'Helter-skelter' development in Sask. leading to municipal woes

A University of Saskatchewan expert on municipal politics says a recent case of alleged conflict of interest in a rural municipality near Regina is just one symptom of a larger problem.

Joe Garcea is head of political studies at the University of Saskatchewan and has looked closely at issues of local government.

He says during the recent boom in Saskatchewan, there's been 'helter-skelter' development and many municipalities are ill-equipped to keep up with it.

"At a time when there's a lot of planning [and] development because of the boom we've had, I'm not sure we've thought hard enough about the kinds of issues that have to be dealt with," Garceatold CBC Radio's Blue Sky.

This is in response to a damning report about a land deal and conflict of interest in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood. The report alleges that Reeve KevinEberle stood to gain roughly $58 million on land sales and profits from the Wascana Village project. The Saskatchewan government has removed Eberle.Justice Ministry officials have now turned the file over to the RCMP for a criminal investigation.

Garcea says it is a foregone conclusion that conflict of interest issues will arise, but he says the system needs to improve to minimize the number of incidents, and to work smoothly when an incident does arise.

He says there are provisions in the Municipalities Act related to conflict of interest and some provisions in the Planning and Development Act. However, the problem is those provisions are not always clear and are often not understood.

Retired Queen's Bench Justice Ron Barclay's report made a recommendation that a code of ethics should be developed and that there should be a conflict of interest ombudsman in Saskatchewan.

Garcea says a code of ethics could help. But even so, both administrators and councillors need more training to understand the issues.

He believes the provincial government and municipal associations have a role in that. He says the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), and administrator conventions should devote time each year toissues of conflict of interest and ethics in governance.