 | Friday, March 05, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | If you’re giving yourself a pay raise in a pandemic, get in front of the story | | |  | | | “It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup” is a common phrase in journalism and politics often used to describe how people can be angrier with elected officials trying to evade responsibility rather than accepting it head on.
And even though there was nothing illegal, it certainly applies to a controversial salary hike for Surrey politicians.
But let’s back up.
On Jan. 25, Surrey council received a report from an independent third party on what the salary of mayor and council should be. It’s a report received every four years, has been since 1997 and compares Surrey politicians's salaries with other major cities in western Canada.
The report recommended a modest 2.3 per cent pay increase — in other words, slightly above inflation. Mayor Doug McCallum will continue to get paid less than the mayors of Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Richmond, while councillors will continue to be paid less than Vancouver. Would that it were so simple.
Because what also happened was that Surrey council voted to approve the raise behind closed doors in a private meeting which wasn’t revealed publicly until last week.
And when Coun. Allison Patton appeared on CKNW, she said “there was no need to defend” the pay raise, that “I don’t talk about these issues in closed [meetings],” that it was “standard protocol in all other cities,” and “I would like Surrey taxpayers to focus on things going well.”
It’s true that councillors aren’t allowed to discuss conversations that happen in closed meetings.
However, Patton was misleading when she said this was common for pay raises for mayors and councillors in B.C. The truth is they’re usually incredibly transparent, because municipalities know there’s always a risk in politicians voting to take money from taxpayers and give it directly to themselves.
And there’s nothing stopping Patton, Mayor Doug McCallum or anyone else from defending the pay increase and putting it in context, instead of clamming up.
Supporters of McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition can blame the media for “gotcha” questions or for focusing on optics over policy.
But if you can’t anticipate why the public might get angry about a pay raise in a pandemic behind closed doors — and defend it with as much context as possible — then your complaints might fall on deaf ears. | | |  | | | 1. Surrey | Unsurprisingly, the Surrey pay raise has turned into another predictable split along pseudo-party lines, with the councillors opposing Doug McCallum saying they will donate their raise to charity, and the ones supporting him ... well, pretty much saying what Patton said. Meanwhile, the anti-McCallum councillors continue their Sisyphean campaign against the incoming police force.
Read more in the Vancouver Sun | | | | |  | | | 2. Penticton | The Okanagan city’s decision to reject a B.C. Housing application to extend a permit for a homeless shelter turned into a huge fracas with the province, with housing minister David Eby warning of another tent city and the city’s mayor hanging up the phone on him. Penticton isn’t the first city Eby has actively lobbied and won’t be the last.
Read more | | | |  | | | 3. Vancouver | Council approved a six-storey apartment building after five separate meetings devoted to it. Next week could be more momentous, as the city’s park board has yet another vote on a temporary measure for the Stanley Park bike lane, while council debates adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Read more | | | | | |  | | | 4. Pouce Coupe | The Peace region village had another council meeting where people — members of Indigenous groups this time — asked the mayor to resign for her controversial comments, and again, the mayor declined. We’re not sure how council works through this, but having four years before terms and no recall mechanisms doesn’t help matters.
Read more in Global News | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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