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News broke this week that Calgary city council decided to split the role into two jobs, perhaps with an ethics adviser playing the “good cop,” and an integrity commissioner playing the “bad cop.”

Specifics aside, this is a good idea that’s worth supporting. Council’s current code of conduct lacks teeth: there’s not much the public, councillors, or even the mayor can do about bad-apple politicians who run afoul of the rules but still obey the very loose Alberta Municipal Government Act.

An independent “trust, but verify” approach is necessary to protect our politicians, as well as ensure the public’s continued trust in them. A strong, empowered, and non-political integrity commissioner is needed, especially when the problem is not any specific councillor, but council as a whole.

Consider, for example, that nearly a third of council’s time is now spent behind closed doors — triple what it was seven years ago. While our local leaders deserve the benefit of the doubt, a complete audit of their time spent in secret is needed immediately. It’s fair to say that no councillor is individually responsible for this, but they should all be made to answer.

Council’s policy surrounding gifts must also be reviewed and enforced. While council members are in theory required to give a value for all gifts they receive above $150, they failed to do so for nine in 10 gifts, according to recent city documents. Councillors also regularly receive gifts from city departments or subsidiaries — such as brand new iPads — calling into question their ability to remain impartial at budget time. Even more surprisingly, councillors have collectively received hundreds of tickets and box seats to Calgary Flames hockey games, but typically describe them as a “cultural event” without any value at all.