Saanich residents need to know how their local government elected representatives vote on all motions that come before council. That’s transparency right where we need it – at the council table when councillors actually make their decisions and vote.
Transparency is absolutely necessary for good government. It’s absolutely essential for fair, accountable government.
Saanich Council can significantly improve its transparency by electronically tracking how each councillor votes. We can provide the voting records of all councillors on every motion, by implementing an electronic dashboard on our municipal website.
As things stand now, citizens must watch or scroll through the entire video recordings of council meetings to find out how councillors voted on specific motions,. That takes too much time. We can do so much better at providing our citizens with accurate, timely information on how their councillors voted.
An electronic dashboard is an easy fix. It can be updated after every council meeting to show citizens how their municipal councillors are working for them.
For two years, I have championed implementation of a vote-tracking dashboard on the District of Saanich website. Twice I have brought motions before council to establish a dashboard. We still don’t have one.
The City of Victoria does. Vancouver does. Nanaimo does. Why not Saanich? Our residents deserve and need local government transparency as much as citizens anywhere else in British Columbia.
I want to ensure that Saanich residents enjoy the highest possible level of local government transparency. And I will keep bringing motions before council to implement a vote-tracking dashboard.