"Now‘s the time to speak your mind" - guest column Penticton Herald April 3, 2010

Now‘s the time to speak your mind

By Bill Bennett
Minister of Community and Rural Development

Saturday, April 3, 2010
VICTORIA - If you‘ve ever wanted to have a say in the way your local government representatives and school trustees are elected, this is your chance to speak your mind.
There are still a few weeks left for citizens, organizations and community groups to submit written feedback to the joint Local Government Elections Task Force.
I‘ve had the privilege these last few months, to work with an incredible group of people representing both the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and the province on the task force, including co-chair and UBCM president Harry Nyce.
We‘ve been collecting feedback from individuals and organizations from all over B.C. about how to improve our current local government elections process and have received more than 250 submissions to date.
Though a lot of positive changes have been made in recent years to the Local Government Act to modernize elections, the task force has been looking at any remaining gaps in the process.
The issues we‘ve been examining include campaign finance, enforcement processes and outcomes, the role of B.C.‘s chief electoral officer in local government elections, the term of office, the corporate vote, and candidate eligibility of some local government employees.
We know how important it is to seek opinions from a diverse range of stakeholders, and we have invited input from local governments, citizens, community groups, the Leader of the Opposition and organizations such as the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, the B.C. Federation of Labour, B.C. School Trustees Association and B.C. Teachers Federation.
We are also getting technical advice from election experts, including the Local Government Management Association, Elections B.C. and academics.
As well, individual task-force members are receiving feedback throughout the normal course of their work in communities throughout B.C.
From the outset, the task force has made a concerted effort to be as transparent as possible.
That‘s why we took the unusual step of posting on our website discussion papers about the topics the task force is reviewing.
We wanted the public to be part of this process, to think through these complex issues with us.
We decided initially to keep the submissions confidential
so people could feel free to
express themselves without fear of having their comments made public.
However, as a result of constructive criticism about our process, we have reconsidered that decision.
We are posting submissions by local governments and organizations in their entirety to our website.
To protect people‘s privacy, we are posting only the substantive comments of individuals, without identifying them.
In order to hear from as many people as possible, we have asked for comments to be submitted in writing.
I encourage you again to check out our website and let us know what you think. The deadline is April 15.
Comments can be provided:
Online at localelectionstaskforce.gov.bc.c
By e-mail to localelectionstaskforce@gov.bc.ca
By fax to 250 387-7972
By mail to:
Local Government Elections Task Force
c/o Ministry of Community and Rural Development
PO Box 9839 Stn Prov Govt.
Victoria B.C. V8W 9T1
Any changes that come out of the review will be made in time for approved legislative changes to be implemented for the 2011 local government elections.
For more information on government services or to subscribe to the province‘s news feeds using RSS, visit the province‘s website at gov.bc.ca.
Bill Bennett is the Minister of Community and Rural Development.
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/stories.php?i=254832&a=53591&d=12619&k=5d3d5f59fc74b8a17af3e6f09071f76d

NDP urges Liberals to be non-partisan in selecting civic election committee - article -Vancouver Sun

NDP urges Liberals to be non-partisan in selecting civic election committee
Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, November 28, 2009
B.C.'s New Democrats appealed to the government Friday to put aside partisan interests and include opposition members in a yet-to-be-announced committee examining gaping holes in municipal-election legislation.
Any such committee "should be squeaky clean ... Even the appearance of [possible] political motives should not be there," said Scott Fraser, NDP MLA for Port Alberni and community development critic.
Fraser's comments came after hints leaked earlier this week that the Liberals were set to appoint members of the committee. They will investigate possible changes to the Local Government Act after municipalities across the province raised concerns at the Union of B.C. Municipalities this fall about serious flaws in the legislation.

