Mayor Ken Sim and the governing ABC Party broke the city’s code of conduct, according to a report from Vancouver’s integrity commissioner.
The report, on the subject of a complaint against Sim and Couns. Sarah Kirby-Yung, Lisa Dominato, Lenny Zhou, Brian Montague, Mike Klassen, Peter Meiszner, and Rebecca Bligh, dated Friday — released Monday — concludes a year-long investigation in response to an issue raised by Green Party Coun. Pete Fry.
Fry alleged that party members breached Vancouver’s code of conduct by “failing to respect and comply with the open meeting requirement” when they gathered in private and discussed city business “in a material way towards a decision of Council.”
Integrity Commissioner Lisa Southern concluded that Sim et al. failed their obligations, as defined under the Vancouver Charter, to be transparent.
“There is a problem — they are depriving the public of participation in the policy development and decision-making processes that serve to build public trust and confidence in local government. Democracy is undermined,” said Southern’s report.
She says the group of respondents claimed their breach of conduct was accidental, but she doesn’t believe that claim.
Southern explains that the councillors should be expected to know the difference between a compliant caucus meeting and what transpired. She also says the method of communication about the meetings, including the encrypted messenger app Signal, and a general lack of documentation, don’t add up to compliance.
“Why keep to the shadows if what you are doing can be safely and fairly viewed in the transparency of daylight?”
Southern says it is up to city council to determine whether to sanction its members, but “no quorum can be reached in these unique circumstances.”
Ian Bushfield, co-host of the PolitiCoast podcast, says the report is unlikely to create change.
“The unfortunate thing with the Integrity Commissioner is she has no teeth. We’ve seen this with a couple of reports in the past. They are passed to council for decision and action — and given ABC still has a majority on council, if they don’t want to censure themselves, they don’t have to,” Bushfield told 1130 NewsRadio.
He says the “guilty party” is charged with deciding its own punishment.
“I suspect they will take it under advisement. And that will be that. And it will be up to the electors to decide.”
source & photo: CityNews
