The NPA on accountability

Suzanne Anton has released some of her Non-Partisan Association ideas for how to bring an “accountability accord” to Vancouver’s city hall.

Accountability’s a good thing, right? So there’s little to disagree with here:

  • Support for a (provincially-funded) municipal auditor
  • Freezing the mayor’s office budget for three years
  • Cutting the budget for councillors attending international meetings and national conventions
  • Increasing the availability of internal city documents
  • More detailed expense accounts. She specifically cites “finding out who the mayor had dinner with in New York.”
  • Lifting a “gag order” on city staff speaking to media
  • Enshrining a ban on soliciting and accepting foreign donations into the Vancouver Charter
  • Increasing debate time for councillors at city hall
  • Making annual budget documents more comprehensive

Well, okay, maybe I don’t disagree as much, but I am scratching my head a bit.

First, what does accountability have to do with the mayor’s office budget? The budget could be gigantic, but accounted for. I can understand what she’s going after, but it’s not accountability.

Second, I’m really not clear on the weird fascination with the dinner date knowledge. I guess it’s an illustration of the level of detail she’d expect, but hopefully there’s a line. Otherwise city hall will become even more wasteful with managers chasing down TPS reports. There’s something to be said for efficiency, especially when you’re also planning to cut budgets.

Next, saying you’ll lift the “gag order” is all well and good, but is she going to make anything more accessible? The BC government’s new DataBC project is a great way to present information in a readily consumable manner. Does Anton commit to continuing to expand the Vancouver Open Data Catalogue and encouraging app makers to use the data?

Next, the ban on foreign donations is nice, but doesn’t go nearly far enough. Why are we still allowing corporate and union donations at the municipal level? Why does Vancouver have among the weakest campaign finance restrictions around? Even uber-NPA friendly CityCaucus supports finance reforms.

Increased debate time and comprehensive budgets are good ideas. Improving the design and readability of the budgets for the general public would be a praiseworthy suggestion.

Overall, a very lacklustre set of promises from Anton.

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