About that Misinformation
About those Property Taxes:
Questions have been asked about where I currently live. This stems from a rumour publicly spread on a local radio news station that I do not pay municipal taxes to the City of Kamloops. This is a blatant lie.
While I have lived a few kms into the TNRD (literally 1/2 my road is City & 1/2 is TNRD) since 2021, I have paid property taxes to the City of Kamloops since we bought our first home here in 2013.
Every decision I make at the council table impacts me as a property taxpayer.
I pay both municipal taxes and regional district taxes, so I’m invested in local and regional success while contributing to both tax bases.
Part of that rumour was also that I couldn’t vote in the Kamloops Municipal Election. That is also untrue for the same reasons I’ve outlined above.
Candidates file their address with Elections Canada, which I did in 2022 and will in 2026, and they confirm residence.
About those Lawsuits:
I have legitimately been shocked that so many people seem to think I have sued or threaten to sue someone in the course of my time as a councillor. Particularly because the exact opposite is true.
I have not sued or threatened to sue anyone.
Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson sued me and the judge dismissed it before it went to trial saying the lawsuit was without merit. The mayor was also ordered to pay costs.
Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson has also sued me for a second time and, should he persist, we will need to go through the process a second time.
I hope this will not be necessary.
About that Indemnification:
Some people have been given the impression that indemnification is some sort of cheat for people who just don’t want to pay their legal bills. Indemnification actually exists (within this context) to ensure elected officials can’t be frivolously sued into personal destitution for exercising free, responsible political speech during the course of their duties.
This allows politicians to practise transparency with the electorate and deters those who would target political opponents through the legal system.
Because who on earth do we expect to run for public office in 2026 if that’s on the table?
And, as I have found out, an elected official I can't control who files frivolous lawsuits against them.
There are requirements and an accountability structure to ensure indemnification is employed responsibly, taken very seriously, and approved properly.
Also, yes. It can be very, very expensive when, for example, a frivolous lawsuit is dragged out for over 3 years.
After initially informing him that I would do so if he persisted in his lawsuit and lost, I asked the judge to have Reid Hamer-Jackson foot the bill for my legal costs.
The mayor would prefer the taxpayer be financially responsible for his legal action.
We are waiting on the judge’s decision.
About the Infighting:
Although people keep saying it, I have yet to see a shred of evidence that there has been infighting and conflict amongst all of council this term.
And that is because there is none.
While the very nature of the gig is to have opposing views from a diverse group of people, and we aren’t all necessarily best friends (because this is work, not summer camp), there has been no disruptive conflict between councillors.
Without the one common denominator, councillors have been very committed to “disagreeing without being disagreeable”: no code of conduct complaints, no swearing at one another, no disruption of public events, no lawsuits, no fighting in the media, no nonsense.
Councillors have had tough conversations “at the horseshoe”, and then left it there once a decision had been made.
It is simply untrue to say anything else.