August 10, 2026: New Westminster Interim Ethics Commissioner Lisa Southern releases an investigatory report into conduct by New Westminster Councillor Paul Minhas, finding he breached three sections of the Code of Conduct for Council Members Bylaw.
Section 21 says Council members must conduct themselves with decorum at meetings, which includes: “(b) using respectful language and tone; …; (f) not interrupting other speakers, except to raise a point of order; …; (h) complying with all conduct provisions in the City’s Council Procedure Bylaw; and (i) not otherwise interfering with the orderly conduct of a meeting.”
Turning to section 21(f), we do not find the Respondent [Paul Minhas] was disrespectful merely by sometimes interrupting the Mayor. There were ongoing disagreements and conflict between the Mayor and the Respondent, and both spoke over and interrupted the other.
However, the Respondent was disrespectful towards the Mayor when he accused the Mayor of not listening to and bullying the public. This was contrary to section 21(b) and interfered with the Mayor’s attempts to maintain order and showed a lack of decorum and respect.
We find that via the Respondent’s Accusation at the March 30 Meeting, the Respondent
referred to matters from a closed meeting that had not yet been discussed at an open meeting or publicly released, and this contravened sections 22 and 23(c) of the Code.We also find the Respondent’s comments at the May 11 Meeting also breached Sections 22 and 23 (c) of the Code.
Sections 22 and 23 relate to the handling of confidential information. Under section 22, Council members must keep information and records prohibited from release under section 117 of the Community Charter in strict confidence. Section 117(1)(b) of the Community Charter requires Council members keep information considered in a lawfully closed meeting confidential until the Council discusses the information at an open meeting or publicly releases the information.
The Respondent [Paul Minhas] breached sections 21(b), 22, and 23(c) of the Code.
August 31, 2026: New Westminster Councillor Daniel Fontaine presents an emergency motion regarding the Interim Ethics Commissioner making political contributions to the BC NDP, asking for staff to report back on how the Ethics Commissioner was hired and whether any such information was considered when the Ethics Commissioner was appointed.
Whereas the City of New Westminster’s Ethics Commissioner exercises significant independent responsibilities including providing advice to council members and investigating and adjudicating complaints under the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw,
Whereas publicly available records indicate that the current Interim Ethics Commissioner has made political contributions to the BC New Democratic Party and has also been registered to conduct lobbying activities with the Province of British Columbia including on matters relating to the code of conduct for local governments,
Therefore be it resolved that staff report back to council on the process used to recruit, evaluate, vet, and recommend candidates for appointment as the City’s Ethics Commissioner including what consideration is given to actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest, political activity, political contributions, and lobbying activity, and that the report confirm whether these publicly available matters were identified, disclosed, or considered as part of the city’s due diligence prior to the appointment of the current Interim Ethics Commissioner,
And lastly that staff recommend any changes to the future recruitment and appointment process necessary to strengthen disclosure, due diligence, and safeguards regarding the actual and perceived independence and impartiality of the Ethics Commissioner.
September 9, 2026: The investigatory report from the Interim Ethics Commissioner and Staff Lawyer is released to the public.
That’s some awfully strange timing.
Strange timing that a motion to call into question the impartiality of the Interim Ethics Commissioner was considered to be an “emergency” when the Interim Ethics Commissioner was about to make public a report finding your fellow New West Progressives councillor guilty of breaching three separate Code of Conduct clauses.
I’m sure it’s all a coincidence.