Surrey councillor was in conflict of interest over key RCMP vote: Ethics commissioner

The City of Surrey’s ethics commissioner has tossed another bombshell into the already convoluted saga of the city’s police transition, with a ruling that a sitting councillor broke ethics guidelines in a critical vote on keeping the RCMP.

Surrey city council voted 5-4 last November to disband the nascent municipal Surrey Police Service and keep the Surrey RCMP as its police of jurisdiction.

In February, the Surrey Police Union filed an ethics complaint, saying Coun. Robb Stutt, who voted to keep the Mounties — had failed to disclose he had two adult children working at the detachment, one as an RCMP officer and one as a civilian.

In a report issued this month, Surrey ethics commissioner Peter Johnston concluded that while Stutt did not have a direct or financial interest in he matter, but did have a personal conflict interest.

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“While Councillor Stutt had acted in good faith, and had participated in the meeting with the intention of fulfilling a promise he made to voters during the 2022 City Council election, the potential for bias arising from a personal interest in a mater is determined objectively, from the point of view of a reasonably well-informed person,” the report concluded.

The report found Stutt had contravened Section 21 of the city’s code of conduct in regards to the employment of one of the children, who was an RCMP officer, but not in regards to the other who worked as a civilian employee and was seeking to transfer to the SPS.

It went on to note that because the first child was no longer employed with the Surrey RCMP, Stutt would not be in violation of the code on future votes regarding the police force.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, Stutt said he supported the office of the ethics commissioner, and that he was proud of his adult children’s policing careers.

“But let me be clear when I say, it is their career path, and has no relevance on my moral compass,” he said.

“I remain committed to the public safety of the citizens of Surrey. That was the sole reason for my vote then and on June 15, a vote that was made within my moral and ethical boundaries.”

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He said the commissioner had also noted that he was no longer in conflict, now that his son had transferred out of the Surrey detachment.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, who was elected on her promise to keep the RCMP, declined an interview request but in a statement slammed “misinformation” and a “partisan campaign to discredit” members of council and the RCMP.

Locke said Strutt’s child who was working for the RCMP was already in the process of transferring out of the Surrey detachment prior to the 2022 election.

“While the Ethics Commissioner found that Councillor Stutt had contravened section 21 of the Code of Conduct by participating in the discussion and voting on the police transition question at the November 14, 2022 Council meeting, the Commissioner states that Councillor Stutt did not have a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in the matter under consideration and that he had acted in good faith as his intention was to fulfill a promise he made to voters during the 2022 City Council election,” Locke said.

She went on to note that in the city’s latest vote on the police transition — which was conducted in camera, but the results of which have now been revealed — six councillors supported keeping the RCMP, up from five in November.

Arthur Schafer, director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics said Stutt’s conflict has tainted the critical vote over the city’s police future.

“It seems really clear cut, Councillor Stutt had not business speaking on this issue, participating in any way and strictly no business in voting,” he told Global News.

“His vote should be invalidated, they should redo the vote, it was very close. And the potentiality for bias in his judgment, even if its unconscious bias, when two of his children have career interests involved in the issue — I mean, they’re intimate family members, he should have known better.”

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In a statement, the Surrey Police Union said the November vote “changed the trajectory of the last seven months,” and called for an apology from the councillor.

The November vote kicked off a multi-month back and forth between the city and the provincial government over the future of policing in the city.

In April Solicitor General Mike Farnworth recommended the city stick with the SPS, issuing a report detailing how keeping the RCMP could harm policing provincewide due to a shortage of officers and pledging $150 million to help with transition costs.

Farnworth also laid out mandatory conditions regarding staffing levels the city must meet if it does keep the RCMP.

Last week, council voted in a closed meeting to stick with the RCMP. Farnworth’s ministry is currently reviewing the city’s plan to see if it meets the staffing requirements.