 When city halls go bad, how much should the province get involved? | | |  | | | How exactly is the provincial government helping the two most dysfunctional municipalities in B.C. right now?
Don’t expect many details from the province.
“The ministry is in regular contact with the Village of Harrison Hot Springs and the Village of Lions Bay, and we continue to be available to provide guidance and support,” they said, when asked for an update.
As we’ve reported on in the past, the two villages are currently so dysfunctional that just about the only thing their councils can agree upon is asking for help to get their act together. The province’s response demonstrates the lack of clear mechanisms and transparency when local politics go bad.
It’s a messy, ad hoc process, which is why there have been periodic calls for the government to create a Municipal Ethics Commissioner, or Ombudsman, or some office with the power to investigate such disputes.
But it’s not something the province seems particularly interested in.
“We certainly … place a very high level of autonomy and responsibility on local governments. We’re very reluctant to wade into matters of local government,” said Premier David Eby, when asked about the subject by CBC News this week.
He said if cities wanted an ethics commissioner, they should ask for it via a Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) resolution, and “we would certainly be looking to them.”
But a resolution was passed. Six months ago. And the province responded by essentially telling municipalities to take a hike.
“[We] require councils and boards to consider establishing or updating a code of conduct within six months of their term of office … and it will take time to gain a full understanding of the impact this tool will have on the conduct of elected officials,” wrote the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to the UBCM.
The province's lack of interest in the issue may be why opposition leader Kevin Falcon sought to differentiate himself.
“There is a problem, especially in smaller municipalities,” he said, promising to work with municipalities on creating a system if he became premier.
“There’s no mechanism to deal with the misbehaviour or lack of ethics that would prompt in normal circumstances for someone to do the right thing and resign.”
The province’s attitude could change — recall they spent many years claiming that forcing mayors or councillors to take a leave of absence if criminally charged was too complex to figure out, before bringing forward legislation doing exactly that.
But for now, consider it a place where there’s a clear difference in provincial politics around what should be done in municipal politics. | | |  | | | 1. Homeless count | | | After a three-year pandemic wait, homeless counts have begun again across the province, with Metro Vancouver doing its count last Tuesday and Wednesday. The data will provide plenty of valuable information to municipalities across the region, and will likely confirm some anecdotes while dispelling some myths. The more salient question is what communities will do in the weeks and months after they get the data.
Read more | | |  | | | 3. Surrey | | | | | | |  | | | 4. Conflict of interest? | Speaking of ethics! An interesting situation in the southern Interior, where the regional government gave a $60,000-contract to the Chief Administrative Officer’s daughter … and he didn’t recuse himself from the decision, or disclose the relationship to the rest of the board. A special meeting was called to discuss the matter, though the public was barred from attending.
Read more in Castanet | | | |  | | | 5. Flags | Two municipalities in the province have moved forward on flag policies which will see the Pride flag flown outside city hall. Both Coquitlam and Richmond council indicated support for a change in the past two weeks … though we’ll see if Richmond’s council vote takes less time than what ended up being a fairly raucous discussion over a Pride crosswalk in 2019.
Read more in the Richmond News | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this this week! In the meantime, 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. | | | |
