'A new era of transparency': Surrey to become first B.C. city to hire ethics commissioner

The City of Surrey is planning to hire an ethics commissioner to oversee the conduct of city officials.

A motionput forward by Coun.Jack Hundial passed unanimously at council Monday night. It includes creating an Office of theEthics Commisioner, strengthening the lobbyist registry and developing a whistleblower policy for city staff, with the aim of helping maintain public trust and improvinggovernment transparency.

Surrey will be the first municipality in the province to hire an ethics commissioner.

Hundial said the plan is to educate, not punish.

"A large part of this role is going to be the education component for staff and city officials," he said.

Surrey has the third largest municipal budget in B.C. and Hundial said it is important to be mindful of where that money goes and an ethics commissioner and stronger lobbyist registrywill play a key part in that.

"It's going to bring a new era of transparency in governance to Surrey," he said.

Hundial hopes to see some alignment in best practices between Surrey and what he says the provincial government is doing when it comes to becoming more transparent about land purchases.

Hundial said such transparency is important because then people know "who is purchasing what and when."

Council hopes to have the city's Office of the Ethics Commissioner up and running by next year.