Kamloops Critic

Kamloops Critic This page is operated by Richard Wilbur, author of the kamloopscritic.ca website. I write about City Hall and Council.

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Katie Neustaeter has published eight pages of rules explaining how residents should engage with her on social media.Fair...
09/07/2026

Katie Neustaeter has published eight pages of rules explaining how residents should engage with her on social media.

Fair enough. But what happens when residents actually ask the tough questions?

I went through her rules and then looked at the conversations underneath some of her recent posts, including my own unanswered questions and a comparison with Mike O'Reilly's approach to social media.

Here's what I found: https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/katie-neustaeter-social-media-rules/

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Katie Neustaeter says she welcomes tough questions and corrections. We looked at her social media rules and how she engages with residents.

What aren't we seeing?Cindy Sonne has spent much of her career working with people facing some of life's toughest challe...
09/07/2026

What aren't we seeing?

Cindy Sonne has spent much of her career working with people facing some of life's toughest challenges. I've met with her multiple times, and I'm starting to think that perspective could bring something different to Kamloops City Council.

I've written my candidate profile of Cindy, including her relationship with the Mayor, her views on accountability and why I'm cautiously recommending her.

👉 Read: https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/cindy-sonne-candidate-profile/

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Who is Cindy Sonne? We look at her background, campaign, relationship with the Mayor and why Kamloops Critic cautiously recommends her for City Council.

🚨 CALLING BU****IT: O’Reilly and the FlowersI took Mike O’Reilly at his word.Then I decided to check his story.What I fo...
09/03/2026

🚨 CALLING BU****IT: O’Reilly and the Flowers

I took Mike O’Reilly at his word.

Then I decided to check his story.

What I found raised a lot more questions than I expected — including one about the credibility of a sitting councillor who is now asking Kamloops voters to make him mayor.

And there's a connection to the Mayor's 2023 hospital situation that I find particularly troubling.

I checked the story. Here's what I found.

👉 Read: https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/calling-bullsh*t-oreilly-and-the-flowers/

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Mike O'Reilly's explanation of flowers sent to Mayor's wife raises questions about accuracy, credibility and judgment as he runs for mayor.

Mike O'Reilly wants Kamloops residents to ask him questions. So I asked one.O'Reilly recently posted a video called “Ele...
08/29/2026

Mike O'Reilly wants Kamloops residents to ask him questions. So I asked one.

O'Reilly recently posted a video called “Elected Officials Read Social Media Messages” and invited people to send him questions.

I asked why no Code of Conduct complaints had been filed against councillors who voted to remove the public's ability to submit complaints while some of those councillors were themselves subjects of active complaints.

Instead of answering, O'Reilly said the change was about “one member of the public that was abusing the system” and identified former councillor Denis Walsh.

He also referred to 17 complaints and $93,033.97 in investigation costs.

There's just one problem: there were six complaints when Council made the change in August 2023.

So what did O'Reilly know at the time that led him to conclude Walsh was “abusing the system”?

That's the question I went looking for answers to. The full article is here:

👉 https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/mike-oreilly-code-of-conduct-questions/

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Mike O'Reilly says Denis Walsh abused Kamloops' Code of Conduct system. The 2023 record raises some pretty obvious questions.

I've noticed a few people recently calling Katie Neustaeter a narcissist.It got me wondering: what does that actually me...
08/22/2026

I've noticed a few people recently calling Katie Neustaeter a narcissist.

It got me wondering: what does that actually mean?

More importantly, would it even matter if a politician had narcissistic traits?

I started looking into the psychology, the leadership research and some of the behaviour we've seen around Kamloops City Council. What I found was considerably more complicated than I expected.

Maybe the better question isn't whether a politician is a narcissist.

Maybe it's what happens when their ego collides with evidence.

New on Kamloops Critic: Is Katie Neustaeter a Narcissist?

https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/is-katie-neustaeter-a-narcissist/

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Is Katie Neustaeter a narcissist? We examine the behaviour behind the label, narcissism and leadership, and what it actually tells voters about a politician.

Katie Neustaeter is asking Kamloops voters for another four years on City Council.On August 17, she announced her campai...
08/20/2026

Katie Neustaeter is asking Kamloops voters for another four years on City Council.

On August 17, she announced her campaign for re-election, with three priorities:

Local Leadership.
Good Governance.
Accountable Advocacy.

Those sound like reasonable goals. But what do they actually mean?

I spent some time looking back at Neustaeter's first term — Council meetings, minutes, City documents, court proceedings, campaign material and some of my own reporting — and asked a fairly simple question:

Does her record give me confidence that she should get another four years?

I looked at how she has dealt with public criticism, public participation, Code of Conduct complaints, conflict-of-interest questions, disagreements with the Mayor, and residents who disagree with her or Council.

