The City of Prince George has a problem with transparency, according to two city council members.
On Tuesday, the city was named the winner of the 2022 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy, presented annually by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (CFE) and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).
“The award given to us clearly indicates significant issues within our municipality and presents opportunities for improvement,” Coun. Brian Skakun said in an email. “If council does not step up and hold administration accountable and remain silent on important issues, it will get worse before it gets better.”
Despite ongoing concerns from the public, and “a cycle of negative news coming out regarding our processes,” city council has not created the environment needed to change the culture of transparency at city hall, Skakun said.
“I would like to see mayor and council lead the process of having an external governance audit completed. This should be council led and council managed,” he said “The public is feeling less informed on issues that matter to them. With less discussion on legislative matters, to increased in-camera meetings, we are taking the decision-making process out of public view. We need to do better.”
In an email, Coun. Trudy Klassen said the media has an “incredibly important role” in keeping politicians and governments accountable.
“The lack of transparency that made our city hall eligible for this award means city council and administration has much work to do,” Klassen said. “Politicians and city administration work for and answer to the residents, so transparency should be the default. If we are doing our work honestly, we have nothing to hide.”
Klassen said city council has the ability to make the changes needed to ensure the city isn’t eligible for the award again.
“I know I have at least a few colleagues on council who are in favour of making the needed changes,” she said. “Our city has incredible potential; we just need to fix a few things to help bring that potential to reality. I remain hopeful.”
Progress being made
Coun. Tim Bennett said there is no doubt that the city has had challenges with transparency in the past but the city has taken significant steps to address the issues.
“Some of the key people involved in these decisions are no longer involved. Positive steps are being taken and we recognize that it is not at the speed that is expected,” Bennett said in an email. “We need to continue to learn from the past and when there may be a slip-up it is important to be accountable for that decision and take steps to prevent it from happening again.”
As a member of the city’s Standing Committee on Finance and Audit, Bennett said he’s seen the positive change in how the city is reporting progress on its capital projects, following the review of the parkade cost overruns.
“At a recent Finance and Audit meeting we received a series of reports that were a result of these changes. These reports showed positive progress on capital projects when looking at the budget and timelines,” he said. “I recognize it is a lot of information so perhaps we need to look at how we can continue to improve how that information is communicated to the public. These reports and presentations quite often happen at committee level and while these meetings are open to the public the attendance is quite low.”
The nature of the city’s decision-making process, which often sees issues like rezonings come before council multiple times before a final decision is made, is also a factor
“People are engaged for one portion of the process but are not hearing the discussions or debates happening at the other stages,” Bennett said. “There is an appetite to learn more about how decisions are made, and council should find more ways to share that in a plain and clear way.”
Bennett said when community members have questions and concerns, both city staff and council members are available to answer questions.
“I have also heard and seen many positive comments about the information being shared through the communications department primarily on the city's social media channels,” he said. “While communications are not transparency by definition it does help get information distributed and help to start rebuilding trust.”
Mayor Simon Yu and councillors Garth Frizzell, Ron Polillo, Cori Ramsay Kyle Sampson and Susan Scott had not returned a request for comment as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
