Langley Township Councillor Grant Ward said that the release of the Lidstone Report highlights the need for public awareness of the activities of their elected officials.
“It was with great dismay that I saw Mayor Green’s response to the release of the Lidstone Report as nothing new, perhaps implying that it’s just his way of doing business,” Ward said in a written statement.
“As a retired RCMP member of 22 years of service, the approach and attitude is shocking and something not appropriate for an elected official,” Ward said.
“Perhaps the most shocking elements of the Lidstone Report is not what we now know, but what we don’t know. It looks like the letter was merely political shenanigans by a mayor and his compatriot to attempt to embarrass and discredit our local MLA and several private business folk.”
Ward said that the “shocking revelation that a close associate and campaign contributor obtained the information contained in the anonymous letter for Mayor Green, and then that only he or Mayor Green had the materials with which to create the anonymous letter, is outrageous and disheartening (unless you believe Mayor Green’s rationale that there was a break-in, effectively so someone could take a document from his office so that it could be provided back to him again).”
Ward announced that he would call for a committee of inquiry in a notice of motion at Monday’s council meeting. The motion will be debated at the Nov. 7 council meeting.
He wants the committee to “investigate and review the situation and to subpoena and interview under oath Mayor Green, his associate and business supporter, and the parties that initially raised the issue.”
Another candidate for council, Rebecca Darnell, is urging the mayor to “come clean.”
Noting that the Lidstone Report stated that Green misled his councillors and legal counsel, Darnell said that “the accusations are flying.”
She supports an inquiry so that the mayor and his legal counsel can explain their actions under oath.