"It is a bit of the Wild West out there compared to provincial and federal elections," Community Development Minister Bill Bennett said at the time.
A Vancouver Sun article published Friday highlighted one particularly murky situation brewing in the grape-growing paradise of Summerland following last year's municipal election.
All six town councillors and Mayor Janice Perino admitted in their campaign-financing disclosure statements that they took donations from unnamed individuals, groups or corporations that exceeded the legal threshold set out under the Local Government Act.
According to the act, it's illegal to take anonymous donations of more than $50, and the penalty for doing so is disqualification from holding office and from running again until after the next general election.
It's also illegal to give anonymous donations of more than $50.
To date, no one on council has been fired. Summerland's acting Mayor Gordon Clark said that's because no one has done anything wrong.
"I try to behave in complete compliance with the spirit and the letter of the legislation," the retired lawyer said in an interview.
But others, including Kennedy Stewart, a Simon Fraser University political scientist whose specialty is civic politics, believe the lack of action has more to with the toothless nature of the act, which fails to set out clear powers of enforcement.
In a speech to municipal leaders in the fall, Premier Gordon Campbell said he would put a committee in place to look into the problems. The committee is to be headed by Union of B.C. Municipalities president Harry Nyce and Bennett, with recommendations expected by May 31.
Fraser said he was still hopeful Friday the committee would also include members of the NDP, as well as B.C.'s lone independent MLA Vicki Huntington.
dahansen@vancouversun.com
© Vancouver Sun 2009
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=65171acd-240a-4306-8db2-03f34dc88915

Task Force on changes to municipal elections

On October 2, 2009, Premier Gordon Campbell announced a joint Task Force to make recommendations for legislative changes to improve the electoral process for local government elections across B.C.

The six-member Task Force is co-chaired by Bill Bennett, Minister of Community and Rural Development, and Harry Nyce, president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) and includes two other UBCM executive members and two provincial MLAs.

The Task Force is reviewing specific issues related to local government elections. Topics under review are:

Campaign finance, including contribution/spending disclosure and limits, and tax credits
Enforcement processes and outcomes
Role of the chief electoral officer (B.C.) in local government elections
Election cycle (term of office)
Corporate vote
Other agreed upon matters, (e.g. matters raised in UBCM resolutions such as eligibility of local government volunteers to be candidates)
The Task Force welcomes feedback in writing on these topics. Written comments can be submitted via the e-mail Feedback link, the Feedback Form or sent to:

E-mail
localelectionstaskforce@gov.bc.ca

Mail
Local Government Elections Task Force
c/o Ministry of Community and Rural Development
PO Box 9839 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9T1

Fax: 250-387-7972

The Task Force looks forward to receiving your written comments as soon as possible, preferably by April 15, 2010.
http://www.localelectionstaskforce.gov.bc.ca/index.html

Unanswered questions - Summerland Review editorial Jan 14, 2010

Unanswered questions - Summerland Review editorial January 14, 2010

(also Published: January 13, 2010 4:00 PM on www.summerlandreview.com and
Updated: January 13, 2010 4:50 PM)

We didn’t want it to end like this.

The investigation into violations during the 2008 municipal election campaign is over now, since the paperwork was filed much too late.

The filing deadline was six months after the November 2008 election, but the request for an investigation did not take place until December 2009, seven months after the deadline had passed.

The decision to drop the investigation means the members of municipal council can finish out their terms, but it also means the questions which have been raised will not be answered and the allegations cannot be supported or refuted. This does not help anyone.

Accusations of corruption and illegal campaign contributions have been raised.

An investigation would be able to prove, once and for all, whether those allegations were valid.

For the last few months, the reputations of the council members and a number of others in this community have been tarnished by the claims.

Summerland has made the news on a provincial and national level in a way none of us would prefer.

The story has now come to an end, but it was not concluded.

The case is closed but the questions remain unanswered.

Ending an investigation in this way should not be taken as evidence of the guilt or innocence of anyone involved. Neither is it a sign of a cover-up.

Instead, it demonstrates the need for reforms and revisions to the provincial legislation governing municipal elections, so nothing like this can happen again.

