Jack Hundial has become the third councillor to resign from Mayor Doug McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition
He follows former councillors Steven Pettigrew and Brenda Locke, who both sit as independents after they left the party citing similar problems with McCallum’s leadership.
Concerns over city’s planned transition from the RCMP to a municipal police force are at the heart of Hundial’s decision
"We can make it happen, but it should be a community project, with community input. The mayor has not been open to public input," he says.
"I am sure Vancouver would not accept less police officers for more money, why should Surrey?" he wrote of Mayor Doug McCallum's plans for a municipal police force.
Hundial also blasted the city plan to have fewer police officers in its new independent force than it currently has in the existing Surrey RCMP.
"This will make Surrey less safe. This is the opposite of what people want," he wrote in the statement.
The transition away from the Surrey RCMP has been a contentious issue around the community, as well as within council.
The City of Surrey is working to establish a municipal police force to replace the RCMP by April 1, 2021.
Coun. Jack Hundial worked as an RCMP officer for 25 years before he was elected as part of McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition last fall.