I also looked at her recent campaign open-house invitation — and one resident's response to it.

My conclusion?

I would not vote for Katie Neustaeter.

My preliminary recommendation for the October 17 municipal election is Not Recommended.

I've tried to explain why rather than simply tell readers what to think.

If you're interested in how I reached that conclusion, the full article is here:

👉 https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/katie-neustaeter-candidate-profile-2026/

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A preliminary 2026 candidate profile of Katie Neustaeter examines her record on governance, public input, accountability, conflicts and communication.

“So, sue me.”That's what Councillor Katie Neustaeter told Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson during the June 28 Council meeting.On...
08/15/2026

“So, sue me.”

That's what Councillor Katie Neustaeter told Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson during the June 28 Council meeting.

On its own, it might just be another sarcastic comment at City Hall.

But the Mayor has sued Neustaeter twice, and the City has agreed to cover her legal defence in both cases.

I went back through the history behind those three words, including the two lawsuits, the City's indemnification decisions, the legal-cost questions and the new Council pay bylaw.

So what does “so sue me” look like when taxpayers are already paying the legal bills?

Read the full story: https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/so-sue-me-katie-neustaeter/

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Katie Neustaeter told Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson “so sue me.” Here's the history behind the remark, two lawsuits and the City's legal costs.

What did Kamloops Council just give itself the power to do?I wasn't particularly surprised to see Council dealing with i...
08/14/2026

What did Kamloops Council just give itself the power to do?

I wasn't particularly surprised to see Council dealing with its own pay this week. At this point, I'm more of a "I wonder what they'll try next" person.

But when I went through the new Council Remuneration Bylaw, a few things caught my attention.

The annual pay increases aren't actually new. The existing policy already provided for annual adjustments.

The expense allowance is changing, though — from $5,000 to $8,000 per council member, a 60% increase. And the new bylaw gives Council a mechanism to withhold a council member's pay when money is owed to the City.

More interestingly, one section specifically deals with legal costs and expenses the City has advanced on behalf of another council member.

That caught my attention because there is currently an unresolved legal-cost dispute between Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and Councillor Katie Neustaeter. No costs have been awarded against the Mayor yet, and I don't know whether this provision was written with that case in mind.

I also looked at who will control the new committee reviewing Council's own pay, why the bylaw doesn't require public members, who signed off on the report, and what this could mean for the Mayor — or any future council member who owes money to the City.

I'm not claiming to know the motive behind the changes.

I'm asking a simpler question:

How much control should elected officials have over their own pay — and how much power should they have to take that pay away?

I've gone through the bylaw and laid out what I found.

👉 Read the full article: https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/kamloops-council-pay-bylaw-71/

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Kamloops Council has changed its pay rules, increased expense allowances and added a new way to recover money from council members. Here's what Bylaw 71 changes.

Well played, Councillor O'Reilly?The beginning of the June 23 council meeting bothered me when I watched it.Mike O'Reill...
08/11/2026

Well played, Councillor O'Reilly?

The beginning of the June 23 council meeting bothered me when I watched it.

Mike O'Reilly was deputy mayor for June. Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson was absent, yet O'Reilly told the public the Mayor hadn't reached out electronically, staff were checking the parking lot to make sure he wasn't there, and then he called a 10-minute break so he could prepare to chair the meeting.

At the time, I didn't know what was going on behind the scenes.

Now we know a little more.

Mel Rothenburger reported yesterday that O'Reilly had blocked the Mayor's texts.

So I went back and looked at what happened on June 9, what O'Reilly said on June 23, and what Rothenburger reported afterward.

There's one question that I think deserves an answer:

Which councillors are currently blocking the Mayor?

I've laid out what I found in the article.

👉 Read the full story: https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/well-played-councillor-oreilly/

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Mike O'Reilly blocked Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's texts while serving as deputy mayor. What does that tell us about the June 23 council meeting?

Would I trust Kathrine Blair-Wunderlich to help govern Kamloops?That's the question I started with before writing this p...
08/05/2026

Would I trust Kathrine Blair-Wunderlich to help govern Kamloops?

That's the question I started with before writing this profile.

Unlike most candidates I've reviewed, I've known Kathy for nearly two years. That made this profile more challenging because I wanted it to be grounded in evidence rather than personal experience.

I went back and reviewed Justice Groves' decision, City documents, Council records, media coverage and Kathy's own background before reaching a conclusion.

Whether you agree with my recommendation or not, I hope you'll come away understanding how I reached it.

Read the full profile here:

https://kamloopscritic.ca/post/2026/kathrine-blair-wunderlich-candidate-profile/

If you've met Kathy or have questions you'd like to see asked during the campaign, let me know in the comments.

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Who is Kathrine Blair-Wunderlich? Kamloops Critic reviews her background, leadership experience, court challenge, advocacy, and suitability for Kamloops City Council.

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