WHEREAS it has been demonstrated that conflict of interest issues frequently arise in local government; AND WHEREAS the ethical standards for elected officials set out in the Community Charter were designed in consultation between the Province of British Columbia with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and are in keeping with the provisions of the provincial Members Conflict of Interest Act; AND WHEREAS a system for receiving and resolving conflict of interest complaints, with involvement by the provincial Conflict of Interest Commissioner, would assist in improving accountability in local government: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities request that the provincial government provide local government elected officials and the public access to the provincial Conflict of Interest Commissioner for conflict of interest complaints under the Community Charter.
MINISTRY OF ATTORNEY GENERAL There are no plans to increase the jurisdiction of the provincial Conflict of Interest Commissioner Commissioner to include local governments. The Commissioner is an Officer of the Legislature and reports directly to the Legislative Assembly. Given that there are 157 local governments and in excess of 1,000 local government councillors, adding local governments to his jurisdictions would require a major expansion in the resources of the Commissioners office. As the UBCMs 1996 policy paper on conflict of interest noted, the conflict of interest rules for provincial members contained in the Members Conflict of Interest Act are different in a number of ways from those of local government governments: they include perceived conflicts, allow for members to represent constituency interests, and contain further provisions respecting the activities of members of Cabinet. These specific rules do not apply to local governments, and having a single commissioner responsible for both levels of government raises the danger that the operation of conflict of interest rules between the two levels of government would become blurred in the publics mind.