EDITORIAL – ‘What are we trying to achieve by answering questions?’

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

ONE OF THE MYSTERIES surrounding the joint statement by eight City councillors last March aimed at Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson is their refusal to answer questions about some of the details.

Certain of those allegations against the mayor, of course, are now front and centre in the defamation lawsuit brought by him against Coun. Katie Neustaeter.

An earlier Freedom of Information application by the Armchair Mayor brought to light that Neustaeter played a key role in putting together the March 17 statement with input from the other councillors.

Included in that statement was the accusation that councillors “have been subjected to … violations of personal and professional boundaries.”

New information provides just a little more insight into councillor’ discussions leading up to the statement.

I asked the City’s FOI department to review several redactions it had made under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The City refused to reconsider most of them but offered up two lines that had been redacted under Section 13(1) Policy advice/ recommendations.

One is a single sentence in an email from then deputy mayor Kelly Hall informing the other seven he would open the news conference and then pass it over to Neustaeter to read the joint statement.

Hall’s next sentence, which had originally been redacted, said, “I don’t want to give him a sliver of opportunity to suggest this statement is retaliation for removal of chair positions,” a reference to Hamer-Jackson’s decision to remove some of the councillors as chairs of standing committees.

The other newly released phrase is from Neustaeter in which she asked, in reference to the news conference, “What are we trying to achieve by answering questions?”

How these newly released parts of two emails could have been interpreted as policy advice or recommendations I don’t know. But they do indicate some of the thinking that went into the statement.

As for what answering questions would achieve, I have the answer: transparency.

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.