The allegations and resulting investigation have shifted attention from the important issues affecting the future of our community to something which has far less bearing on our lives.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/summerlandreview/opinion/81380417.html

Police end investigation of council - Summerland Review

Police end investigation of council

Online edition – Summerland Review

Published: January 13, 2010 5:00 PM 
Updated: January 13, 2010 5:18 PM 


A police investigation into possible violations during the 2008 municipal election is now over as the request was filed several months past the deadline.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, an RCMP district representative, said the general statute of limitations is six months, unless a different time frame is set out specifically. He said the investigation is now over.

The complaint was filed in December by a group of 14 Summerlanders concerned about irregularities in the municipal election.

“No one made a complaint until it was too late,” said Mayor Janice Perrino. “Nothing more will be done. The case is closed.”

Perrino, who was one of the subjects of the investigation, was contacted by the RCMP late last week.

She said the deadline for filing a complaint about election irregularities was within six months of the election.

The municipal election took place on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.

In the fall of 2009, questions were raised about a series of anonymous advertisements, some urging voters to choose a council friendly to growth and others endorsing specific candidates.

The result of the election was a decisive win for those endorsed.

Close to 4,000 ballots were cast. Perrino, with 2,183 votes, defeated mayoral candidate Peter Waterman who had 1,651 ballots.

Among the council candidates, the six endorsed in third-party ads were all elected with more than 200 votes separating the sixth place councillor and the seventh of the 13 candidates.

Those questioning the ads had said they were anonymous donations to the candidates which the council candidates should not have received.

Later, Mark Ziebarth, a Summerland businessman, claimed responsibility for some of the third-party ads.

He said the ads were not political donations and did not violate the legislation governing elections.

Perrino is glad the investigation has now ended.

“It was incredibly painful for our community to be smeared right across this province,” Perrino said.

She added that the investigation took up valuable police time and was a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Because the review was requested more than a year after the election, she questions the motives of those who brought it forward.

“It had nothing to do with an election and everything to do with a smear campaign,” she said. “This was because of an issue.”

She said that if the concerns were over the election itself, the complaint would have been filed shortly after the election instead of more than a year later.

But Frank Martens, one of the people behind the request for the police investigation, said the information about the irregularities did not surface until the fall.

Once the stories began to circulate, he said the complainants waited to give the members of council a chance to refute the allegations.

“I thought there would be some sort of charges laid,” Martens said. “I can’t understand why the RCMP would say there’s nothing they can do.”

A provincial task force has been formed to examine the legislation governing municipal elections in B.C.

Perrino has contacted MLA Bill Barisoff and the task force about the incidents in Summerland.

“We know the rules have to be tightened and we are aware there are major problems,” she said.

She would like the rules changed to protect the public, to protect the candidates and to protect elections officials in order to prevent smear campaigns following an election.

Martens also believes the task force is needed.

“That’s the only good thing, in my opinion, that has come out of this,” he said

http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/summerlandreview/news/81384362.html

Summerland - Update-Alleged Local Government Act contravention - RCMP Statement Jan 11/2010

Summerland - Update-Alleged Local Government Act contravention
File # 2009-2555 2010-01-11 06:36 PST
The RCMP have completed their review of the recent Local Government Act complaint against Summerland Mayor and Council. Police do not possess statutory authority to investigate the complaint, due to the expiration of the statute of limitation.


The RCMP “E” Division Commercial Crime Section has conducted a review of the recent Local Government Act complaint made to the Summerland RCMP Detachment, which leveled allegations against elected officials and a member of the public.

The complaint filed in mid December 2009, alleged that during the 2008 municipal election, the running Summerland Mayor and a number of members of Council, as well as a private citizen, had contravened sections of the Local Government Act.

The official complaint submitted to Summerland Detachment enumerated 3 complaints:

1.The alleged acceptance by the Mayor and Councilors of anonymous donations in excess of $50 contrary to section 87 of the Act.

2.That there were at least two groups who in appearance, met the definition of campaign organizer, and may have spent more than $500 and yet failed to register or file a financial disclosure form as required by the Act.

3.That advertisements in the Summerland Review and other local newspapers which appeared to have exceeded the $500 threshold requiring campaign organizers to register with the chief electoral officer and file a financial disclosure, were not disclosed.

