EDITORIAL – What’s going on with accusations about an FOI request to the mayor?
Coun. Margot Middleton and Coun. Steve Karpuk. (Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
THE FIREWORKS in City council chambers today (March 10, 2026) must have lit up all of Kamloops, and it wasn’t even dark yet. It was surely the weirdest verbal slugfest yet between Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and members of council.
In this case, though, the primary assailant was the usually unassuming and unengaged Coun. Margot Middleton. Let me explain. When it came time for councillors’ reports on the council agenda, Middleton put up her hand. Before she could speak, corporate officer Maria Mazzotta interrupted, saying she felt the topic she was about to bring up might put Coun. Katie Neustaeter in a conflict of interest situation, and that the latter might wish to consider recusing herself.
Neustaeter said she didn’t know what Mazzotta was referring to, but took her advice and left chambers. So what we had was a councillor proclaiming a conflict of interest on something she didn’t even know what she had a conflict on. Bizarre indeed.
Middleton then distributed a lengthy written motion to members of council and went into a preamble that soon got to the point. Mayor Hamer-Jackson, she said, has refused to comply with a Freedom of Information application asking for his emails and texts from June and July of 2025 even though he’s been asked to provide them multiple times.
She and the mayor then commenced to yell over top of each other, with Hamer-Jackson saying he is currently in conversation with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and, furthermore, he has delivered the documents to Middleton via text.
Middleton claimed she hasn’t received those records and that the mayor has not met his statutory obligations. “This marks a new low for the City,” she said.
The councillor then made a motion that the mayor must comply with the FOI request within 24 hours and provide written confirmation that he’s made a concerted effort to retrieve the records. If he refuses, council will convene a meeting to consider whether or not his pay should be further reduced.
“Coun. Middleton, you are wrong!” said the mayor.
“Do not interrupt,” said Coun. Nancy Bepple.
But Hamer-Jackson repeated that he sent Middleton the records and is talking to the privacy commissioner’s office, and has also provided the applicant with the requested records. “It’s amazing the lengths you will go to,” he said.
Coun. Mike O’Reilly asked if Hamer-Jackson should recuse himself from the vote on Middleton’s motion due to a pecuniary interest, that interest apparently being the matter of whether the mayor’s salary might be cut yet again.
Hamer-Jackson wanted to know why Mazzotta suggested Neustaeter recuse herself but no clear answer was available other than that the mayor has and still is involved in legal proceedings with her.
“It’s all a bunch of BS,” the mayor said, refusing to recuse himself. After the inevitable outcome of the vote, he commented again, “The lengths you’ll go to. It’s unbelievable,” adding, “I’m sorry, but I’m still here.”
This requires a careful listen to the recording of the meeting but I have a whole bunch of questions.
Why was Neustaeter advised to recuse herself from the conversation?
How did anyone know who the FOI applicant was, considering the fact that the identity of applicants is supposed to be confidential?
What exactly is the mayor talking to the privacy commissioner about? If that office has opened an investigation as Middleton said, why is council involved?
Why would he have tried to send the records to Middleton? What possible authority does she have in the matter? (She wasn’t even deputy mayor in June or July of 2025.)
How did Middleton come to know there were questions surrounding provision of the records? How did she, or other councillors, come to believe the mayor had not complied with the request?
Did councillors already know the content of her motion? (It seems as though Mazzotta did.)
What business is it of council’s to interject itself into the midst of an FOI request, since the authority on such applications is with the information and privacy commissioner, not with the council? (If somebody is in non-compliance with an information request, it’s for the commissioner to decide.)
This was possibly the most embarrassing day for this council in all of the current term, and there have been many. Maybe answers to some of the above questions will be brought forth in coming days, but today might have been the biggest example yet of just how messed up this City council is.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been 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.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
May I offer an opinion on journalistic styles, Armchair Mayor?
Reading your editorial on this matter and comparing it to the piece written by the regional editor of an on line media outlet makes me wonder if you (Armchair Mayor) and Ms R.E. (regional editor) witnessed the same event.
