New Westminster will become the second city in Metro Vancouver to track all of its council members’ compensation.
The city’s annual statement of financial information (SOFI) report details the amount of remuneration council members receive from the City of New Westminster during the year, as well as expenses for attending conferences and events as part of their roles on city council. The SOFI report does not detail any compensation council members receive for serving on other organizations or attending meetings, such as those of Metro Vancouver, TransLink, the Lower Mainland Local Government Association (LMLGA), the Union of BC Municipalities, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Municipal Finance Authority, or E-Comm.
But that’s about to change.
At its Feb. 24 meeting, council unanimously approved a motion to have the city prepare a comprehensive annual financial report, starting with the 2024 calendar year. It will detail the total compensation received by council members who serve on regional, provincial or national organizations.
The public report would also include a complete itemization of each council member's base salary and benefits, as well as per diems, stipends, allowances, retainers, expense reimbursements, and any other compensation associated with their roles.
“It is essential for the City of New Westminster to prepare a comprehensive annual financial report that provides a complete itemization of each council members' compensation,” said Coun. Paul Minhas. “Transparency in financial reporting is a cornerstone of public trust. By providing a clear breakdown of council members' compensation, we empower our community to understand how their tax dollars are being utilized. It fosters a culture of accountability, ensuring that our elected officials are held responsible for their financial decisions and commitments to the public.”
Minhas, who put forward the motion for council’s consideration, congratulated Richmond councillor Kash Heed for getting a similar motion passed earlier this year.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine, who has been a vocal critic of spending at Metro Vancouver, supported the motion as he believes it provides openness and transparency in elected officials.
“Unless this motion passes … you will have to hunt and peck and search and research all of these financial statements in order to find out how much I made as an elected official, if I was sitting on all these various boards and commissions,” he said.
Fontaine supported having one consolidated report for New Westminster council members — and would like to see the same reporting in place for local governments across B.C.
“Some of the figures that have been released and researched over the past few weeks have been eye-popping,” he said of some compensation local politicians receive.
Aside from Minhas and Fontaine, no members of New West council spoke to the motion at Monday night’s meeting.
New Westminster becomes the second Lower Mainland city to support efforts to create transparency around the compensation of local politicians.
In January, Richmond city council unanimously supported Heed’s to publish a consolidated report detailing how much that city’s mayor and individual councillor earn.
At that meeting, Mayor Malcolm Brodie suggested an amendment to Heed's motion that would have had the city also publish the attendance of the mayor and councillors at city hall meetings, boards and community events. He said that would provide some analysis of the financial information being compiled and offer “quantitative aspects” showing what council members do to earn their salaries.
That proposed amendment, however, was defeated. You can read about Richmond city council’s discussion on the issue in this report from the Richmond News.
In the past year, some New West council members have pointed out instances of some of their colleagues’ absences from city committees on which they’ve been appointed, as well as regional meetings, such as Metro Vancouver’s council of councils’ and the LMLGA, where issues such as cost overruns of the North Shore wastewater treatment plant were being discussed.
Council appointments
In New Westminster, appointments to some external organizations, including Metro Vancouver, have caused divisions in council chamber since the inaugural meeting in November 2022.
The inaugural meeting’s agenda included a motion to appoint Mayor Patrick Johnstone as the city’s director to the Metro Vancouver Regional District board. While that role is typically filled by the mayor, Minhas put forward an amendment that Fontaine be the city’s representative to the board — an amendment defeated 5-2 by council.
In November 2024, Johnstone announced he had to decided to step away from his role on the Metro Vancouver board of directors to focus on some local initiatives. At its Nov. 4 meeting, council voted 5-2 in favour of appointing Coun. Nadine Nakagawa as the city’s representative to the board and Coun. Jaimie McEvoy as the alternate, a decision opposed by Fontaine and Minhas.
In December 2024, Metro Vancouver announced 2025 appointments for its 15 standing committees and one task force. Five members of New Westminster city council were appointed to serve on various Metro Vancouver standing committees; all of those appointments went to current or former members of the Community First New West electoral organization, and none went to Fontaine or Minhas, the two New Westminster Progressive representatives on city council.
