Trial for B.C. mayor charged with public mischief

SURREY, B.C. - The outgoing mayor of Surrey, B.C., is set to face a charge of public mischief at the start of a trial today, two weeks after his defeat at the polls.

Doug McCallum lost by 973 votes in one of the most hotly anticipated municipal election results in the province, after he promised to forge ahead with a plan to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force if he won a fifth term.

McCallum ran his campaign against the backdrop of the charge laid last December, four months after he complained to the RCMP that a woman collecting signatures to keep the Mounties in Surrey ran over his foot outside a grocery store.

But instead of the woman being charged, it was McCallum, following an investigation by the RCMP's Major Crime Section, which took over the case from Surrey RCMP to avoid a real or perceived conflict of interest or improper influence.

McCallum has not commented publicly about his legal woes and did not avail himself for media interviews during his bid for re-election.

McCallum's legal bills are being covered by the city, but mayor-elect Brenda Locke has maintained taxpayers should not be paying because the alleged mischief occurred on McCallum's own time.