WHEREAS conflict of interest is a serious matter in all levels of government and the legal and court costs associated with upholding the conflict of interest provisions of the Community Charter are prohibitive; AND WHEREAS by expanding the role of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner it would be beneficial ethically and financially for ensuring that the interests of the general public are upheld: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM lobby the provincial government to expand the role of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner to include matters arising at the local government level.
Ministry of Attorney General There are no plans to increase the jurisdiction of the provincial Conflict of Interest Commissioner to include local governments. The Commissioner is an Officer of the Legislature and reports directly to the Legislative Assembly. Given that there are over 150 local governments and in excess of 1,000 local government elected officials, adding local governments to his jurisdictions would require a major expansion in the resources of the Commissioners office. As the UBCMs 1996 policy paper on conflict of interest noted, the conflict of interest rules for provincial Members contained in the Members Conflict of Interest Act are different in a number of ways from those of local government governments: they include perceived conflicts, allow for members to represent constituency interests, and contain further provisions respecting the activities of members of cabinet. These specific rules do not apply to local governments, and having a single commissioner responsible for both levels of government raises the danger that the operation of conflict of interest rules between the two levels of government would become blurred for both office-holders and the public.