Vancouver city councillor wins code of conduct complaint battle started by Mayor Ken Sim
Posted October 3, 2023 10:36 pm.
Last Updated October 4, 2023 6:57 am.
City of Vancouver Coun. Christine Boyle says an Integrity Commissioner has declared she “did not break any rules” after the city’s mayor filed a code of conduct complaint against her earlier this year.
The councillor released a statement on Tuesday morning announcing her victory and declaring she “won’t back down.”
https://twitter.com/christineeboyle/status/1709214229126054157
Boyle says Mayor Ken Sim’s complaint was made and proceedings began after she openly spoke out against Vancouver’s Living Wage Policy was voted out — including mentioning that she voted against getting rid of the policy.
The Living Wage Policy saw a provincial organization — Living Wage for Families BC — set a mandatory hourly amount that city workers needed to be paid so they could afford to support a family of four in tandem with another working adult — that wage was set at $24.08. Council made the decision to ditch living wage certification in a private meeting, a meeting Boyle says councillors aren’t legally permitted to share some details on.
“I spoke out strongly against it as soon as I was able to, I feel really strongly that people who work for the City of Vancouver should make enough to be able to live in the Vancouver region and the city of Vancouver has been a living wage employer for a long time … I don’t think we should have ended that policy,” she explained.
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Boyle tells CityNews she feels both “vindicated” and “relieved” now that this process is over.
“The mayor had a number of options for taking a different approach, coming in talking to me, or he was offered an informal resolution process, and instead chose to go through this pretty, pretty arduous and costly Code of Conduct complaint instead,” she told CityNews.
“The Integrity Commissioner’s report came out just this week, finding that I didn’t break any rules — I had done my homework and asked for all of the advice and clarification I needed to make sure that I was abiding by the code of conduct.”
She adds that she was on her own when it came to the financial side of this battle as well.
“The mayor’s office has six or eight staff and a million dollar a year budget. I, as an individual counselor don’t have that, so I was paying out of pocket for legal fees to defend myself … it was stressful, so I’m glad it was resolved and grateful to hear this confirmation that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Boyle isn’t able to bring the motion back until February — which she has plans to do — but she says a proper living wage for Vancouver’s city workers is something she will continue to fight for.
“We hire a huge amount of staff. The staff most impacted on the living wage tend to be at the lowest income jobs, and those are often cleaners and security staff. It matters to me that they make a wage that allows them to live in the region without having a second full time job on top of it,” she said.
CityNews asked Boyle why she feels Vancouver’s living wage policy was voted out, but she said she was unable to comment on the matter at this time.
When the decision was announced, Sim sent a statement to CityNews citing the “immediate impact” that an updated living wage calculation would have on the rest of the city’s pay structure and the possibility of the rate being reduced in future years as reasons why it was made.
“Council decided to implement a fair wage approach based on a five-year rolling average of the Living Wage rate, which will smooth out annual fluctuations for workers and contract employees,” he stated.
