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Surrey mayor under
fire over credit sharing for Sikh gurdwara
WSN Bureau
METRO
VANCOUVER:
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts misused her office by appearing to take
partisan credit for a building permit issued to Dasmesh Darbar Sikh
Gurdwara for a new youth centre, Coun. Bob Bose charged Friday.
Watts and her
Surrey First candidates visited the Gurdwara Thursday night to
celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.
Earlier in the day, city staff had issued the long-awaited permit
for the youth centre.
During the
gurdwara stop,
Watts was asked
to present the permit and the centre plans to management committee
members for a ceremonial photo in front of about 1,000 congregants,
The Vancouver Sun reported quoting Coun. Tom Gill, a Watts running
mate.
Gill said the
gurdwara management presumed that it was fitting for the permit to
come from the mayor and council, simply because the mayor and
council were conveniently there.
But Bose said
the city council was not invited to the event.
"The optics are
really quite awful. They suggest that the mayor has powers that she
does not have. I think it does the community a disservice," said
Bose, who is running under the Surrey Civic Coalition banner.
"It sends a
message that is misleading. It leaves the impression that she
actually exercises the authority to issue permits, which she does
not."
Watts said she
was not trying to make the event partisan at all, but was simply at
the temple to celebrate the religious day with the community.
"There was
nothing untoward. They have been working on this five years and they
picked it up that day - that is it. I was there. I did not speak
about politics. I did not speak about anything other than dropping
in there on the celebration of the Guru's birthday," she said.
Gill said temple
leaders may have given
Watts and the
Surrey First candidates credit for the permit in their Punjabi
speeches to the crowd, but that none of the candidates did so.
"There were some
enthusiastic comments made last night," he said.
Dasmesh Darbar
has been denied a charitable number by the Canada Revenue Agency
because of links to the International Sikh Youth Federation, a
banned group.
19 November
2008
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