ROTHENBURGER – Coun. Sarai’s astonishing plan to silence criticism from non-profits
(Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo)
IF COUN. BILL SARAI gets his wish, non-profits with hopes of getting grants from City council will have to zip it if they’re ever tempted to criticize council decisions.
It might not be the worst idea to fall from a councillor’s mouth but it ranks right up there.
Sarai raised the bizarre idea at this week’s meeting of the Livability and Sustainability Committee when staff presented a list of recommended climate action grants for approval. There are 16 applications on the list, which will now go to the full council for consideration.
Sarai sought “clarification” on “what groups have political affiliations and the influence they have on their members.”
Just to make sure there’s no misinterpretation of Sarai’s remarkable proposition, here’s the rest of what he said, in full:
“I think it’s only fair that council addresses funding requests from non-profits that are neutral during council terms. They can go out and solicit or promote their candidates during election time, which everybody does, but it’s very uncomfortable during council term when your minutes or your council decisions are being called out and I think that’s a little bit, uh, it makes me feel uncomfortable how, in allocating money, how it’s going to be played out in the public.“Is it pressure to approve because you don’t want to get tarnished by a brush or do you go against it based on your morals and what you think?”
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.
Here’s the text of Transition Kamloops’ response to Coun. Sarai’s comments:
We watched with interest the discussion at yesterday’s meeting of the City’s Livability and Sustainability Select Committee. Councillor Sarai suggested that only those organizations which agree with Council decisions should be eligible for City grants. We believe that grant applications should be evaluated on their own merits, on how well the projects would advance the City’s priorities, and on the organizations’ capacity to deliver on their commitments. To deny grants to organizations which critique a Council decision is undemocratic and raises questions about the true purpose of the grants.
Transition Kamloops’ values are closely aligned with several of the City’s goals. Given the frightening impacts of climate change we are already witnessing locally, we are strong advocates for timely and effective climate action. Many of our programs are specifically designed to build public awareness of the City’s Community Climate Action Plan and support the implementation of its eight Big Moves. Since we are 100% volunteer-driven, we are able to provide maximum value for the City’s dollars.
Having said that, we still maintain that Council should not have voted to approve Fortis’ request for a letter of support to the BC Utilities Commission for their RNG rate proposal, in direct opposition to the approximately 100 letters that Councillors received from members of the public prior to the vote. Council defeated a motion to delay the vote on Fortis’ request until hearing from staff and from the many citizens present at the meeting who wished to speak to the issue. Council’s stand was also in opposition to that of several other BC municipalities who are intervenors in the proceeding opposing the Fortis proposal (which is still before the BC Utilities Commission). We agree with those municipalities, who after having done extensive research, have declared the Fortis proposal misleading in terms of its GHG-reducing potential and a distortion of market pricing.
Crucially, Transition Kamloops’ criticism of the Council decision on Fortis does not impede us from continuing our work in support of the City’s Community Climate Action Plan—and local climate action.
Regarding Cllr. Sarai’s comments, we expect that calmer heads will prevail and trust that the City of Kamloops will come to the same conclusion as the City of Vancouver when this same issue was raised in July 2023: “Local government officials must be open to critique of their actions and decisions – this is a core tenet of democracy and political life.”
— Gisela Ruckert, Transition Kamloops
ArmchairMayor.ca 
What buffoonery was taking placed inside the head of councillor Sarai that led him to open his mouth and say what he did? His idea is beyond stupid and is quite insulting. My God folks, what did we do to deserve this group?
Next election, I plead with the electorate to be very careful in considering re-electing any incumbent councillor.
If you see a sign that says “re-elect”, run for the hills!
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Ya … sure,
Today, request information regarding an associations benevolence to the overlord Council, by requiring either tacit head nodding or silence,
Tomorrow, Council reject any community funding, or grants to groups that have disagreed with a Council decision, regardless how disjointed the connection between the grant purpose and the disagreed issue.
Next week, Council targets community organizations that have previously slighted Council decisions … and turn down their business licenses or otherwise block any operational networking needs or other recognition that they would be otherwise entitled.
Next month, Leaders of such community organizers are strung up by noose or clamped into a medieval block to be ridiculed and have tomatoes thrown at them at Riverside park, because they disagree with the brown shirt wearing marauding gangs of party faithful, who are following their vaunted Council decision makers, and these lacking organizations office windows are marked with white paint, and members forced to wear identifying armbands … to point out where the evil doers lie …
Ok … thats pushing it … probably … but,
disagreeing with a political body – any body – Federal, Provincial, Municipal or Regional, as quoted by Gisela Ruckert, Transition Kamloops of a Vancouver decision; “Local government officials must be open to critique of their actions and decisions – this is a core tenet of democracy and political life.”
