TAKE IT TO COURT

 

Mayor Krog Says 'Take It to Court'—But With Whose Money?

When Mayor Leonard Krog tells citizens to “take it to court” if they don’t like having their rights restricted, he’s not putting his own wallet on the line—he’s putting yours.

There seems to be no limit to how many public dollars this mayor is willing to spend to defend his personal ideology. Whether it’s muzzling dissent in council chambers or fighting Charter-protected freedoms, you’ll pay the legal bills, and he’ll keep the microphone.

In response to a legal warning from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), Mayor Krog brushed aside concerns about the City of Nanaimo’s new bylaw banning public recording in council chambers. Rather than acknowledge public outrage, he dismissed it as 'a tempest in a teapot' and suggested that anyone concerned should just 'take the matter before the courts.'

That’s easy to say when you’re not the one paying the legal bill. The mayor won’t be personally financing the city’s legal defense. Taxpayers will. And not just the ones who support these bylaws—but also the ones who oppose them. The ones who believe in open government. The ones who think council chambers belong to the people, not the politicians.

This is the same mayor who once lamented that a successful Alternative Approval Process (AAP) would leave council 'stuck with a referendum.' That same disdain for public input is now visible again—this time, in his willingness to equate public accountability with disruption, and citizens with agitators.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects public expression, especially when it comes to recording and observing government in action. Council meetings are already live-streamed. They are, by definition, public. The idea that 'privacy' in a public space is under threat by someone holding up a phone is not only absurd—it’s dangerous. Because if left unchallenged, it opens the door to ever more restrictions on civic oversight.

It’s worth remembering that Mayor Krog was elected with just 17% of the eligible vote. That slim mandate doesn’t justify sweeping crackdowns on civil liberties or tone-deaf dismissals of public concern. If anything, it should make our elected officials more careful—not more arrogant.

The mayor says you’re free to take him to court. But freedom means little when you’re also funding both sides of the fight. In a time of rising property taxes and growing public frustration, the last thing we need is our city burning through more taxpayer money to silence the very people who pay the bills.

If this is the new standard in Nanaimo—where public input is a nuisance and legal pushback is brushed off with a smirk—then it’s time to wake up. Because the longer we let this slide, the more expensive our silence becomes.