 | Friday, April 23, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | Port Coquitlam legal drama a reminder that majority rules in council conflicts | | |  | | | A city councillor in Metro Vancouver sued her own municipality and lost this week, so let’s dig into what that means.
It was a year ago that Port Coquitlam’s Coun. Laura Dupont was censured by council and removed from external boards and committees (including one with Metro Vancouver that she was paid for) after it was revealed she publicly disclosed confidential information, following a third-party investigation.
Because councillors can’t be removed from office except under exceptional circumstances, it was the most punitive move Port Coquitlam could make, and the decision caused some reaction outside municipal boundaries.
Dupont sued, arguing two things: first, that the information she disclosed — essentially the risk of a tree being destroyed as part of a potential downtown development — was not confidential. And second, that the punishment enacted by Port Coquitlam council was excessive. The judge disagreed.
“The authority to set the procedures for access to confidential materials arises from council’s express authority to govern its own internal procedures,” said Justice Francesca Marzari, essentially saying that Port Coquitlam had wide latitude to determine what was confidential, and that Dupont was aware of that before disclosing the information.
And on the question of whether the punishment was excessive?
“The authority of local government councils and boards to remove discretionary appointments is inherent in their authority to make such appointments,” she wrote.
In other words, councils are allowed to manage their own affairs, within the limits of B.C.'s Community Charter. And whether a censure or committee removal is seen as “fair” or not, it’s perfectly legal. Which can be unfortunate if you’re a councillor often at odds with the rest of your colleagues, but such is politics.
Why does it matter?
Aside from the drama of a councillor taking legal action against their own city, Supreme Court rulings on the rights of elected officials don’t come around every day. You can bet some mayors and councillors in B.C. will read the judgement and think about conflicts on their own council. And it will add to speculation about Dupont’s municipal political career after the next federal election in which she’ll run as the NDP candidate for Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam.
And it started over a single tree. | | |  | | | 1. Vancouver | If you’re already exhausted by the campaign for a mayoral election 18 months from now, I have bad news for you. City councillors Sarah Kirby-Yung, Lisa Dominato and Colleen Hardwick renounced their NPA affiliation this week, after the party’s controversial board appointed park board commissioner John Coupar as their 2022 mayoral candidate. In more substantive policy news, council also voted to allow more social housing to be built in limited areas of the city without a lengthy rezoning process.
Read more in the Vancouver Sun | | | | |  | | | 2. White Rock | As B.C. struggles with its third wave of the pandemic, the discussions in a lot of municipalities feels like the first wave: can we ban people from gathering outdoors while prioritizing street space for locals? In White Rock, council ultimately rejected mandating locals-only parking for the waterfront, but expect the topic to come up in other places.
Read more in the Surrey Now-Leader | | | |  | | | 3. Travel | Some of those places are close to the Alberta border, with folks wondering what the B.C. government’s incoming travel restrictions will mean. Transmission has been higher in the northeast Peace region than the southeast Kootenays for a while now, and the mayors of a border community in each region have a different take on the issue.
Read more | | | | | |  | | | 4. Penticton | Speaking of interesting legal cases, Penticton council is all in on suing the province after it overruled the city's decision to close a temporary winter homeless shelter, the only one in the region. A general rule of thumb is a province can ultimately overrule a municipality more often than not, but we’ll see the end result of this (potentially costly) legal feud.
Read more | | | |  | | | 5. Mission | The neverending spate of local byelections stemming from last year’s provincial election continues with voters in Mission choosing a replacement to Pam Alexis as the city’s mayor on Saturday. Six candidates are running, none of whom are currently councilors, and the local community newspaper has profiled each of them.
Read more in the Mission City Record | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | Check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions, you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
