Parker needs to resign

By Letter to the Editor on March 3, 2021.

Editor:
Many taxpayers may not understand Lethbridge City Councillor Ryan Parker’s seemingly odd admission of a mistake at the City Council Meeting of February 09, 2021. (Video of Lethbridge City Council Meeting – item 1.2.3-frame stop 2:28). Everyone makes mistakes, no big deal.
Except it was a big deal!
Part of Councillor Parker’s duties include being a member of the ‘Economic Standing Policy Committee’, and one of their responsibilities is to oversee and vote on administrative salaries.
However, Councillor Parker’s wife is employed as Corporate Sustainability Manager for the City of Lethbridge.
It is irrelevant that no pay increase was at issue in this particular instance. It is a conflict for him to participate in any way in discussions or votes that pertain to her salary.
The Municipal Government Act calls this pecuniary interest. Sections 172-175 of the Act describe how Councillors may not take part in the discussion and decision-making on any matter in which they have a pecuniary interest.
Further, these rules apply at all meetings of council and its committees, and at the meetings of any board, commission, committee or agency to which councillors are appointed as a representative of the council.
Councillor Parker is not a rookie. Elected in 1998, he has nearly 23 years of experience in the job.
Councillor Parker has dealt with these provisions before.
This lack of respect for the rules and the taxpayer is exactly what needs to change at City Hall.
The consequence for breaking the pecuniary interest rule is serious.
Section 174 of the Municipal Government Act states that if a councillor participates in a matter where they have a pecuniary interest, that councillor is disqualified from Council and must immediately resign.
Councillor Parker must resign!
Jeffrey DeJong
Lethbridge Transparency Council