EDITORIAL – Shhh, you may not talk at committee of the whole meetings

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

THE TAX INCREASE was on the agenda for discussion at a City council committee-of-the-whole meeting yesterday.

But if you’d been hoping to attend the three-hour meeting and ask questions about it, you’d have been out of luck. Same for other items on the agenda, such as the cultural strategic plan or a report from the parks engagement group.

The committee of the whole, which consists of all council members, is designed as a place where important stuff can be talked about in depth.

Talked about by council members only, that is. The public can attend but the public can’t talk because a new procedural bylaw doesn’t provide for anywhere on COTW agendas for public inquiries.

Former councillor Denis Walsh pointed this out at one of council’s regular meetings when the bylaw came up for adoption, noting that while COTW agendas do include a “civil discourse” statement there’s no opportunity for public discoursing.

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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.