Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Mel Rothenburger

Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: Recall legislation doesn’t exist for local governments, but it should

Jul 15, 2023 | 7:23 AM

THE MOST COMMON QUESTION I get asked these days is, “How do we fire a City council?”

The answer is, very slowly, if at all. It’s hard enough getting rid of one member of a council, let alone a bunch of them.

The most certain method is to wait for the next election. That’s the slow way. Anything faster is almost impossible.

Theoretically, you could gather nine other electors and ask the B.C. Supreme Court to do it but there are only a few grounds on which it can be done: that the council member has violated conflict of interest rules, failed to make an oath of office, has at least four unexcused absences from council meetings in a row, or has spent municipal funds without authority.

While the case is in progress, the councillor or councillors named are allowed to continue in office. This method has been tried elsewhere but I’m not aware of it ever succeeding.

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(By the way, a City council could go this route for any of its members, as well, if it adopts a motion to that effect with at least a two-thirds vote.)

Another way for a member of council to get the boot is if they’re found guilty of a crime. It was only last year that provincial legislation was brought in requiring civic politicians (including regional district directors) to take a leave of absence if charged with a criminal offence, and to be removed from office if convicted.

Also, theoretically, you could convince them to resign, en masse, forcing a total byelection. I’ve never heard of that happening before and I doubt it will happen any time soon. If a council believed there was just no way it could work together, it could ask the voters to decide which of them they wanted to stay, and which they wanted to replace with somebody else.

It would be a bit similar to the federal government resigning because it no longer has the confidence of Parliament.

It’s a scenario that probably comes up in a lot of people’s dreams.

The most logical way to remove members of city councils doesn’t exist, at least not yet. For years, members of the public, and a lot of civic politicians, have been begging the provincial government to pass recall legislation.

Under such provisions, anyone could file a recall notice for a member of City council and then go out and try to collect enough signatures on a petition within a certain amount of time.

There is provincial legislation that provides just that but it applies only to MLAs. The valid signatures of at least 40 per cent of eligible voters must be gathered within 60 days. For a city of any size, that’s an almost impossible threshold.

Twelve years ago, resident Chad Moates tried it against then-MLA Terry Lake. Moates collected close to 11,000 signatures but it was about 5,000 short.

The reason the threshold is so high is that, philosophically, provincial governments have believed recall laws provide an opportunity for those who oppose elected leaders strictly on political grounds to take a shot at unseating them.

Forty per cent, though, is ridiculous. To think that 20 or 30 per cent of voters might be tempted to sign a recall petition simply because they don’t like somebody’s political affiliation is a bit out there. And, anyway, party politics have virtually no role to play in small town B.C.

The use of total eligible voters in calculating the threshold is another big barrier to any recall legislation. It would make much more sense to use turnout as the base. Limit recall to those

who voted in the last election and use a reasonable percentage of that number — it would give a much better picture of the will of the public.

Though Alberta now has recall for civic politicians, there’s no sign of it gaining favour with B.C. lawmakers in the near future, even though the Union of B.C. Municipalities has asked for it. Not to mention that in communities all over the province, citizens have demanded it.

It doesn’t make sense that we have recall for provincial politicians but not for local ones. At the least, the province should return to three-year terms for city councils and regional districts but there’s no obvious interest in that, either.

All that’s left is Codes of Conduct, which all councils and RDs must now have. Those documents are getting tougher than they were because local governments are now including detailed sanctions in them, but those sanctions don’t include removal from office, and they’re mainly a tool for council members to govern each other’s behaviour.

(I’m surprised the Kamloops council’s Code of Conduct hasn’t yet come into play in connection with the rules on respectful behaviour.)

The time may come when recall becomes reality in B.C. Until then, the only cure is time.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.