New policy institute to keep an eye on Surrey city hall

The first independent civic policy Surrey research institute has launched — this comes after years of independent research being primarily based and focused on Vancouver despite Surrey’s growing population and size. 

Executive director Mohkam Singh Malik explained he was inspired to establish Metro Surrey after being one of the only members of the public attending city council during the approval of Surrey’s billion-dollar budget. 

“[The budget] wasn’t sensationalized … but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t important,” he said. “It’s just no one was there to talk about it and … there was a lot of important things that came up in that budget.”

On what experience himself and director of policy and research Irtaza Ahmad bring to the institute, Malik said both are political science students and have experience in advocacy. He added they are currently onboarding other “research associates,” with the goal to take publicly available data and disseminate it to residents in an accessible way. 

“There’s data in the city that should be analyzed and released to the public in an extremely accessible way. If no one else is going to do it, we’ll do it,” said Malik.  

He explained the institute would be utilizing a lot of city data and the census to look for Surrey-specific solutions instead of having to rely on the Vancouver-based institutions for answers. 

“Right now our stories and our solutions are being told by someone else, someone who doesn’t share our commutes, our emergency room wait times or our rent. So it’s going to be hard for them to understand the context of our city.”

Metro Surrey’s first publication will be mayoral interviews conducted with Surrey Connect, Surrey NOW, Surrey First, Conservative Party of Surrey and Imagine Surrey. Mayoral candidates were asking policy specific questions surrounding topics like housing or the BRT along King George Boulevard.

The institute’s website includes several other topics the team hopes to publish reports on soon like accessible public infrastructure and a budget breakdown. Malik said they chose these topics after speaking to residents about what they wanted to know. 

“We just went around asking residents, ‘What would you like to see? If you only have 20 minutes, because big government isn’t that interesting, or you’re a working class person [and] you don’t get a lot of free time. What do you need to make an informed decision?’”

Malik and Ahmad also both work at MTS Strategies, which aids organizations, politicians and businesses wanting to build their online presence and platform. 

Malik said working at both organizations will not pose a conflict as MTS has purposely chosen to not work with any Surrey municipal parties and their main work is now done with businesses. 

Come December, Metro Surrey is aiming to always have one person attending city council meetings and sifting through corporate reports to be able to identify what statistics and information is flying under the radar. 

“We’re hoping that through our research and through the work that we’re doing, we’ll be able to shine a greater spotlight on the good things that are happening in the city … and also where residents’ voices need to be heard … so that we can have a greater level of democratic discourse and hopefully a better and stronger future for our city.”