Yu stayed at Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier hotel in June. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Little oversight of municipal spending: Democracy Watch
CBC News contacted every member of city council for comment on both the trip and Yu’s overall expenses but just one chose to respond.
Coun. Trudy Klassen said in an email she believes Yu has been “very busy meeting with residents, business owners, advocates and potential investors.”
She volunteered that she, too, is over budget this year, and has paid between $2,000 and $3,000 out of pocket. Unlike the mayor, councillors have a set annual budget of $8,000.
In a blog post published Wednesday morning, Coun. Cori Ramay says individual council members — including the mayor — are responsible for managing their own expenses, not an executive assistant or the communications department.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of of Democracy Watch, a non-profit group that advocates for government accountability, says there is a broad understanding that spending by elected officials should be in the public interest, but oversight at the municipal level is often lacking.
“The problem is that [what’s in the public interest] is left to politicians to define,” he told CBC News, noting that “proactive disclosure” of expenses is not an expectation at the municipal level.
Conacher says this leaves it up to the public or media to track spending and hold elected officials to account if they veer too far in their expenses.
Stay at local hotel also charged
There were also several instances of the mayor spending money locally, including for meals with out-of-town groups and locals, including city councillors, at several restaurants.
In one instance, Yu charged taxpayers $242 for a one-night stay at the Prestige Treasure Cove Hotel in Prince George. Yu lives in the College Heights neighbourhood of Prince George, about five kilometres from the casino.
When asked about it, Yu said he made the calculated decision to stay at the hotel rather than cab home and then retrieve his car in the morning. Yu offered no explanation as to why he was unable to drive home following a business meeting with a potential investor from Amylia Capital Corp.
“At the time, I just did not know… [the rules around] the expenses and the limit.”
In a written response, Yu says he now acknowledges that charging the city for that hotel stay was “not good practice” and he plans to pay back the $242 charge.
In 2021, Prince George City Hall was shaken up by a spending controversy involving a downtown parkade and whether city staff, and elected leaders, knew about it and chose not to disclose it to the public.
Conacher says it’s examples like this that have worn thin public trust in elected leaders.
“Secrecy by politicians and public officials is a recipe for waste and corruption, fraud and general abuses of the public interest,” he said.
A year into his first elected role, Yu maintains he wants to be the “three A’s mayor” — accessible, accountable, and action-oriented. Voters expressed an appetite for change, electing Yu by a wide margin over two-term councillor Terri McConnachie.
Yu says he only learned he was over budget last month and he has since reined in his spending.
“Everything is a lot more expensive than before… so next year, I’m probably going to be a little bit more selective,” says Yu.
He says that may mean fewer out-of-town conferences and meetings, and fewer meals charged to taxpayers.