mikeclay.ca - May 4,2007 Vancouver Sun

Seven Lower Mainland mayors who went on a privately funded trip to China last month believed -- as did most of their councillors -- that they could accept the trip because it was being paid for by someone who was never going to do business in their municipalities or in Canada.

But municipal experts and some critics say the new Community Charter legislation makes it clear that council members should not accept any gift from anyone, doing business or not, that is coming to them because of their positions.

However, the legal specialists also say that it's unlikely that the mayors in question would be penalized. That's because the charter section on the issue, which has never been tested, also says there is some leeway for a "contravention because of an error in judgment, made in good faith."

"There has to be clear evidence that they knew or ought to have known" they were violating the charter for them to be penalized, said municipal lawyer Don Lidstone, one of the province's most prominent municipal legal experts and a contributor to the formation of the new charter. That can be difficult to prove.

In the past rulings from the provincial conflict-of-interest commissioner have determined that elected officials can go on tours as part of their official responsibilities and they can even go on trips paid for by third parties, as four MLAs did when a forest company and union paid for them to visit a site.

Most of the mayors and councils caught up in the current controversy say that they saw no problem with what they were doing because Li Zhe and his company, LVC International Investments Inc., have never done any development in B.C., although LVC has been referred to as one of China's top 10 real estate firms.

"I've turned down developers who wanted to take me for lunch," said North Vancouver city Mayor Darrell Mussatto. But when Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini sent out an invitation to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to China, which ostensibly came from the Canada China Business Association, he and his council saw it as a chance for him to learn something about another part of the world without it costing his taxpayers any money.

That's also how the councils of Hope, Port Moody, Anmore and the District of North Vancouver felt. The Vancouver Sun did not reach the mayor of Belcarra.

The main complaints have come from some White Rock councillors, who said that besides the problems of bad optics, Mayor Judy Forster did not clear the trip with them or explain who was paying for it until after she came back.

Forster has said in other media reports that she thought the Chinese government was paying and didn't realize it was a private individual until she landed in Beijing.

She will be making a disclosure about her trip Monday to White Rock council.

Others said they knew that it was a private individual, Li, who is president of the Canada China Business Association, who would be paying. LVC, which incorporated in B.C. in 1997, promotes its developments in China as being leading-edge sustainable and the trip was promoted as being a learning exchange about sustainability.

The mayors saw it as a way to do a kind of trade mission without their taxpayers having to foot the bill.

Anmore Mayor Hal Weinberg went hoping to talk to other mayors about his municipality's renewable-energy program. Hope Mayor Wilfrid Victor, who bought souvenir wood carvings from B.C. with his own money to give as presents in China, went hoping to make contacts that could help Hope develop itself as an English-language-training centre. Mussatto said he went to learn what was going on in China with sustainability.

The group, which also included a representative from the Onni development company and Trasolini's wife, met the mayors and officials of about a dozen municipalities in the Beijing region and visited several multi-unit housing projects, as well as water-conservation and road construction projects.

"What scared me the most was that they thought they were being progressive by building more roads and pulling out their bike lanes," said Mussatto.

Those on the trip say they went on site visits and to official events non-stop during their six days there.

Mussatto said the only misgiving he has about the trip, in hindsight, is that it seemed as though having Canadian mayors along with him perhaps allowed Li to gain access to senior Chinese government officials. The visit generated a lot of media coverage as well.

But he says he would do it again.

Several mayors who went on the trip said they feel the current media frenzy in covering the issue is mainly the result of a conflict going on with Forster and her council.

"It's unfortunate for Judy, where some people on her council don't realize the election's over," said Victor. "But I think it was a good opportunity. And every mayor had a chance to speak to the media. It was a good opportunity to get the word out that environmental stewardship is important to the whole world."