Mr. Sarai knows not what he is suggesting.
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Mr. Sarai knows *exactly* what he’s doing. What he isn’t aware of, is he is showing the same proclivities as people like Trump. Mr. Sarai’s proposal is an affront to the very foundations of democracy, and he should step down for even thinking such a thing. How can anyone trust this man to make decisions without personal biases on a matter before council from this point forward?
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I think you’re giving the councillor a little too much credit, he appears to be more of a 52 card pick up kind of guy than a bridge player.
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My name is Judge Dredd. On September 26, 2023, Kamloops council requested help from the provincial government, on governance issues stemming from discord around the horseshoe at city hall. I have been appointed by the province in response to that plea. The old adage “be careful what you ask for” applies here.
Effective immediately, all members of council are subject to have their actions tried in the Judge Dredd court of public opinion, and a decision rendered on those actions.
Up first are the comments made by Coun. Bill Sarai. The agreed upon facts of this case are:
1. Coun. Bill Sarai said he’s “uncomfortable” with voting to give out grant money to groups that might disagree with decisions made around the horseshoe.
2. Coun. Bill Sarai requested that his colleagues support his request for city staff to place groups under surveillance, and have their comments investigated to determine their allegiance to council. Coun. Sarai stated that members of council felt as he did on the matter.
After carefully considering the evidence before me, I find the following:
On count 1, attempted coercion of community groups via the mechanism of taxpayer funded grants, I find Coun. Sarai guilty.
On count 2, aggravated attempted use of city assets for inappropriate surveillance of citizens for anti-democratic purposes, I find Coun. Sarai guilty.
Evidence shows that Coun. Bill Sarai has support around council. Therefore, sentencing that applies to Coun. Sarai applies to the rest of council.
Council is sentenced to 30 days of organics recycling bin cleaning and 45 days pothole remediation, to be served concurrently. Further, due to the aggravated nature of count 2, Coun. Sarai is sentenced to 75 days remedial cleanup of excrement and drug use paraphernalia at businesses impacted by the open drug use crisis.
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This is the same counsellor who initiated a motion to write a letter to the Feds to insist on changing the laws to allow more foreign students to work more than 20 hours a week. He claimed that Kamloops needed more workers to fill minimum paying jobs which Canadians weren’t interested to work for. I found this odd coming from a lifelong union worker, I would have assumed he would be championing higher min. wages rather than importing workers as indentured servants. He claimed students wanted to work more hours and were willing to take less classes to do so. I pointed out that they were willing to do so because they many weren’t really here for the education but really just to jump the cue to immigration which has turned up to be what is happening. His rebuttal was that it didn’t matter because we needed more workers. Do we really need more foreign workers to fill fast food, hotel and other low paying min. wage jobs or is it what his deep pocket supporters want?
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And then what is happening is that many “international students” are apparently NOT interested in actual studying. And very many employers who were regularly hiring recent high school graduates in their first work experience, are now not even accepting resumes because swamped by “international students” applications. I digress but I am mostly alarmed by Sarai’s consistent lack of acumen.
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By his own admission, Councillor Sarai is biased in the matter of deciding funding for non profits.
May we also question his bias on other matters set before council?
If bias is a problem with him and he fails to recuse himself, then is he in conflict with the oath of office sworn when he became a Councillor?
Should he even be allowed to continue as a City Councillor?
Is this the proper time for Maria Mazzotta to make the step of a public proclamation, possibly at the next council meeting, of her interpretation regarding this matter?
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Although I would agree with Mr. Gordons well written description of the apparently well run scam of using education enrollment and entry level employment as checkboxes towards immigration … its a bit of a stretch to call it indentured servitude.
Coming here is a choice, working here is a choice, and no one is forced to do either, and even if we can discuss whether or not the minimum wage is still something parallel to slave wages … they are in fact being paid in compliance with Canadian employment laws.
Indentured servants they are not, as they are (Re – Definition 1) not apprenticing in a higher level field of learning or career, and (Definition 2) they are being paid as per those same employment laws.
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Indentured servitude was also a choice in most cases, the worker “servant” voluntarily agreed to a contract to work, not always as an apprentice. In this case the student workers are agreeing to work as a means to jump the queue in the immigration system. In doing so these minimum wage workers are used to suppress the min wage of actual citizens. Who benefits, councillor Sarai’s benefactors and by extension, councillor Sarai.
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The comments from Sarai are NOT a surprise at all.
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One of the craziest things I have ever heard an elected official say in a long time. This group continues to astound, not for their sharp wit or professionalism, but for time and time again finding new ways to demonstrate their incompetence on matters before them and bottom-of-the-barrel civic leadership.
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