Regional council will discuss a motion Wednesday night calling for the province to investigate installing a commissioner to rule when councillors have conflicts of interest.
The motion follows the LRT debate, in which four councillors withdrew from the decision. Those were Ken Seiling, Rob Deutschmann, Tom Galloway and Doug Craig.
Whether or not they will be able to participate in future LRT debate is up to the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
"It's a grey situation" says Deutschmann, "and the repercussions of making the wrong call is loss of office."
Deutschmann's law practice owns a building directly on the route. He, and others, want to be back at the table for future LRT decisions, and fellow councillors like Carl Zehr want their input.
"People have been elected to council. They shouldn't be disenfranchised just because of an interpretation of an act."
The act talks only about a councillor's potential financial gain from a decision. In the case of the LRT debate, the big money commitment has already been made. The remaining decisions have to do with the project's implementation.
"I think they should all be part of that" says political scientist, Robert Williams. "It is an interest they hold in common with the community."
The question then becomes how to do it.
"I would like to see the province amend the act" says Zehr.
Some would like the province to appoint a commissioner to rule on conflicts of interest on all issues.
Others, like Deutschmann, think a legal opinion should be sought.
"Then we would need to see if we could bring an application to the court and ask a judge."
All of those options wade into unchartered territory.
In order to get a ruling from a judge, someone would have to direct regional staff to pursue the option. It can't be one of the councillors who is already conflicted.
The idea of installing a conflict of interest commissioner would require the province to participate. That might be unlikely in the lead up to October's election.
