city’s Bridgeview neighbourhood is moving full steam ahead.

In a radio interview on Monday, Doug McCallum said he is planning to follow through on building a canal near the Pattullo Bridge, an idea he brought up earlier this year. The mayor said he was inspired by canals in Qatar and Venice, and believed the idea could work in Surrey.

But one councillor isn’t too keen on the idea, and says there isn’t enough money in the budget to start digging out a canal. Jack Hundial says the draft budget they’re working with right now doesn’t have the room.

“I wonder if it’s just a bit of a ruse to sort of take the pressure off talking about issues with the policing file.”

Hundial says the project isn’t considered a major capital project in the upcoming budget.

“Which is quite surprising because you can’t just start digging out canals in the city without certainly spending a little bit of money on it,” he says. “It’s really disingenuous to the public. It really is. It’s disingenuous to the public, to the staff. Staff put a lot of time and effort into putting the report together and they’re facing some very, very significant challenges.”

He says Bridgeview already has problems related to flooding, and a canal could be a very complicated addition to the landscape.

With files from Sonia Aslam