Municipal Councillors: Bias and Legislative Activities

Decision-making by municipal councillors has garnered plenty of headlines in recent months due to the travails of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (see my posts here and here, and my Financial Post op-ed).  The issues in Ford's case are principally ones of statutory interpretation. A recent decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal, Beaverford v Thorhild (County No. 7), 2013 ABCA 6, is a more traditional application of the common law rule against bias, although the presence of Facebook in the facts of the case gives it a certain novelty value.

I fear, however, that the Court got it wrong in finding bias in this case. It has been quite a while since the Supreme Court of Canada has addressed the rule against bias and this case may provide it with an occasion to do so.