New West mayor accepts ethics commissioner's recommendation for training on receiving gifts

Mayor Patrick Johnstone says he will embrace a recommendation from the city's ethics committee to be coached on provincial regulations over appropriately accepting gifts as an elected official.

The matter relates to an all-expense paid trip he made to Dubai in December 2023 to attend COP28  for the part of it related to local action on climate change.

He said ethics commissioner Jennifer Devin's investigation into a complaint over the travel "provides a clear outline of the concern raised and fairly describes my actions. I fully support the recommendation," he wrote in a letter to council last week, which will be discussed by councillors Nov. 4.

Johnstone was one of many elected local officials from around the world invited at the expense of C40, a global network of mayors working together on climate change, headed by former New York mayor and billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg.

Johnstone was upfront about going and about how being at the conference related to climate work the city is committed to. He posted on his Instagram page while he was there, shared information about what he was learning on his blog and also consulted with city staff about his participation.

'Do the right thing'

Upon his return, opposition councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas filed a complaint with the city's ethics commissioner.

They argued the trip breached the city's code of conduct and the provincial Community Charter, which has two sections outlining how elected officials can and should accept gifts without them being seen as a personal benefit.

"New Westminster residents expect their mayor to know the rules and to do the right thing," said the president of New West Progressive, Karima Budhwani, in a release. Fontaine and Minhas are both members of the party.

The ethics commissioner's decision is not quite the political blow to their rival they may have been looking for when they called Johnstone's actions "a very serious breach."

Devins found that Johnstone was within his rights to attend the conference, but having his expenses for business class flights and "luxury" accommodations gifted, lacked "a connection to the Respondent's duties as a member of council and Mayor."

'Inadvertent'

A key distinction from Devins, however, was that this was not done belligerently by Johnstone.

"I find that the Respondent's contravention of section 105 (restrictions on accepting gifts) was inadvertent and the result of an error in judgment made in good faith," she wrote.

Devins recommends Johnstone undertake training about sections 105 and 106 [disclosure of gifts] of the Community Charter to avoid future missteps.

It's something he says he will do and wants all council members to also undertake.

A motion unanimously passed at council in January calls for Devins to conduct a workshop with all of council about the city's code of conduct including Section 105 of the Community Charter.

"I wish to commend the work the City of New Westminster's new Ethics Commissioner has done to develop and oversee this resolution process and the diligence shown in outlining the complexity of legal interpretations around Section 105," said Johnstone in his letter.

New Progressives wanted Johnstone to return what they estimate to be $15,000 Cdn to COP28 organizers or donate the amount to a charity.