Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani was one of the keynote speakers at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit on Thursday. (CBC)

If Lower Mainland cities want to clean up some of their drug- and crime-ridden neighbourhoods, their leaders need to adopt a tough-on-crime approach rather than focusing on fighting poverty, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told local politicians and business leaders Thursday.

The popular U.S. politician is known for implementing a broken window theory, which calls for police to crackdown on minor street crimes such as vandalism quickly, so more serious crimes do not become common in a neighbourhood.

"When I was mayor, there was a 60 per cent decline in crime," Giuliani said before turning his attention to the problem in some of Metro Vancouver's troubled neighbourhoods.

"If you have crime, you have got to make sure you have the right policing. People are arrested. People are punished. People are deterred. To lose focus on those fundamentals in the name of wanting to answer poverty is a big mistake," he told the gathering of about 500.

Giuliani was invited by Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts to be one of the keynote speakers at the first ever Surrey Regional Economic Summit organized by the Surrey Board of Trade.

The aim of the summit was to attract investment and economic development to the area while addressing transportation issues and the economic impacts of crime.

Watts agreed with Giuliani's tough-on-crime approach, saying a vibrant, bustling city has no room for repeat offenders.

"When you have got somebody coming before the justice system 100 or 200 times, I mean, it is time to take a different tack," said Watts.

Former provincial court judge Wallace Craig also agreed with the sentiment and said a soft approach had allowed problems on the Downtown Eastside to fester for decades.

"It is really a sad affair when you look at the results, and you see what's going on on skid row," said Craig.

"The Downtown Eastside is not one whit better despite all that's been done by the mayors of Vancouver. Needle exchange, Insite, drug court — it really hasn't made one bit of improvement."