In Reasons for Judgement issued January 8, 2021 in Allan v Froese, 2021 BCSC 28 [Allan], the BC Supreme Court upheld the long-standing principle that the acceptance of a campaign contribution from a developer to an elected local government official does not establish that the official has a monetary interest in that developer’s matters before council without evidence of “something more”.

Jeff Locke and Andrew Buckley of Stewart McDannold Stuart “vigorously defended” the mayor, two current councilors and one former councilor from the Township of Langley in the Allen matter and successfully argued that the fact that a developer’s development applications were “in-stream” before council at the time the contributions were received does not constitute that “something more”. As Justice Walker concluded at the end of his judgement: (more…)