Perhaps your experience has a lot to do with your type of journalism, Mel. You generally present your editorials with as little bias as possible and you leave it to your readers to draw their own understanding. Generally, with Ms R.E., the thesis follows along the lines that Reid Hamer-Jackson is an idiot and he’s to blame for everything. It’s her job as a journalist to back up her personal bias as strongly as possible by leaving out material that could be used against her by people who have life experiences and interpretations that could also prove her wrong.
To me, that type of “journalism” shows a definite flavour of immaturity. It reeks of the same mentality being used by others to shun Reid. Frankly, it becomes quite boring to expect the same style over and over again and not be disappointed. Again, Mel, I don’t know if Ms R.E. would have made it had she tried to work as a “journalist” at the Daily News when you were at the helm. I somehow can’t see you as an editor who would have published that kind of stuff in a real newspaper.
In the old days, this would have been my 2 cents’ worth. In 2026, let’s make it a whole nickel.
LikeLike
Thank you but I should point out that I don’t intend my editorials and columns to be unbiased, as they’re about expressing my opinions. I strive to do it fairly, though. When I write news reports for the ‘Loops section, I attempt to do so objectively, and that’s an important distinction. The trouble with so much of current journalism is that opinionated reporting masquerades as objective reporting when it isn’t. The simple answer, of course, is the old-school practice or clearly labelling something as opinion when that’s what it is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Coun. Middleton isn’t as mild as you think she is. During the summer 2024 PAC and rinks AAP period, taxpayers were not allowed to ask council questions about the projects or the process because Build Kamloops, the AAPs, and the projects were not mentioned on the council agenda (perhaps by design?). When a taxpayer tried to ask questions, the mayor wanted to allow it since her questions were pertinent. Middleton continually shut the questioning down by doggedly and aggressively interjecting with “points of order.”
By the way: Has Coun. Middleton ever confirmed that her council stipend has indeed gone to charity? She could easily do so by showing the proof in her tax returns to a trusted 3rd party who could verify her claim without having to name the specific recipients. That she’s chosen not to do so is suspect imo.
LikeLike
The suppression of the voice of the taxpayer by council is egregious.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;”
Reid is not the one who should resign.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Mayor is just as responsible for this state of dysfunction as the Council.
LikeLike
And this happened after the mayor was relieved of his duties or should I say “kicked out” of chambers earlier in the meeting. The collusion throughout the meeting was obvious, if council spent have the time doing their job as they do trying to make the mayor look bad then we’d have a pretty successful council.
Anyone who says we need at least a couple experienced councillors for next term need to listen to this parade of embarrassments. At what point does disappointing become despicable?
We don’t just need 9 new members on council, we also need several new directors.
No Incumbents 2026!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are you suggesting that the Mayor has no culpability here? Whether or not there is “collusion” as you say, the Mayor is certainly also responsible for much of the dysfunction in this group.
LikeLike
Specifically in regards to the March 9/25 meeting, you’re damn right I’m saying he’s not at all culpable, this might have been the best meeting he’s had in his 3 plus years as mayor.
He was undermined by Middleton and her theatrics in this ridiculous non event event. Just ask for the damn files to be resent or have someone less contemptuous ask for them to be resent. This was a despicable display of trying to make someone look bad for a trivial matter and again the theatrics were over the top.
And Bepple’s unhelpful and completely unnecessary insertion just days after she stated she had a good working relationship with the mayor was the irony that I’m sure escaped the councillor.
Did you catch the Revitalization Tax Exemptions (RTE) part, I’m guessing you did. He asked why we have rte’s if we’re not going to tell any property owners to take advantage of them. Staff told him it’s not their responsibility and that the property owner can look them up themselves. The fact we have rte’s is to encourage redevelopment, it’s in the city’s best interest to have these properties redeveloped. That manager needs to be reassigned or fired for not knowing the purpose of their job.
Did he get any help from the 8 others on council, nope. Did he get any help from admin, nope. The silence by the others was inexcusable. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
No Incumbents 2026!
LikeLiked by 1 person