Should Coun. Jim Harker resign?

No, not at all. Coun. Jim Harker has purchased a home in Victoria and will move there after his term at City Hall ends next year. He seems a bit defensive about it, perhaps concerned about negative reaction.

However, there’s nothing wrong whatsoever with what he’s doing. As he points out, he fully intends to continue to concentrate on doing his job as a councillor here until he and his wife make the move.

Here’s why politicians get a little nervous about public perception. As an example, you will recall that Betty Hinton came in for a bit of flack over moving to Vernon. The issue was, could she continue serving Kamloops as a Member of Parliament if she no longer lived here? That was a legitimate question.

From time to time, regional district directors are elected to rural areas they don’t live in. That’s okay, as long as they do their job, but again, it’s a fair question to ask. It really comes down to distance, and the practicality of commuting.

When it comes to local government, the reason municipal politicians aren’t required to live in the city they represent is that, in some parts of the province, there isn’t enough population from which to draw a qualified pool of representatives. The net has to be spread wider.

None of that applies in Harker’s case. People move from time to time. He’s been planning the move to Victoria for awhile, but as long as he continues to live here, and to do his job as councillor, until the end of his term, that’s all we can ask of him.