A study on the economic impact of the annual Vaisakhi parade in Surrey has opened up a contentious front in the mayoral race at one of the fastest growing cities in Canada.
The study commissioned by the South Asian Post to look at the rising policing costs for the parade triggered widespread response in Surrey’s South Asian community with two of the three mayoral candidates – Doug McCallum and Linda Hepner – being described as ’political grandstanding and politically dumb’
The other candidate, Barinder Rasode’s response, which calls for a more in-depth study before a decision is made to eliminate or subsidize policing costs for public parades and community events, is “prudent and politically savvy’ said political pundits.
At issue is whether community events, such as Vaisakhi, the Christmas parade in Surrey and the Ride to Conquer Cancer, have to foot the bill for policing costs.
For the last eleven years, a Parade has been held in Surrey in April, on the day of Vaisakhi. It is organized by volunteers, and attracts tens of thousands of participants and visitors each year. According to the organizers, the 2014 Parade had record attendance and attracted approximately 250,000 people.
It is the largest such parade held outside of India.
Organisers of this event have had to fork out some $80,000 in policing costs every year and have been trying to get the city to either waive or subsidize the amount given the economic benefits it brings to the community.
The preliminary economic impact study commissioned by the South Asian Post  to help the organisers strengthen their pitch to the city was done by MNP LLP.
It was the brainchild of South Asian Post publisher Harbinder Singh Sewak, who has over the years created a higher profile for the event by organizing the inclusion of the Canadian Armed Forces and foreign diplomats in the celebration of Vaisakhi.
“We provided the data to MNP who prepared this report…but it requires a more in-depth study,” said Sewak.
Among the key findings of the preliminary study by MNP, which followed an input-output methodology using economic multipliers published by Statistics Canada, are;
•According to estimates provided by Parade organizers, 40 percent of the 2014 Parade visitors were local residents and 60 percent were out-of-town visitors;
• Total spending on the 2014 parade operations by organizers and participants is estimated at between $8.5 million and $16.0 million;
• The 2014 parade is estimated to have contributed between $6.6 million and $12.3 million in GDP for the provincial economy, supported between 116 and 215 FTE jobs, and contributed between $2.3 million and $4.4 million in tax revenues for federal, provincial and municipal governments;
• Total spending by out-of-town visitors to the 2014 Parade is estimated at between $14.2 million and $29.8 million;
• It is estimated that 2,500 participant groups incurred expenditures in the range of $3,000 to $6,000 per group, on average;
• The average length of stay was 7 days for visitors from the rest of BC, 15 days for visitors from the rest of Canada, 15 days for visitors from the US, and 30 days for other international visitors.
Sewak said he was encouraged by the initial results but is disappointed mayoral candidates Doug McCallum and Linda Hepner, made political pronouncements on policing costs on the parade without even looking at the report.
McCallum rushed to announce that all community parades would not be charged any policing cost, should he become the mayor.
He told an OMNI TV interview that taxpayers fork out some $125 million to the Surrey RCMP every year and that should be enough to cover the policing costs of the community events.
He was immediately accused of ‘political grandstanding’ by Hepner, who said she is not in favor of waiving the policing costs for Vaisakhi or any other event.
“Not charging is political grand standing,” she told OMNI.
Mayoral candidate Barinder Rasode said anyone who is going to be the mayor, should look at what they are doing for all communities.
“Making promises or dismissing them without hard facts is wrong,” she said.
“Its election time, saying yes to everything will be just that, empty promises, or later to say no budget or no studies were done.
“Making promises are easy but should be followed with facts and figures…saying no or evading questions are also wrong for the same reasons,” said Rasode.
Rasode said she is supportive of the requests to reduce or waiver costs for the Vaisakhi parade and other events that benefit the community but wants a full economic impact study done for each one of them.
‘Organisers of progressive community events deserve to have a fair hearing and this can be done by having hard economic facts,” she said.
Political commentators watching the Surrey municipal elections campaign agreed that Rasode’s comments were politically savvy and sound while the other two were speaking without the facts.
“Doug looks like he is grandstanding, Hepner looks politically dumb in this context,” said a campaign insider.
Baljinder S. Khaira, spokesman for Dashmesh Gurdwara Sahib, which organizes the Vaisakhi event in Surrey, said politicians have made many promises on this issue over the years.
“We have been talking to city hall for years but the (policing) goes up every year. “
While denying policing cost relief for Vaisakhi and other community events, Surrey RCMP spent roughly $30,000 to cover the 2014 Surrey Regional Economic Summit last February.
The City of Surrey and the Business Council of British Columbia organized the Surrey Regional Economic Summit, which was launched in 2008. The events feature high profile local, national and international presenters who discuss issues such as economics, finance and global politics.
The City of Surrey has always insisted the events come at no cost to taxpayers, and funds from ticket sales finance the event.
Coun. Linda Hepner, who was co-chair of the summit, was quoted as saying that Surrey RCMP extracted from its regular operating budget to cover its costs.
“If there had been a visiting dignitary from India at the (Vaisakhi) parade, there would have been a protocol that would have fit in there,” Hepner said. “Once you tell (the police) who’s coming, there are national requirements.”
Speakers at last year’s summit were former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, former Greek prime minister George Papandreou and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.