 | Friday, January 15, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | More than COVID behind Castlegar mayor’s departure | | |  | | | Did you hear the story about the B.C. mayor who resigned after breaking COVID travel guidelines?
On the surface, the story of Castlegar’s Bruno Tassone stepping down last Friday is the same as plenty of other stories we’ve heard in the last month: an initial justification of a holiday trip (in this case, to a mountain cabin he owned 200 kilometres away), people in the community criticizing it and a terse statement just a few days later.
Except there’s a little more going on in Castelgar politics than just a mayor vacationing during a pandemic.Tassone cited his wife’s mental health for taking the trip. He also blamed “bullying and hypocrisy within the media” as part of the reason he left, without giving specific examples of what that might be.
But city council has been politically split since last election, when Tassone defeated the incumbent mayor, but the three councillors running for re-election were victorious. And a look at the most popular political Facebook group in Castlegar — moderated, incidentally, by Tassone’s niece — shows a torrent of criticism towards those councillors for opposing Tassone, and for the local newspaper for publishing those attacks.
Some of those criticisms seem reasonable (for example, one of those councillors went to Rossland over the holidays), while some are multi-paragraph arguments with random words capitalized and multiple exclamation marks.
In other words, standard fare for small town Facebook groups.
On the other side, those who have long criticized the mayor also allege a culture of online harassment and bullying. They also argue Tassone has brought much of this upon himself, chiefly when he went to a municipal convention in Quebec City and attended none of the workshops but did go on a cruise on the St. Lawrence River.
To those in Vancouver, or who follow provincial or federal politics more closely, these sorts of attacks may all seem par for the course.
In a number of small or mid-sized municipalities, though, these sorts of divisions are increasingly common: mayors not supported by all councillors, Facebook groups amplifying anger, traditional community media having less of a moderating and clarifying role than before, formal conflict resolution mechanisms being ill equipped to deal with elected politics, resignation being the only way out.
In other words, Tassone’s resignation ultimately had to do with much more than just COVID and a trip to a ski cabin. It had a lot to do with all the other things that will remain issues at city hall once the pandemic is over. | | |  | | | 2. Prince George | Turning north, we received what appears to be the smoking gun behind so many senior staff resignations over the last few months — a giant parking lot that’s gone 200 per cent over budget, in a city already facing financial issues, approved without consent of council. That’s a big no-no, and it’s leading to calls for the mayor's resignation.
Read more | | | |  | | | 3. Kelowna | As COVID-19 case counts rise in the Interior, the regular anti-mask rallies taking place in the region’s largest city have attracted more notice, along with questions on whether politicians should speak out more against people disobeying public health orders. Here’s what Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran had to say on the matter this week.
Listen to more | | | | | |  | | | 5. Surrey | Should municipalities begin council meetings with a land acknowledgement? While Vancouver and others in the Lower Mainland do so, Surrey doesn’t — and will remain not doing so after a vote failed along traditional party lines this week. Notably absent in council’s debate though was the voice of the Kwantlen First Nation itself.
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