“Investigators in this case, are statute barred from proceeding any further than reviewing the complaint. In this matter, the limitation of action for instituting any judicial proceedings, (which includes police investigation) has expired by virtue of section 3(2) of the Offence Act BC. The statute of limitation on matters of this nature is a period of six months from the time of the occurrence of the alleged offence.

Although the formal police review of this complaint will end here, it has been conducted in a thorough and properly documented manner, in order to demonstrate the seriousness with which the RCMP views electoral offence allegations and to demonstrate due diligence in the assessment of the complaint.” stated Cpl Dan Moskaluk.

The Provincial Ministry of Community and Rural Development recently announced the creation of a Task Force to “improve the fairness, accountability and transparency of the elections process at the local government level” (media release 2009CD0051-000725 from the Ministry of Community and Rural Development dated 2009-12-04).

See full media release at: news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2009-2013/2009CD0051-000725

“While the RCMP is statute barred from investigating this complaint, it is noted that the task force will be seeking feedback from a diverse range of stakeholders and will be inviting input from local governments, representative groups and the public on topics under review”…Cpl Dan Moskaluk


Released by

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk
Media Relations Officer
South East District and North District
170 -395 Penno Road, Kelowna BC V1X-7W5
Office: (250) 491-2300
Cell: (250) 863-7433
Fax: (250) 491-2381
Email: dan.moskaluk@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

http://bc.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=50&languageId=1&contentId=12914&index=3

"Clock Runs out for probe into Summerland Council expenses" Penticton Herald Jan 10, 2010

Clock Runs out for probe into Summerland Council expenses

By James Miller

Penticton Herald

Sunday, January 10, 2010

A request for a formal RCMP investigation from 15 citizens in Summerland into allegations of irregular election expenses made by mayor and council in the 2008 municipal election has been denied due to a statute of limitations.

Although a statute of limitations is not mentioned in the official B.C. Municipal Elections Act, according to spokesman Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, “when the provincial act doesn‘t have a section on a statute of limitations, it defaults to the offence act, which is a basic six months.”

Moskaluk quoted section 3(2) of the Offence Act.

Retired orchardist Frank Martens, along with 14 others, filed an official complaint with RCMP on Dec. 14 that all six councillors plus the mayor were in violation of several infractions.

In their official complaint they outlined three major concerns:

• The alleged acceptance by the mayor and councillors of anonymous donations in excess of $50 contrary to the act.

• Groups which spent over $500 on endorsement ads yet failed to register or file a financial disclosure statement

• Additional advertisements in the Summerland Review and other local newspapers that may have exceeded the $500 benchmark requiring campaign organizers to register with the Chief Electoral Officer and file a financial disclosure.

Councillors stated that they sought advice of CEO Gillian Matthew on disclosure and were always honest in their declarations. They listed donations of more than $50 as anonymous only because they directly benefited from advertisements from unnamed citizen‘s group but had no idea who they were.

The case was immediately moved out of Summerland and was handled in Vancouver by Andrew Koczeruk of the Commercial Crimes section.

“I‘m not happy about the result, but I‘m certainly not unhappy with the fact that we had requested the investigation,” Martens said.

“I don‘t believe the people involved have been entirely exonerated because it‘s been declined basically on a technicality. I don‘t believe there should have been such a brief time-line in place, but that‘s not our call to make.”

Martens noted that candidates have three months from the time of the election to declare their financial statements and the public is not allowed access to those documents until that time, thus meaning citizens don‘t truly have a six-month period to complain.

Martens said there is still the option of challenging in court, but he doubts that will happen due to the tremendous costs involved.

“There‘s now a task force in place because there were similar occurrences throughout the province and maybe other places that haven‘t bothered to raise questions.”

Coun. Gordon Clark, who was acting mayor at the time questions were first brought forward, declined comment, Saturday. Phone messages were left with both Mayor Janice Perrino and Coun. Ken Roberghe, who did not reply by press time.

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/stories.php?i=235498