There's Always Something

I just watched a utube of  an excerpt from  a Council meeting. The Mayor was explaining how no-one can decide for a Councillor whether or not said Councillor has a Pecuniary Conflict of Interest.

It raises an interesting question. Pecuniary  means  financial. A Councillor must decide for himself if he stands to make money by the decision whichever way it goes.

If the issue is of  general  interest to the neighbourhood or the community and   is not a  financial advantage particular to the Councillor it is not Conflict of Interest.

I've seen a Councillor declare conflict where there is none and I've seen failure  to declare where there is.  Declaring an "Interest" is neither fish,fowl nor good red herring. It is a  canard.

A former Mayor of East Gwillimbury was charged with a Conflict of Interest and had to defend himself in court. A Judge found he did indeed have a conflict of interest but he didn't mean it . He was exonerated. 

I imagine it cost quite a bit, public and private to sort that one out. I can't for the life of me see what advantage came of it to anybody, least of all the public. Politics was likely at the bottom of it.

But there's another angle to the issue.. One of the few legislated duties of  a councillor is that he/she shall vote on  every question to be decided. A Councillor is not permitted  to abstain from voting while occupying a seat at the table. 

When the vote is called and hands are raised, a  hand  not raised is taken to be an opposing vote and counted as such.

That's why the Clerk calls for the Nature of  the Conflict. Declaring  a conflict to escape the legal requirement  to vote is not the use intended.

If a Councillor doesn't  want to be accountable for his vote, a specious declaration of Conflict serves as  a slick way to slide out from under.

In the last orientation for new Councillors I attended, not  this Council term, Mr. George Rust D'Eye made a presentation about  grave perils of  new Conflict of Interest legislation and  serious penalties provided for an offence. . 

He didn't say anything about abuse of  the Act to slide out from under responsibility to caste a vote.

It happens.