A political name you know who made headlines in Ottawa has been named as Edmonton’s first ethics adviser. Former St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber was appointed by city council on Wednesday by a unanimous vote.
Rathgeber abruptly quit the Stephen Harper Conservative caucus in 2013 when his transparency bill suddenly lost government support.
“I resigned from the Conservative caucus over a matter of principle,” he said.
The transparency bill would have allowed the public to file freedom of information requests on salaries and expense claims of high-ranking federal civil servants.
“When the government withdrew its support for that piece of legislation for different reasons depending on who you talk to, it was clear to me that if I were to maintain accountability to my constituents who I promised this legislation, I couldn’t remain a member of that caucus without making a loud statement that you can’t pull a withdrawal of support this late in the process and still have a member say, ‘Well you know, that’s okay.'”
Rathgeber said that level of public service record brings credibility to the role that’s new for Edmonton City Council. He was a government MLA for four years before being elected as the MP for St. Albert for seven more.
Jamie Pytel will be the city’s first integrity commissioner. She’s worked as a lawyer for 26 years, in corporate and private practice. Her work has included investigations, conflict resolution, development of codes of conduct, governance and external whistleblower services.
Her job will be to look into potential breaches of the Council Code of Conduct.
“It covers things like conflict of interest and things like that. So the first assessment is whether it’s within the code of conduct and if it’s not, then I’ll have to go back to the complainant and say, ‘This is not within what I’ve been hired to do.'”
LISTEN: Jamie Pytel speaks with 630 CHED’s Ryan Jespersen
Pytel anticipates that in the early stages of the new office, she’ll get complaints that won’t fall under her mandate, like if someone is upset that property near theirs will get rezoned.
“We will get that because people will have some confusion, and my job is to be a gatekeeper and go back to the complainant and say, ‘This isn’t the right office.'”
“I’m committed to providing good fair process because the impact when there is politics is huge. So we need to make sure the process is fair for all involved because it’s in the political sphere especially.”
Mayor Don Iveson said it’s good that there is this new body to oversee potential problems.
“If something goes wrong or there’s a concern about something, you have to have an independent office to investigate that,” he told reporters.
“In those many instances where a councillor has done the right thing and something can be laid to rest, if a concern is brought forward, she’ll be able to independently verify that. And in the event that something has happened that does require sanction or follow up or public disclosure of wrongdoing by a member of council, we now have an independent mechanism for that.”
The integrity commissioner and ethics adviser will hold their positions for up to five years. The annual cost of the office is estimated at $180,000, including administrative support staff.
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