Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim of the ABC municipal party. The Vancouver ethics commissioner has now twice called out the party for holding secret meetings.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Vancouver’s integrity commissioner has found city council members belonging to Mayor Ken Sim’s party contravened the city’s code of conduct by holding private meetings aimed at moving along their policy agenda.
Commissioner Lisa Southern, who spent a year trying to get interviews and documentation from members of the ABC municipal party, said there was a clear pattern in e-mails that demonstrated the councillors were co-ordinating on bringing forward motions and on how to vote in public meetings.
In a decision published Friday, Ms. Southern wrote, “No one (including me) is saying that the ABC Council Members cannot meet as a caucus. They can meet. They can meet with quorum, with an agenda, at City Hall. They can discuss all sorts of things.”
But, she added, “if council members meet with quorum outside of an open meeting, discuss City business, and do so in a way that moves that business along the spectrum of decision making in a material way, 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.”
It’s a long-standing practice in Canadian and American cities that citizens get to watch civic decision-making made in public. There are open-meeting requirements for municipalities in all Canadian provinces and territories.
This marks the second time ABC, the civic party with a majority on city council and on the parks board, has been called out by the integrity commissioner for holding secret meetings. Ms. Southern issued a similar finding involving behaviour at the parks board this past February.
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In the most recent report, Ms. Southern found the private meetings influenced at least two issues. The first was council’s decision to allocate $8-million for an upgrade to Moberly Park, a park in southeast Vancouver, one that Mr. Sim’s ABC had promised voters in that area. The second decision was to eliminate the city’s Climate Justice Action Charter.
Ms. Southern said in her written decision she couldn’t find enough evidence to make a decision in five other cases involving ABC that were the subject of public complaint, in part because she wasn’t able to get records of private messages that councillors and the mayor used to communicate with each other before and during meetings.
The mayor’s office responded Monday with a statement that claimed the commissioner had mischaracterized the nature of the party’s private meetings and complained that the investigation, the result of a complaint from Green Party Councillor Pete Fry, will cost taxpayers $200,000.
“We respect the role of the Integrity Commissioner, but we strongly disagree with elements of this report,” Mr. Sim said in the statement.
“Caucusing is a normal and accepted practice at every level of Canadian democracy. Elected officials are expected to talk with one another, share ideas, and work through complex issues.”
The ABC, formerly known as A Better City, office declined to respond when asked about Ms. Southern’s statement that caucusing is acceptable as long as public decisions aren’t being made in private.
Mr. Fry and OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney both said in interviews it was unfortunate that the mayor’s office chose to get defensive instead of accepting some responsibility.
“Mayor Sim and ABC could find the lack of contrition ends up hurting them in the election,” said Ms. Maloney. “The open-meeting rule is important for democracy.”
British Columbia’s civic elections are next year.
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Mr. Fry said it’s troubling that the city is being run by people who think it’s acceptable to decide on surprise motions and votes in private without giving staff or the public a chance to comment.
“With Moberly Park, the decision was made in defiance of staff recommendations and was presented as an amendment, which denied public and staff the opportunity to respond to it. That decision punted other communities down the list.”
Mr. Fry acknowledged that other civic political parties have caucused about votes and decisions in the past, particularly Vision Vancouver under then-mayor Gregor Robertson, and said that’s why it was so necessary that the city appoint an integrity commissioner who could assess that kind of behaviour.
Ms. Southern was appointed as the first integrity commissioner in 2021 and her current term ends in December.