The City of Prince George is calling on the Union of B.C. Municipalities to support stronger penalties for city councillors who release confidential information.
Mayor Dan Rogers and members of city council are in Vancouver attending the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention. Prince George has sponsored four resolutions for debate at the convention - all of which call for stronger penalties for councillors who release confidential information or violate their oath of office.
"Right now the legislation has no teeth to it," Coun. Garth Frizzell said. "It relies on the good faith of the councillors and mayors."
Frizzell is the chairperson of the city's policy advisory committee which prepared the resolutions.
The issue of confidentially has been high-profile in Prince George since Coun. Brian Skakun was convicted under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act on May 24.
"It's not about him at all," Frizzell said. "It's about taking the lessons we learned about the issue of confidentiality. These are moving forward recommendations."
The resolutions call for changes to the Community Charter which would allow municipalities to disqualify councillors from office for violating the duty to respect confidentiality or oath of office.
In addition the resolutions call on the Union of B.C. Municipalities to work with the provincial government to work together to develop stronger accountability measures for local government elected officials and higher maximum fines for violations of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Two of the resolutions have been recommended by the Union of B.C. Municipalities resolutions committee, Frizzell said, while the other two have neither been recommended or opposed by the committee.
Skakun said he plans to oppose the motions on the floor of the conference.
"If the City of Prince George wants to get councillors disqualified from office for releasing information that is not in the public interest, then the City of Prince George should also introduce a resolution calling for councillors to be disqualified from office if they don't release information which is in the public interest," Skakun said. "People want to see transparency in government."
If the Union of B.C. Municipalities members - made up of elected officials from city councils and regional district boards - approve the resolutions, the recommendations will be passed on to the provincial government for consideration, Coun. Murry Krause said. Krause currently services on the board of directors of the Union of B.C. Municipalities.
Recommendations from the conference carry weight with the provincial government, Krause said.
However the recommendations will be only small part of the policy debate taking place at the convention, he said.
Issues such as the legalization of marijuana and the creation of a municipal auditor general will be on the agenda for debate, he said.
"Certainly one of the major debates will be around the premier's proposition of a municipal auditor general."
