The Council Question Period has to be renamed and explained better in the Council Rules. Council regulars are getting the wrong idea of what it is. It is not about the issue. I've spent years in this Chamber wanting to toss my two cents in during debates on the issues of motions, I've sat there while Councillors have missed an important point, IMHO. But a Council QP is not the place to ask rhetorical points or discuss issues even if phrased in form of a question. If you want to discuss policy, get elected, which of course is usually the intent of asking the question in the first place in most cases.
A legitimate question is a simple how or when not a why. If the Mayor used the phase attributed to him by Voices that questions were not to be asked on any motion that passed, it was incorrect. I've asked and had questions accepted when they were not on motions that had passed.
I have not been able to watch the video of last week yet but as an example you can't ask "how can Council spit on our Maritime heritage by destroying .." but could ask "when is the stern to be destroyed? as that question is based on the implementation of the motion. It is a when? not a why? Or just a point which opposes the decision made by Council.
The Mayor, as Chair, ruled Kerry Morris' question out of order tonight. Not because the motion had passed but because Kerry started off inputing his opinion as "background". It doesn't matter if you've phrased your point in the form of a question, it is the Mayor, not Alex Trebek.
The actual motion, Item 15 read
"PURSUANT to the report of the Manager, Community and Long-Range Planning, Community Development, dated December 4, 2013, entitled “Draft Official Community Plan”:
THAT the draft Official Community Plan be released for discussion and input including referral to City Advisory Bodies;
AND THAT staff be directed to proceed with the final community engagement
phase of the CityShaping program and work towards a final version of a
revised Official Community Plan and Regional Context Statement in 2014."
A proper question would be "Would this be brought back in time for Council to finally pass before August 2014" You might get away with a quick "Considering that Metro Vancouver had a deadline of last July for the submission of the Regional Context Statement, due last July, would submitting it "in 2014" as the motion states cause us problems?" Even if the Mayor rules the question out of order, you've already asked the question and likely the Mayor would just say "No, I've made Metro aware of our timeline" or something like that. It is not an opportunity for a speech. If you start off saying "According to the Magna Carta, the citizens have a right .. blah blah, you are making a speech and should be cut off. If you think you're clever and ask "Do you consider that passing Motion #15 is a affront to those who believe in the rights of the citizens as established in the Magna Carta, blah, blah ...." you will get cut off legitimately although you asked in the form of a question.
As we get closer to the election, people will try to take advantage of the rules. Until I see the actual video I can't say whether the questions asked by Gary and Tony were legitimate or the Mayor after a long meeting, making a judgement call on a question ruled too harshly but one thing stands as I deleted this morning's article and my accusations in my article based on the Voices blog, as a former Roberts Rules geek I consider that if a question is ruled out of order, that action of the Chair should be reflected in the minutes.
I would hate to see the opportunity to ask legitimate questions lost as regular Council attendees abuse that function even if caused by a lack of clarity in the wording of the Council procedure that is printed in the agenda every week.
There is definitely a problem in the length of the Council meeting that had contributed to the problem since it has to be at the end of the meeting. Taxpayers are paying for every moment that Council sits. The Mayor commented that former Mayor Loucks only allowed three question per Councillor in their allocated 5 minutes since this stops their time clock and rapidly extends the time each motion takes. Surely a little more prep time by members of Council and am occasional phone call to answer questions would help keep meetings shorter and our tax bills lighter.
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