EDITORIAL – How council jumped at latest excuse to shelve public inquiries

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

AL KOEHOLIC is, no doubt, having a good chuckle over Tuesday’s council meeting in which the latest ridiculous decision was made to suspend public inquiries. Again.

Al, as we’ll call him, submitted a request to speak under new pre-registration rules put in place by council in an effort to curb behaviour they don’t like. Obviously, there’s no such person as Al Koeholic. It was a silly joke, and unproductive given the history of the public-inquiries issue.

Somehow, though, Al ‘s application to speak sailed through administration — which is supposed to vet these things — and made it onto the agenda. Temporarily, anyway.

When it came Al’s time to speak, no one stepped up to the podium.

That’s when Coun. Margot Middleton stepped in. Middleton began her rookie term being an ineffective councillor who didn’t seem to understand basic Robert’s Rules of Order, the guide for running public meetings. Over time, she’s transitioned from ineffective to anti-effective. Technically, there’s no such word as “anti-effective.” You won’t find it in the dictionary but it’s more accurate than ineffective, which doesn’t quite describe Middleton at the moment.

Anyway, so yesterday (May 28, 2025), she successfully moved that public inquiries be shelved once again because of the “abuse” of process by Al Koeholic. Time is needed, she said, for staff and the government services committee to further review the situation and decide what to do about avoiding such incidents in future.

In Middleton’s words: “This will give us time for this to go to committee for the committee to have the time to review it….”

Why? Why abolish public inquiries again on such a paltry and illogical excuse? How about staff simply use common sense in disallowing registrants that exhibit obviously fake names. If need be, add a procedural clause requiring that names be capable of verification.

To their credit, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and Coun. Dale Bass demonstrated logic and common sense by voting against Middleton. Logic and common sense, however, aren’t exactly consistent commodities around the horseshoe.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. 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.