BC Conservatives close Policy Sessions to media

This morning, Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun - one of the province's most veteran political reporters tweeted the following:

BC Conservative annual convention in Nanaimo Saturday. Policy discussions closed to media. Not the practice with NDP, Liberals.

As a card-carrying member of the BC Liberal Party - I agree that Policy Sessions should and must be debated in public.  After all - it has been the tradition of other political parties, like the Federal/Provincial NDP, Progressive Conservatives throughout Canada, as examples and I reject arguments like We don't need the distraction of the media, when discussing policy, in the room.  Bull___ - most political parties have discussed party policy while the media was in the room and I haven't heard any complaining from party members

Now the real question is - What do the BC Conservatives have to hide??  After all - they want to govern BC, they need to show that they stand behind their policies including debating them, in public


SBF

Update (Fri Sept 23rd at 10:45am):

Alan Forseth, from the BC Conservatives, says that anyone can read the BC Conservative Party Policy here, but again - it doesn't answer the question - Why don't the BC Conservatives want the media in the room when their members debate their policies, unlike what occurs at BC Liberal Policy Sessions...?

Just asking...

Municipal Auditor-General - A Very Bad Idea!!

Yesterday in the Vancouver Sun - veteran political columnist Vaughn Palmer digs into Victoria's plan for a Municipal Auditor-General (MAG) - see his column here.  Also - Tom Fletcher (Black Press's political columnist) looks at this issue as well here.  However, Charlie Smith from the Georgia Straight says that a Municipal Auditor-General is necessary - see his column here.  Also - the Union of BC Municipalities or UBCM gets into this issue as well by issuing a "background paper" on this topic here.  Strangely enough - UBCM reports that a local government already can appoint, on its own, a Municipal Auditor-General without Victoria butting in

My personal take on it is that a MAG from Victoria will not solve spending issues except create more bureaucracy.  Municipalities and Regional Districts are already required to have their books audited on a yearly basis, in addition to a municipality and regional districts holding a budget meeting to discuss a yearly budget/5-Year Financial Plan prior to adoption

If the public was looking for another tool to increase public accountability - then current recall legislation should be extended to include Mayor, Councillors and Electoral Area Directors if the public feels strongly that their locally elected officials ought to be recalled (thrown out of office).  Although - I feel the threshold to successfully recall a local politician out of office should be lower than the recall standard for provincial politicians.  For example - the standard to recall a local elected official should be, say, 20% of the voting public.  If the public is mad enough, at say, Williams Lake Council and under this proposal - a City Councillor or the Mayor could be successfully recalled or turfed from office if 1,550 signed a petition to recall said Mayor or City Councillor within the timelines laid out in the Recall and Initiative Act

Though I'm a Christy Clark supporter - this is one policy initiative I absolutely disagree with and should be withdrawn forthwith and reading the UBCM background policy paper - the idea of a MAG is also something municipal politicians don't buy into either

SBF