Local Government Election Task Force submissions are public

The BC Local Government Election Task Force has received a lot of bad press lately.  Kennedy Stewart roundly denounced its management in a blog post this week and other organizations have criticized its initial decision to not publish received submissions. The Task Force, however, since March 30th, has made all submissions public on its website.  Those from individuals have been anonymized, but all the rest are identified and appear to be provided in full. Knowing that, I was a bit surprised to see this item on the agenda for Monday's North Vancouver City Council meeting:
WHEREAS all submissions to the B.C. Local Government Elections Task
Force have been deemed “private” by the Minister responsible and will not
be released to the public; and
WHEREAS such secrecy is contrary to past practice of Task Forces
dealing with important public policy issues generally and especially in
regard to the matter of electoral procedure;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of North Vancouver
call upon the government of British Columbia to publish all submissions to
the Task Force and the names of all those who have submitted comments
to the Task Force;
Continued...
The Corporation of the                                               Council Agenda for
Page 12
City of North Vancouver                                                  April 12, 2010
22.      BC Local Government Elections Task Force – File: 1085-01 - Continued
RESOLVED THAT failing this, the City of North Vancouver call upon the
Union of British Columbia Municipalities to cease its involvement in the
Task Force until such time as this degree of openness is established; and
RESOLVED THAT this resolution be forwarded to the Premier, the Minister
responsible, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, all Union of
British Columbia Municipalities member municipalities and all North Shore
MLA’s
WHEREAS all submissions to the B.C. Local Government Elections Task Force have been deemed “private” by the Minister responsible and will not be released to the public; and WHEREAS such secrecy is contrary to past practice of Task Forces dealing with important public policy issues generally and especially in regard to the matter of electoral procedure; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of North Vancouver call upon the government of British Columbia to publish all submissions to the Task Force and the names of all those who have submitted comments to the Task Force; RESOLVED THAT failing this, the City of North Vancouver call upon the Union of British Columbia Municipalities to cease its involvement in the Task Force until such time as this degree of openness is established; and RESOLVED THAT this resolution be forwarded to the Premier, the Minister responsible, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, all Union of British Columbia Municipalities member municipalities and all North Shore MLA’s.
Given its aggressive wording I hope that it does not pass, so as to avoid some minor embarrassment for the Council.
I've been dutifully pecking away at my submission for the last few weeks and will post it here once it's finally done.  The final deadline is April 15th.
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