Bob Mackin (updated July 12)
Two days after a man that appeared to be Doug McCallum “Zoom bombed” a city councillor at her naturopathic clinic, the Mayor of Surrey’s Buick was photographed in a parking spot outside Mountainview Wellness Centre.
Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum (top) and Mountain View Wellness Centre’s Zoom bomb man (bottom)
Coun. Allison Patton was on the May 1 COVID-19 virtual town hall hosted by the South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce when a door opened behind her and a man identical to McCallum popped his head in the room. Naturopath Patton was wearing a medical face shield, the man was not. WATCH the video below.
On May 3, a reader of theBreaker.news snapped a photo of McCallum’s vehicle parked directly outside the clinic, which is located in an office and commercial complex beside Semiahmoo Shopping Centre.
A source told theBreaker.news that, four days earlier, RCMP officers were called to Mountainview on April 30 around 6:45 p.m.
Surrey RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Elenore Sturko would not comment on the address or name the business because of privacy laws. Sturko said police did attend a location in the 1600-block of Martin Drive at that time “in response to a breach of peace.”
“The incident was determined to be a civil issue and not a criminal matter and, as such, the RCMP is not investigating and our file is closed,” Sturko told theBreaker.news.
Neither McCallum nor Patton responded to theBreaker.news on May 6.
A person who answered the phone at Mountainview confirmed that the other two naturopaths and business partners, Caleb Ng and Galina Bogatch, were no longer working at the clinic.
Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum’s Buick outside Coun. Allison Patton’s clinic on May 3.
Ng is Patton’s husband. Neither Ng nor Bogatch were available for comment on May 6. The MVWC website has been offline since the weekend.
Patton, Ng and Bogatch were featured frequently in Metanoia, a Mountainview-published, glossy lifestyle and politics magazine loosely inspired by “O, The Oprah Magazine.” Metanoia was a vehicle to promote Patton’s political ambitions and achievements. She had previously been aligned with the BC Liberals and B.C. Conservatives.
Sources told theBreaker.news they have witnessed McCallum and Patton arriving and departing from a Rosemary Heights condo building where Patton bought last December.
The title application for Patton’s condominium, with a declared value of $535,000, was received by the Land Title and Survey Authority on Dec. 18. That was four days after the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. housewarming and ribbon-cutting on Dec. 14 at Mountainview that appears in McCallum’s calendar, but not Patton’s. theBreaker.news obtained the calendars under the freedom of information law.
The pair has also been spotted at a Crescent Beach house where McCallum has lived.
Oliver Lum, the spokesman for McCallum’s office, would neither confirm nor deny McCallum and Patton are in a relationship. Lum said on Jan. 21 and April 16: “The personal affairs of the Mayor is outside the scope of this office.”
Cover of the post-2018 election of Metanoia, the magazine published by Mountain View Wellness Centre in Surrey. (MVWC)
Former Surrey Mayor Bob Bose told theBreaker.news Podcast on May 3 that McCallum and Patton owe citizens of Surrey an explanation, especially since the April 20 passage of a new code of conduct for council members.
“Are they acting independently in terms of discharge of their public responsibilities or are their decisions compromised by relationship?” Bose asked. “As [Pierre] Trudeau said, the state has no business in the bedrooms of the community, but transparency is also imperative here.”
Bose said “conflict of interest is at the core of this,” and questioned McCallum’s controversial September 2019 removal of Coun. Steven Pettigrew as a Surrey representative on the Metro Vancouver regional government board.
Surrey Coun. Allison Patton, Caleb Ng and Galina Bogatch in happier times (Metanoia)
McCallum installed Patton instead.
“There was no justification that I’m aware of for removing Steven Pettigrew and the appointment of Allison Patton to replace him carries with it monetary considerations,” Bose said.
Metro Vancouver pays each appointed politician $397 per meeting up to four hours and $794 for a meeting that goes beyond the four-hour mark.
Pettigrew was elected with Patton on the McCallum-led Safe Surrey Coalition ticket in October 2018. Pettigrew defected last year with Coun. Jack Hundial and Coun. Brenda Locke over McCallum’s leadership style and his crusade to replace the RCMP with a municipal police department.
Safe Surrey Coalition holds a slim one-vote majority on Surrey city council.
Pettigrew declined an interview request this week.
theBreaker.news wanted to know whether McCallum and Patton enjoy the confidence of the remaining Safe Surrey Coalition councillors. But Mandeep Nagra, Laurie Guerra and Doug Elford did not respond.
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