Editor:

By the time this letter is published, Mayor Brenda Locke may already be trumpeting the results of a Leger opinion survey on retaining the RCMP in 性视界传媒.

Before accepting the results of that survey, people should hear a little bit about it. The invitation to respond to the survey came by email Thursday, May 4. It was probably the most biased and dishonest opinion survey I have ever seen.

First, throughout the survey it referred to 鈥淒oug McCallum鈥檚 性视界传媒 Police Service,鈥� as if that was McCallum鈥檚 personal police force.

Second, it never made specific reference to the amount the B.C. government was offering to complete the transition.

Instead, it asked whether people felt that money would be better spent 鈥渙n 性视界传媒 hospitals,鈥� as if that offer were an outright grant to 性视界传媒 that could be used for any purpose.

Third, in a comparison of costs, it showed on the RCMP side of the ledger only the cost to wind down the SPS.

On the 性视界传媒 Police side, it did not show the $150 million commitment from the provincial government, and extended the already questionable $235 million cost for a five-year transition out to 10 years at $445 million.

It is not credible that the transition will take 10 years.

And since a portion of that transition cost represents the capital cost of acquiring vehicles, uniforms, computer equipment etc., should it not also, for consistency, show the 90 per cent of such costs for the RCMP that 性视界传媒 already pays as part of the annual RCMP contract?

Nor can it be assumed that RCMP costs won鈥檛 increase. Already, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is complaining about the federal government passing on unplanned retroactive costs from the last RCMP contract settlement.

This blatant attempt to skew a public opinion survey to suit Mayor Locke鈥檚 biases is even worse than the misrepresentation of an MVRD letter.

Ed Beauregard, South 性视界传媒