Whereas the City of Port Moody strongly supports fair and unbiased resources for local governments; And whereas in support of this principle, the City of Port Moody called upon the Province to establish an Office of the Local Government Ethics Commissioner, which would provide fair and unbiased guidance to local governments on issues such as legality, conflict, code of conduct violations, and bullying: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM requests the Province establish an Office of the Local Government Ethics Commissioner and require mandatory ethics training for all new elected officials.
Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs The ministry recognizes that how elected officials conduct themselves in their relationships with elected colleagues, staff, and the public is directly connected to how a community is governed. Since 2016, the ministry, the Union of BC Municipalities UBCM, and the Local Government Management Association LGMA have been working collaboratively through the Working Group on Responsible Conduct to research and develop new responsible conduct tools to support local governments. Currently, local government legislation neither specifically authorizes nor prohibits the voluntary establishment of an ethics commissioner for individual local governments. The City of Surrey, the City of Vancouver, and the City of New Westminster have established their own ethics commissioners to operate independently for their local governments. In September 2024, the UBCM and LGMA released a discussion paper exploring the use of mandatory codes of conduct and models for their administration and enforcement. The discussion paper specifically compares three approaches to code administration and enforcement: 1. Status quo. 2. A decentralized model where local governments are required to appoint an ethics commissioner. 3. A centralized province-wide office of integrity. It is encouraged that all local government elected officials and administrators read the discussion paper to help inform any future conversations on codes of conduct and integrity commissioners. The ministry is currently considering the findings of the discussion paper and examining feedback provided from the LGMA and UBCM membership on the options provided in the paper. The ministry plans to continue engaging with local governments on a path forward to address this issue, which could include future amendments to the legislative framework for responsible conduct.