As has been well documented, Surrey has received no capital funding for new school construction for the past six years.

While it’s easy to blame the provincial government, Surrey Council has to accept its share of the blame as well. We have to ask ourselves, if there are no new schools being built, why are we continuing to develop like there’s no tomorrow?

In the 2008 election, the Surrey Civic Coalition was the only party in Surrey which ran candidates for both City Council and the Board of Education. This is because only the SCC thought it was important enough to have these two levels of government work together.

That’s what SCC believes in: Working together. Whether it’s the council and school board working together to ensure schools are in place or whether it’s council and school trustees working together with neighbourhoods to engage citizens in making decisions, that’s the SCC way.

When (SCC Councillor) Bob Bose was Mayor of Surrey, development permits were put on hold until the funding the necessary school was in place. Bose was accused of being anti-development but nothing could be further from the truth (Bose actually guided Surrey through its’ fastest rate of growth ever).

What really happened was the development industry and the local real estate market joined the lobby for new schools in Surrey. The result? New schools were built at a record pace whether it was the Social Credit or NDP governments in Victoria.

Working together is not what you get with Dianne Watts’ one horse show. Maybe Dianne and Surrey First should take a lesson from Bob Bose and the SCC.