Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Councillors face stricter conditions in provincial bill

The province will require municipalities to establish codes of conduct for councillors and empower local governments to censure politicians who step out of line.

The government will also mandate that municipal councillors include in a disclosure statement, filed under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, all the land they may own in the province, not just lands held within the municipality in which they are elected.

The Selinger government introduced amendments to three different laws governing municipalities Wednesday in the legislature. Bill 23 would amend the Municipal Act, Municipal Council Conflict of Interest Act and Municipal Councils and School Boards Election Act.

Winnipeg already has a code of conduct that governs its elected officials.

Bill 23 would require all municipalities outside the city to enact policies and practices aimed at strengthening accountability and transparent decision-making, including:

-- Providing notice and information to the public about capital projects before borrowing money for such them.

-- Following a tendering and procurement policy to ensure spending decisions are objective and fair.

-- Ensuring practices for the private use of municipal equipment are clear and consistently applied.

The amendments would also expand existing law to reduce the potential for conflict-of-interest situations.

Employees of regional municipal bodies would be required to take a leave of absence before they could be nominated or elected to council. Municipal council members, including those in Winnipeg, would be required to disclose in their annual statement of assets and interests all properties they own in the province.

The Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act change would require those who sign nomination papers for a candidate in a ward to be on the voters' list for the ward.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 17, 2012 A7

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