B.C.’s Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Ravi Kahlon, has rejected a recent conflict of interest claim, after the B.C. Conservative Party called for a special prosecutor to investigate a company owned by his brother.
The claim stems from a Jan. 27 council meeting in Oak Bay, in which the district voted to deny a variance application a developer submitted to loosen residential building height and interior side-lot-line setback regulations. If approved, the company would have been approved to replace a single-family home on St. Patrick Street with a three-storey triplex.
The B.C. Conservatives contend that Kahlon's brother, Sunny Kahlon, submitted the variance request, and that it “closely mirrored” a letter the minister of housing sent Oak Bay. That letter outlined how flexible site standards, including relaxed setback, building height and lot coverage requirements, would help encourage development.
“The Minister of Housing must not use his position to benefit his family’s business,” B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad said in a Feb. 4 news release. “British Columbians deserve full transparency and accountability. A special prosecutor is necessary to ensure the integrity of government decision-making.”
Oak Bay mayor Kevin Murdoch said the standards recommended in Kahlon's letter weren't Oak Bay-specific, as the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs sent similar letters to other communities.
Oak Bay’s development tracker – a website that details the district's current and proposed developments – currently lists Chunpreet Hayre, the owner of development company 1497347 B.C. Ltd., as the party responsible for submitting the variance application, which Hayre confirmed.
“I’m the applicant and submitted the variance application along with all the documents,” he told Black Press Media. “Kahlon Developments is the contractor who I’ve hired to build what I get permitted by Oak Bay to build.”
The development tracker had initially listed Kahlon Developments – Sunny Kahlon’s contracting company – as the applicant.
“The contact name for applications is sometimes the owner and sometimes the contractor on the job – it depends on the application,” Murdoch said in an email. “In this case, while Kahlon Developments was the listed contractor on the submitted form (that’s how their name was included), the application contact should have been the owner Mr. Hayre, and not the contractor.”
At the Jan. 27 council meeting in Oak Bay, a member of the public asked whether Kahlon Development's connection to the housing minister would pressure council to approve the variance request.
“I guess because of the question asked in chambers, the applicant has asked to change/fix the contact name to his name and not the contractor,” added Murdoch. “In truth, this is the better approach, as contractors can change more easily than the owner or developer."
The minister of housing dismissed Rustad's criticism.
"This just goes to how the B.C. Conservatives roll, constantly trying to smear people," said Kahlon. "This is not the first time they've tried to smear my family members. They've actually done it multiple times. Each time it's gone to the conflict commissioner, and the conflict commissioner has cleared it every single time."
The B.C. Conservatives, however, stuck to the language it used in its Feb. 4 news release.
“If Mr. Kahlon does not want his name ‘smeared’ he should be enthusiastic about a special prosecutor who could get to the bottom of this. If Mr. Kahlon has done no wrong, he should have nothing to hide or fear,” said Brad Zubyk, the party’s director of communications.
Murdoch opted to steer clear of what he called a “political” issue.
“Conflict of interest is really up to the elected officials themselves to make a determination on, for the most part," he said. "I just don't want to get involved in a Conservative versus NDP conflict over this one. This feels like it's getting more political than I want to get into."
The mayor made it clear, though, that the applicant is never a consideration when considering housing applications.
“Our role is to look at the merits of the application, not the personalities of the individuals involved in it, and that's just based on a pretty solid principle that the buildings that we're considering will be there for 100 years or more, long outliving the people involved,” he said.
