The Mayor of Port Coquitlam says he was glad to see he wasn’t the only politician with concerns about Chinese influence at the Union of BC Municipalities convention.

Brad West was speaking on NL Newsday after about two-third of convention delegates voted to not accept funding from foreign governments in the future.

“In the early days of the discussion around this, I know a number of folks at the UBCM executive said, ‘oh, well, we’ve only heard from Brad West about this.’ and ‘Only Brad West is concerned, only one mayor is concerned.’ and so clearly that is not the case. I’m pleased by that.”

While he is pleased with the results of the vote, West spoke out against the process it took to get this far.

“You have panel of a bunch of ex-politicians to tell a bunch of current politicians that they shouldn’t take money from a foreign government is kind of ludicrous and it seems pretty typical I’m afraid of government that when confronted with a challenge where I think there’s a pretty clear right and wrong answer, we of course have to go through a year long bureaucratic process,” West added.

And while the vote was non-binding, West is hoping that yesterday was the last ever foreign government sponsored reception at the UBCM convention.

“Our jobs is to serve our community, our taxpayers,” he said. “I believe it’s just completely at odds with our job to be put in a situation where the Union of BC Municipalities is taking a cheque from a foreign government, particularly one who had engaged in a number of actions that are completely hostile to this country’s national interests.”

The UBCM’s independent panel to review how the annual convention is sponsored in the future, will present its findings to the UBCM executive in January 2020.