Vancouver mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe is vowing to “remove the muzzle” from City Hall staffers and open the books if elected.
“In its six years in power Gregor Robertson’s Vision team has dramatically reduced what the public knows about important issues: how your tax dollars are spent, what officials think, who they meet, what advice they receive, and how effectively they run their programs,” LaPointe wrote on his blog August 12.
LaPointe, a former journalist, says he will introduce a bylaw requiring the city to regularly disclose information, devote more resources to the City’s freedom of information office and create an ombudsman position to investigate complaints from the public.
LaPointe is also promising to introduce a new community consultation process. Over the past two years, the city has faced lawsuits and has had to delay several community plans because of complaints from residents who said they were not properly consulted.
