After just 2 years, the future of Surrey's groundbreaking ethics office is uncertain

When Surrey announced it would be the first municipality in B.C. to have an ethics commissioner, it was hoped it would usher in a new era of transparency at city hall.

But little more than two years later, the future of the office is in limbo, with city council controlled by a Safe Surrey Coalition majority under Mayor Doug McCallum deciding not to renew the commissioner's term earlier this year.

The future of the role, along with the issue of accountability at city hall, havebecome contentious points of debate within council andin the campaign for the upcoming civic election.

All mayoral candidates other than McCallum have included increased accountability and transparency among their election promises.

Office established

In July 2019, a motion was presented by Coun. Jack Hundialand passed unanimously to establish the Office of the Ethics Commissioner as a way to boost transparencyabout city business.

"My notice of motion was for the ethics commissioner not only to be established as a public-facing piece, but for the public to actually have confidence when they have issues or concerns about the ethical behaviour of elected officials," said Hundial.

Under the original bylawthat established the office, the commissioner was tasked with holding the mayor and councillors accountable by guiding them on ethical principles and investigating allegations of misconduct in a timely manner.

The Office of the Ethics Commissioner was officially created on Feb. 10, 2020, with a price tag upwards of $200,000 per year, according to the bylaw.

Reece Harding, a lawyer specializing in municipal law, was appointed as B.C.'s first municipal ethics commissioner that July.

The City of Vancouver followed Surrey's lead, establishing an integrity commissioner at the start of 2022.

Since the Surrey office began in 2020, Harding has received 71 complaints, resolving and closing 59 of those.

However, only two of the investigation outcomes have been made public on the city website.By comparison, City of Vancouverintegrity commissioner Lisa Southernhas received 35 complaints since January, with two resolved and posted online.

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Moratorium on ethics investigations

During this council's term, issues related to ethics and transparency have become fodder for often-nasty disputesbetween McCallum and the four councillorsof his Safe Surrey party, and the rest of council.

The mayor has been the subject of ethics investigations himself, with theSurrey Police Vote campaign claiminghe had a conflict of interest for chairing the board of the Surrey Police Service while beingcharged with mischiefby the Surrey RCMP.

Both resolved complaints on the city's website also pertain to McCallum.

The mayor and his supporting councillors were accused of stifling transparency in April when councilvotedin favour of a moratorium on new ethics investigations until after the municipal election a motion McCallum had originally proposed and then withdrewin January.

"The issue of the integrity of this place and the whole issue around public access should be open and fluid to the public," Coun. Brenda Locke said in April."This is their house and their information as well."

Then, withHarding's two-year term up for renewal in July 2022, council directed city staff in a closed meeting to not appoint a new ethics commissioner.

A document from that meeting says the decision was made "so that the newly elected council has an opportunity to determine the future of the ethics commissioner's office."

With Harding's term over, 12 complaints are still waiting to be resolved.

CBC News asked Harding about his time as ethics commissioner and accountability at Surrey City Hall, but he declined to comment.

Candidates on increasing accountability

CBC has also contacted McCallum and the Safe Surrey Coalition to ask about accountability and reinstating an ethics commissioner, but has not received a reply.

Other mayoral candidates have spoken about the subject, be it on their campaign websites or in interviews with the CBC.

Lockeis the only candidate promising to reinstate the ethics commissioner's office.

"It is necessary in a city the size of Surrey, with the complexity of Surrey, with the land use issues that we face in Surrey," she said.

Among the other candidates,Gordie Hogg, a former MP, MLA and mayor of White Rock, is promising to establish an independent auditor general to monitor spending and efficiency and promising to reinstate citizen advisory committees.

Five-term federal liberal MPSukh Dhaliwalwants to begin an immediate forensic audit of the city's development applications, and would askthe provincial auditor general to oversee Surrey's fiscal management for the next two budgets.

NDP MLA and former MP Jinny Sims, meanwhile, says she is committed to reinstating the citizen advisory committees that were removed during McCallum's term in office. She also plansto reduce the number of private council meetings and be more transparent with the public about development applications.

Hundial, who distanced himself from Safe Surrey soon after the 2018 election, and is not running again for council, hopes the ethics commissioner will return to do the important work he envisioned when he introduced his motion three years ago.

"These are tax dollars that are paying for these [council] positions, and they really should havetransparency around that," he said.