New Westminster city council has voted 3-2 in support of a recommendation to have Mayor Patrick Johnstone receive training on some aspects of the Community Charter– but two councillors don’t think it goes far enough.
At a hearing in council chambers on Monday, council members considered what action to take in response to the ethics commissioner Jennifer Devins’s findings that Johnstone had breached council’s code of conduct in relation to the acceptance of a “personal gift” in the form of business class travel, accommodations and meals while attending the COP28 conference in Dubai in December 2023. In her report to council and Johnstone, Devins recommended Johnstone receive training on the section of the Community Charter related to the acceptance of gifts.
In a Sept. 23 report to council, Devins said Johnstone had received gifts or personal benefits connected with the performance of the duties of his office, but she found that his contravention of Section 105 of the Community Charter was “inadvertent and the result of an error in judgment made in good faith.” She recommended Johnstone receive coaching or training regarding section 105 of the Community Charter.
In February, councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas filed a complaint against Johnstone under council’s Code of Conduct. They alleged he breached the Code of Conduct and Section 105 of the Community Charter when he attended the conference.
During an hour-and-half hearing in council chambers on Nov. 4, Devins provided an overview of her investigation. Council members were able to ask questions of the commissioner, although the city’s legal counsel stressed, in response to several questions from councillors Fontaine and Minhas, that Devins could not answer questions of a speculative nature, and she could only address facts that were part of her investigation.
Coun. Ruby Campbell, who is acting mayor, chaired Monday’s hearing. Johnstone, as the respondent in the Code of Conduct investigation, was not in council chambers; he chose not to participate in the proceedings.
At the meeting, council was given four possible actions for its consideration:
- Reject the ethics commissioner’s report.
- Accept the ethics commissioner’s report and the recommended remedies.
- Accept the ethics commissioner’s report, reject the recommended remedies and consider no other remedies.
- Accept the ethics commissioner’s report, reject the recommended remedies and consider other remedies.
“You are not bound by her recommendation,” said city solicitor Reese Harding. “It is her recommendation only.”
Fontaine recommended council consider additional remedies to what had been presented by the ethics commissioner. He put forward a motion that the mayor provide an equivalent value of incremental personal benefit he received as a result of accepting business class travel, five-star accommodation and meals for his trip to COP28 in Dubai.
At that point, Harding said he believed council would benefit from legal counsel. Council recessed the meeting and returned to council chambers about 20 minutes later.
When the meeting resumed, Fontaine amended his motion to state that the additional remedy be that the mayor donate $5,000 to the Don’t Go Hungry food security program. In a 3-2 vote, council defeated the motion.
In a subsequent 3-2 vote, council supported a recommendation to accept the ethic’s commissioner’s report and to have the respondent receive training or coaching in the relevant provisions of the Community Charter, as per the ethics commissioner’s recommendation.
Councillors Campbell, Tasha Henderson and Nadine Nakagawa supported the recommendation, while Fontaine and Minhas were opposed. Coun. Jaimie McEvoy did not attend the meeting.
More to come
