Embattled councillor prepared to fight for job
Wiebe won't quit over conflict of interest, but critics may seek to have him ousted
Leaked text messages shed some light on behind-the-scenes conversations around the time of the now-controversial Vancouver council votes that prompted calls for Green Coun. Michael Wiebe's resignation, while new statements from both the councillor and complainant offer a glimpse of what could happen next.
Last month, a formal investigation found Wiebe breached conflict rules in May by supporting a city-wide patio expansion program despite his ownership interests in a pub and restaurant, with the investigator's report recommending the councillor should resign.
Now, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has said he has “accepted the findings” of the investigator's report, writing an Oct. 2 letter to the original complainant stating the “code of conduct complaint is now closed.”
But that complainant, Michael Redmond, says he hopes the matter isn't finished.
And while Redmond said he filed the complaint in June as a private citizen, after the probe concluded last month and became public through the media, he has been in touch with the Non-Partisan Association, the party for which he has volunteered in the past, and where his wife unsuccessfully ran for a board position last year.
The investigator's report said Wiebe was “disqualified from holding office,” outlining three possible routes to his removal, but its recommendations were non-binding.
Wiebe could voluntarily step down, council could vote him out in an in-camera meeting, or city voters could seek a court order for his removal.
Initially, in the days after the investigator's report landed last month, Wiebe said it was too early to say whether he would resign.
But this week, Wiebe struck a more decisive tone, saying he's hired a lawyer at his own expense, and if need be, he'll go to court to keep his job.
Stewart, whose office oversees code of conduct complaints concerning councillors, declined to discuss the matter, citing the confidential nature of the process.
But Wiebe's continued presence on council, including his participation in Tuesday's meeting, seems to suggest either council never held a closed-door vote on the matter, or if such a vote was held, Wiebe's removal wasn't supported by the required two-thirds majority of council.
Wiebe, too, said he couldn't discuss the matter. But when asked whether a group of citizens might now pursue his removal through the courts, Wiebe said Monday he heard there were “conversations happening.”
The temporary patio expansion program was designed to help bars, restaurants, cafes and breweries stay in business while complying with COVID-related spacing restrictions. Wiebe said he believed he could support the measures without being in conflict because the program was city-wide, potentially affecting thousands of businesses other than his restaurant and pub, which were among the nearly 400 establishments to receive temporary patio expansions.
A chain of text messages between councillors and the mayor's office shows conversations about the patio program, just before and after the May 27 vote. After council unanimously approved the program, Wiebe referenced his own restaurant patio, toasting the expansion with a “cheers” emoji showing clinking beer glasses.
In light of everything that came later, Wiebe now understands a celebratory text message is “not ideal.”
The text messages, which Postmedia News has reviewed, also showed that before the May 27 vote on the patio program, Stewart's co-chief of staff, Anita Zaenker, wrote to suggest NPA Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung move the report with Wiebe seconding.
Wiebe said Zaenker's urging him to second the report wasn't a factor in his decision to participate in discussions and vote on the patio program. Zaenker said the messages show her working to help council function more smoothly. But it's not her job, she said, to monitor potential conflicts for individual councillors.
Redmond, the retired lawyer who filed the complaint, said Zaenker's suggestion that Wiebe second the report wasn't significant, nor did it excuse the councillor's conflict of interest.
He wouldn't say if he will pursue Wiebe's removal through the courts.
“I hope it's not over, “he said, “and I'm disappointed the mayor and council are happy to apparently think it's over.”
But even as more details continue to come to light, it remains an open question of what — if anything — will happen next.