On Sept. 12, 2023 at the View Royal council committee of the whole, a spokesperson for the Urban Development Institute Capital Region, told View Royal council during public input: B次元官网网址淯DI is not a lobbying group.B次元官网网址�
Not only is the UDI a legally registered lobbying group, according to the BC Lobbyists Registry and the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists, but the spokesperson, who said they are not a lobbying group, is actually registered on that registry, as their B次元官网网址渋n-house lobbyist.B次元官网网址�
Being considered that night on the agenda was that the Township of View Royal had joined the Urban Development Institute, as a paying member early that year, without the elected officials having been informed of that decision.
Informed afterward with the evidence that the UDI is a registered lobbying group, the issue was triggered to appear again. It did so at the Nov. 14, 2023 View Royal committee of the whole, at which the mayor and councillors determined that the spokespersonB次元官网网址檚 comments were not accurate, that the UDI is not only registered as a lobbyist organization, but also that they are indeed a lobby, and that in light of the new information regarding it, that they should terminate View RoyalB次元官网网址檚 membership with the UDI effective immediately, in a unanimous decision.
The District of Saanich also unanimously voted to discontinue its membership with the UDI earlier in 2023, yet it maintains collaboration with it through unrecorded meetings that are closed to the general public between staff and lobbyists through what are called B次元官网网址淯DI-Municipal Liaison Sub-committeeB次元官网网址� meetings, and the district still offers councillors a $500 annual allowance to be B次元官网网址榚ducatedB次元官网网址� at the lobby if they so choose.
The CRD and some local governments remain paying members of the lobby, as well as Crown corporations and statutory entities.
Question: How are branches of the government of British Columbia acting in good faith to the public they are supposed to represent, by collaborating with, funding, having memberships in, and partnering with a registered lobbying group, especially when their spokesperson/in-house lobbyist has publicly denied to the government that they are a lobbying group?
Sasha Izard
Saanich
