8 THURSDAY September 20, 2018 • New Westminster RECORD
Opinion OUR VIEW
Law needed to oust politicians who are convicted
Imagine if a politician on Burnaby city council was convicted of a crime, such as sexually assaulting a teenage girl. Did you know that the rest of council and the public are powerless to force that politician off of council? It’s true. The nearby community of Pitt Meadows found itself in the same position when a man named David Murray, who was a city councillor at the time, was convicted and then sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for sexually assault-
ing a 14-year-old girl almost two decades ago. He was convicted in 2017 and resigned amid public pressure four days later. But he didn’t have to. “No other community should have to deal with that,” Pitt Meadows Mayor John Becker told delegates at last week’s annual meeting of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. “It can’t just be business as usual.” Current provincial legislation doesn’t have measures in it to force out politicians convicted of criminal acts. In response to the Murray
situation, the UBCM approved a resolution that local council members be put on unpaid leave from office upon conviction for a criminal offence.That leave would continue until the end of the period allowed for appeal of such a conviction or the end of the appeal process. The resolution also came with an amendment – that conviction for acts of civil disobedience should not bar a public official from remaining in public office. That amendment was narrowly passed.
Vancouver Coun. Adriane Carr suggested the civil disobedience change. “They are acts of a good social conscience,” Carr said. “I would not want to see those officials barred from public office.” Civil disobedience often results in contempt of court charges against protesters who disregard court orders. The charge is a criminal one – and one that protesters against the Trans Mountain pipeline have faced after the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued an injunction on demonstrations
at Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby work site. Vancouver mayoral candidate Kennedy Stewart, who is a former Burnaby member of Parliament, pleaded guilty to contempt in May. Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May also pleaded guilty to criminal contempt in May for her role in a pipeline protest. Smithers Coun. Frank Wray disagreed on removing civil disobedience. “As lawmakers, we set a poor example when we choose which laws we should support and which
we should not support,” Wray said. The amendment does create a hazy situation, but it seems doubtful a contempt conviction for protesting would create the kind of paralyzing situation that the Murray conviction did. We’re happy with the overall resolution. It’s needed – now the provincial government needs to act and change the Community Charter and Local Government Act to protect communities from these types of situations from ever happening again.
MY VIEW KEITH BALDREY
LNG could scuttle Green-NDP deal
The strength of the relationship between the BC NDP and B.C. Greens is about to be tested on two fronts. While the two parties disagree on issues, there has been little consequence from those disagreements. For example, the Greens have been demanding since Day 1 of their agreement with the NDP that ridesharing be introduced.The NDP is dragging its heels on that, and life goes on for both parties. The Greens want to move quickly to shut down (or relocate) many fish farms, but again the NDP has delayed taking any action until after the next election. And let’s not even get into the NDP’s decision early on to continue construction of the Site C dam. But two looming issues may ultimately strain their relationship, which props up the government. One of them is the speculation tax, and the other is the LNG project in B.C.’s northwest corner. Green party leader AndrewWeaver appears ready to use his opposition to both in different ways. He intends to introduce amendments to the speculation tax when it is unveiled in the upcoming legislative session (that’s assuming the NDP doesn’t back down in response to widespread criticism of the tax). He could, for example, introduce an amendment that gives cities and municipalities the option on being covered by the tax or not. Where things could get interesting is if the BC Liberals like what they see from
Weaver and vote in favour of his amendments.Together, the two parties can beat the NDP government in a vote. Or perhaps the Liberals, many of whom dislike Weaver, will opt not to support anything he does and keep enough of their caucus out of the house to allow the government to defeat them. But even if the amendments fail and the Greens (and the Liberals) combine to defeat the original bill, it will not result in the NDP falling from power, since individual bills (with the exception of the budget) are not considered confidence votes.The LNG issue may be more problematic for the Greens as it runs directly counter to its core philosophy.The final investment decision for the LNG Canada project near Kitimat is expected to be made in October. CanWeaver support a government embracing an industry that he insists will make it impossible for the province to meet its climate emission targets? He threatened on Twitter last Christmas that he would ensure the NDP government would fall should it approve an LNG project. He has softened his tone – now he wants to see the government’s climate action plan before passing final judgment – but not his opposition to LNG. Weaver can have some fun with the speculation tax, but the problems associated with LNG will sorely test his continued backing of the current government. Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.
’TWAS SAID THIS WEEK ...
OUR TEAM
I have seen firsthand how our cleanup efforts have made a great impact. LaurelWright, story page 13
ARCHIVE 1992
LARA GRAHAM
CHRIS CAMPBELL
SHAWN GRENIER
Publisher
Editor
Director of Sales
lgraham@newwestrecord.ca
ccampbell@newwestrecord.ca
sgrenier@newwestrecord.ca
Casual coke dealers caught A trio of drug dealers at the College Place Hotel weren’t exactly discreet about peddling their merchandise, making them easy pickings for New Westminster police. In February, police got a tip about drugs being sold from a room in the hotel.When officers went to check it out, they found a door to one of the rooms open. Inside, in plain view, were seven grams of cocaine ready for sale, according to police. Officers quickly arrested a 20-year-old New West man, a 30-year-old Burnaby man and a 19-year-old Burnaby woman.The trio were all charged with possession of a narcotic.
MAIN SWITCHBOARD 604.444.3451 DELIVERY INQUIRIES 604.398.3481 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 604.444.3056 EDITORIAL/NEWS TIP LINE 604.444.3020 FAX LINE 604.439.2694 EDITORIAL editorial@NewWestRecord.ca ADVERTISING display@NewWestRecord.ca CLASSIFIED DTJames@van.net
201a-3430 Brighton Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5A 3H4
THE RECORD IS A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL, WHICH IS AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION ESTABLISHED TO DEAL WITH ACCEPTABLE JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR. IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT EDITORIAL CONTENT, PLEASE CONTACT CHRIS CAMPBELL AT CCAMPBELL@ NEWWESTRECORD.CA. IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE RESPONSE AND WISH TO FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT, VISIT THE WEB SITE AT MEDIACOUNCIL.CA OR CALL TOLLFREE 1-844-877-1163 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.