Frankly Speaking

When the BC Liberal government under then-premier Gordon Campbell decided to replace the original Port Mann Bridge (pictured) and upgrade Highway 1 between Vancouver and Langley, it failed to see how unfair it was to only charge bridge users a toll to pay for the entire project. That inequity has been rectified by their successors, the new NDP government under Premier John Horgan. Stephen Rees photo On Friday, Premier John Horgan announced that tolls would be removed from the Port Mann Bridge and the Golden Ears Bridge, effective Sept. 1. This fulfills a key election promise made by the NDP – one that likely made the difference between winning and losing the provincial election. They picked up four seats in North Surrey and Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows (and a fifth one in North Delta). There is no doubt that the pledge to remove the tolls was a key factor in some voters switching their loyalty from the BC Liberals to the NDP in all those ridings. (The importance of this pr...

My father Art Bucholtz (left), whose first business in Cloverdale opened in 1946 on a lot purchased from Alan Davidson (right), enjoyed chatting with him and longtime Cloverdale notary public El Fedewich (centre). They all were at the memorial service for another longtime Cloverdale businessman, Allan Dann, in January, 2016. Frank Bucholtz photo Alan Davidson, who died on July 25 at the age of 99, was a key part of Surrey’s “greatest generation.” The term “greatest generation” comes from the title of a book by longtime NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw. He applied it to the young men and women who lived through the Depression of the 1930s, took part in the Second World War, and on returning home, had much to do with all the changes and advances that followed. Davidson qualifies on all counts. Born in Vancouver in 1918, he grew up on a small farm in the Tynehead area, not far from Barnston Island. He came to Cloverdale to attend Surrey High School – the only high school in the...

A large birthday party was just one of many events underway at Hawthorne Park on Saturday. Frank Bucholtz photo For those people who oppo se Surrey council's decision to put a major road through Hawthorne Park, the forms which are part of the alternative approval process can now be obtained. These forms need to be filled out and signed by those who are eligible to vote in a Surrey municipal election. That means they must be Canadian citizens, 18 years or older and have lived in Surrey for (at minimum) the past 30 days. If more than 30,372 eligible voters fill out the forms and get them back to city hall by the deadline of Sept. 22, council will have a dilemma on its hands. It will have the choice of scrapping its plan for the road (which is part of its larger plan to build an LRT line along 104 Avenue) or putting its decision to rescind park protection bylaws relating to the park to a referendum. Neither choice is one that council members want to make. A communicati...

Hawthorne Park is popular with neighbourhood residents, as it is a quiet oasis in a very busy part of Surrey between Whalley and Guildford. Surrey council has voted to put 105 Avenue through the park, adding a great deal of traffic and cutting the park in two. While council has made its final decision, citizens who disagree can fill out a form to oppose the action through what is known as the alternative approval process. More than 30,000 forms need to be returned to city hall by mid-September in order to stop the council action. Frank Bucholtz photo In the past 10 years, Surrey council has become more and more remote from the huge number of people it governs. The last time there was a competitive election was in 2005, when Dianne Watts challenged incumbent mayor Doug McCallum and his dominant Surrey Electors Team (SET) which she had been part of. Watts went on to win and eventually corralled almost all the incumbent councillors, SET and otherwise, into the Surrey Firs...