Incivility to politicians is on the rise, event told
Officeholders relate their horror stories as lawyer says social media plays role
Twice last week, Lake Cowichan councillor Bob Day was working at a local grocery store when a placard-toting man came in and followed him around while making defamatory comments and threatening to ruin his political career.
Day said that kind of behaviour by constituents doesn’t happen often, but when it does, “It sort of grinds on you because we’re not all in this to piss people off. Anything I do in politics is around getting along with everybody, appreciating everybody, even if their opinion may not be the same as mine.”
Day shared his experience after attending a standing-room-only Union of B.C. Municipalities conference clinic Tuesday on the rise of incivility in local government — particularly the conduct of the public toward elected officials and municipal staff.
“It produces an environment in which government becomes more difficult and legislative productivity is severely reduced, if not impossible,” said presenter and lawyer Kathleen Higgins.
Higgins said research shows “hands down” that incivility is on the rise and surveys show the public agrees. One reason is that government is more open than it used to be, but a major contributor to the bad behaviour is social media.
“You can vent on social media with few repercussions and this has allowed people to let it rip,” Higgins said.
The danger, she said, is that uncivil discourse reduces trust in and respect for politicians, and takes away the ability to engage in reasoned discussion and reach bipartisan compromises on urgent policy issues.
“In the long run, it does erode public discourse on really difficult issues,” Higgins said.
White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin said rude, disrespectful and disruptive behaviour by members of the public is something that virtually all politicians endure.
Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read, Langley Township councillor Michelle Sparrow and Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gatz were in the news recently because they had been targets of harassment.
Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said his city’s previous mayor and council sent legal letters about cases of borderline defamation. Wilfried Viktor, Mayor of Hope, described one property owner who has sued the city numerous times and been declared a vexatious litigant.
“That was comforting for me to know that it’s going on all over the place,” said Day after the clinic.
Higgins stressed the importance of having a good procedure bylaw in place — she held up the City of North Vancouver’s as an example — to prevent and deal with uncivil behaviour, and social media policies. Litigation is usually a last resort, she said.
Pitt Meadows Mayor John Becker said he has sued some members of the public who accused him online of taking bribes and laundering money through his legal practice.
He said the suit, which is still before the courts, abruptly ended the chatter.
“If people think I’m an a--hole, that’s probably fair comment. If they think I should be thrown out of office in the next election, that’s fine,” Becker said.
“But you cross a line that I would think everybody would recognize if you say, ‘He’s taking bribes from a developer and laundering it through his firm.’ That crosses a line.”