OFFICE OF THE MAYOR I MAYOR WAYNE BALDWIN
WHITE R9CK, B.C., CANADA
1957 -2017
\lVHITE
ROCK
ADDRESS:
CITY HALL ADMIN ISTRATION
15322 BU ENA VISTA AVENUE
WHI TE ROCI<, BRITISH COLUMBIA
V4B l Y6, CANADA
CONTACT:
TEL: 604.541.2124
FAX: 604.54 1.9348
EMAIL:
WBA LD WIN@WH ITEROC I<CJTY.CA
WEBSITE:
WWWWH ITEROCKCITY.CA
November 27, 2017
File No: 0220-30
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A OA2
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau :
Re: Visit to the City of White Rock, British Columbia, on Wednesday, November 15,
2017
On behalf of the City of White Rock I would like to express our appreciation to you for
having taken the time to visit our community on November 15 . It was certainly a
positive and exciting experience for those of all ages in attendance . On behalf of
Council, I want to also express my sincerest apologies for not being there to officially
greet you at City Hall and welcome you to our City.
Regrettably, the Mayor's Office and staff were not advised of your arrival and the
details of your visit, which included the use of City Hall for over 30 minutes by the
candidate for South Surrey-White Rock and your staff associated with the visit who
assessed the tour route while awaiting your arrival.
It would have been a wonderful opportunity and honour for Council and City staff to
have been made aware of your visit in advance, even on short notice, and to have
prepared to be present to take part in welcoming you to the City of White Rock. I
sure ly would have excused myself temporarily from a three day Union of BC
Municipalities Executive meeting in Richmond to welcome you .
As it is an honour and privilege to have the Prime Minister of Canada visit a
community; however, we were very surprised that City Hall was used as a scouting
and refuge area without our advanced knowledge and that proper Protocols and
Procedures were not followed for such a high-profile visit .
We are hopeful that in the future, you are able to visit the City of White Rock again ;
and, that your staff and the local representative for the Liberal Party of Canada would
reach out to us in advance so that City Hall and staff are prepared for such a unique
opportunity. Preparations would have included ensuring space was set aside in City
Hall to accommodate your staff's needs around the visit, that we minimized potential
customer service interruptions and address any pedestrian and vehicle safety issues
in and around City Hall where the visit took place; especially, since customers come
to City Hall to access local government services on a daily basis.
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It is unfortunate in this case that the local Liberal Party of Canada candidate appeared to have personally
invited a select group of individuals, some who do not live in White Rock, to welcome you, right in front of our
City Hall. The candidate did not offer the same courtesy to myself as the Mayor of White Rock or to White
Rock Council.

As the elected civic leaders of the City of White Rock, we feel this was a significant breach of Protocol and
Procedures, and a disrespect of White Rock City Council as well as City staff.

As you and the Liberal Party know, your candidate is a seasoned politician . Since he was a former Mayor of
the City of White Rock, he would have certainly known about the significant importance and major
community impact of having the sitting Prime Minister of Canada visit a small community like ours.

Prime Minister Trudeau, I cannot imagine that you and the Liberal Party of Canada would approve and be in
support of such disrespectful behaviour towards a local government, its elected civic leaders, and City staff. I
completely understand and appreciate that a rally in support of a candidate may not be seen as a State
occasion . However, when a City Hall is the marshalling point and its front lobby is used for a refuge, the
situation changes.

For your convenience, below you will find a map that outlines the concerns we have of City Hall being used
for the visit without our knowledge, and why we believe Protocols and Procedures were breached in regards
to the necessary steps that should have taken place to include White Rock City Council, and City staff, for a
Prime Ministerial visit.

Second entrance to City Hall.

Used by Prime Minister's detail
and tour I visit staff.

for a Prime Ministeri al visit. Yellow dots and orange

City Hall parking regularly used by customers
to go to access local government services
such as Planning and Development Services,
Financial Services , the Municipal Corporate
Administration Department, Mayor's Office,
etc.) Parking also used by visitors to go to the
community's library.
dotted lines indicate mass
crowds and / or traffic
delays due to large
volume of pedestrians in
the area and I or due to
temporary road blocks
during the visit, which City
Arrival location of the Prime staff were not notified or
Minister and his motorcade . Also briefed on .
the location where Prime Minister
Trudeau was greeted and
welcomed to White Rock by the
local Federal Liberal candidate for
South Surrey - White Rock and his
guests . Media were also present.

Figure 1: Logistical map showing how White Rock City Hall was used as marshalling point for Prime Minister Trudeau 's visit to the City of
White Rock on November 15, 2017.

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Prime Minister Trudeau, thank you for taking the time to read what I imagine is a difficult letter to have
reviewed. I hope you can accept my sincere apology for writing you under such circumstances, but I felt it
was important that you knew the reasons as to why the elected civic leaders of White Rock, especially me as
the Mayor of White Rock, were not there to formally welcome you to our spectacular City by the Sea .

On behalf of White Rock City Council, I also want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude, and
thanks, to you and the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities for the
historic grant funding we received through the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund to address naturally
occurring arsenic and manganese in our water, by building a water treatment plant. Our water does meet
Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality; however, the arsenic levels in some of the
wells peaked above the Maximum Allowable Concentration levels at times.

I am pleased to share with you that we are making great headway through the world-class scientific research
we have embarked on with RES' EAU-WaterNET, who is partly funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada.

Prime Minister Trudeau, the progress we have made to date on this major capital project is very exciting and
it is my understanding that it will likely benefit communities throughout North America . For example, staff
from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada have met with White Rock City staff and are looking at utilizing
our research information and our partnership with RES'EAU-WaterNETto help First Nation communities with
their water quality issues. The City of White Rock is pleased to assist your Government with research
information to help the First Nations.

We are also aware of large and small communities that have expressed interest in knowing more about our
research findings and technology use as they too have similar naturally occurring elements (arsenic and
manganese) in their water or the aquifer that they wish to access in the near future . As a result, we look
forward to celebrating project milestones with your Government in the near future . If your schedule allows,
we would be delighted if you would be our guest of honour and attend our first project milestone, which we
anticipate will occur sometime around spring.

Prime Minister Trudeau, White Rock City Council is aware of your fondness for British Columbians and Metro
Vancouver. It would be a privilege to be given the opportunity to meet with you to discuss our community's
needs, show you the progress we are making on the City's water treatment processes, how the research and
technologies can benefit other communities, including First Nation communities, and give you a tour of our
spectacular seaside community. If there is an opportunity in the near future to arrange such a meeting, I
humbly ask that your team at the PMO coordinates this meeting through my office or one of the following
City of White Rock areas :

Office of the Mayor of White Rock I 604-541-2124

Office ofthe Chief Administration Officer I Dan Bottrill, CAO I 604-541-2133 I
d bottri ll @wh iterockcity.ca
Communications and Government Relations Department I Farnaz Farrokhi, Manager I 604-541-2138
I ffarrokhi@whiterockcity .ca

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I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience and hope that a meeting can be arranged, in
White Rock, in the near future.

Respectfully yours,

Wayne Baldwin
Mayor of White Rock

CC: Katie Telford, Chief of Staff, Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
Anna Gainey, President, Liberal Party of Canada
Kate Purchase, Director of Communications, Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
Amanda Campbell, British Columbia and Territories Regional Desk
White Rock City Council
Dan Bottrill, Chief Administration Officer, City of White Rock
Farnaz Farrokhi, Manager, Communications and Government Relations, City of White Rock

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