--- title: "Mike Hurley at Metro Vancouver: the reviewer he withdrew, the pay and the budget" description: "Burnaby's mayor has chaired Metro Vancouver since June 2024. The record: a reviewer withdrawn after councillors asked him to step aside, a paused review, pay questions and a deferred budget." canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/burnaby-2026/news/mike-hurley-metro-vancouver-chair" last_updated: "2026-10-31T22:52:12.746Z" --- On July 25, 2024, less than a month after Burnaby Mayor [Mike Hurley](/bc/burnaby-2026/candidates/mike-hurley) became chair of the Metro Vancouver board, Global News reported that five municipal politicians had asked him to step aside. The reason was his choice of the person to review the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, a project then expected to run $3 billion over its budget. Hurley withdrew the name the night before and stayed as chair. He still holds the job today, after Burnaby re-elected him on October 17, 2026 with 28,946 votes. He ran with no elector organization. The chair leads a board of 41 directors from 21 municipalities. ## The reviewer he recommended, and then withdrew Metro Vancouver's board elected Hurley chair on June 28, 2024, Global News reported that day. The plant was the first question. Hurley told Global News he was upset about the project but was "not proposing an outside audit at this time", and instead "a review by an independent individual". On July 24, 2024, Global News reported that the individual Hurley had recommended was William McCarthy, a businessman with a background in commercial real estate. McCarthy had been made an honorary Burnaby firefighter in 2022, at the department where Hurley had worked. Someone with the same name had given $1,250, the maximum allowed, to Hurley's 2022 mayoral campaign. That evening Hurley told the directors he had received negative feedback and was no longer recommending McCarthy. McCarthy told Global News he was "a non-appointee to anything and private business person". The next day New Westminster Councillor Daniel Fontaine told Global News: "We've asked him to step aside until we can confirm whether or not this is the same Mr. McCarthy who made a contribution." Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said Hurley had his "full confidence". CBC News reported on July 26, 2024 that Hurley had written in the report behind his motion that he had known McCarthy for "several years", and that Elections BC data showed a William McCarthy gave $1,250 to his campaign. Hurley said he had wanted an independent person who offered his services for free and could start at once. Fontaine called the choice "a complete and utter failure of leadership". At the July 26 meeting Hurley confirmed the donation. "Yes, he did donate to my campaign, but as far as I know that's legal," he said, as Global News and CTV News both reported. He replaced his motion with one for a formal search for an independent reviewer, which the board passed. He also paused international travel for board and committee members and announced a governance review. ## The review that stopped and started again The review did not begin quickly. On July 25, 2025, CBC News reported that the board had voted, in a closed part of its meeting, to pause the review until its legal dispute with the plant's first contractor, Acciona, was settled. The vote record is confidential. "After careful consideration, the board has decided the public interest is best served by resolving the legal dispute with the previous contractor before undertaking the review," Hurley said in a news release. On March 6, 2026, CBC News reported that the mayors of the City and District of North Vancouver had asked Premier David Eby for a public inquiry into the plant, whose cost had reached $3.86 billion, and a governance review of Metro Vancouver. Hurley answered in an emailed statement that Deloitte had already completed a governance review. "I am not clear on their motivation for asking for something that is already being done," he said. Acciona settled in May 2026 and agreed to pay Metro Vancouver $235 million. CBC News reported on June 1, 2026 that the review would resume and that Hurley promised it would be "completely open book". He said he understood residents who felt Metro Vancouver should not review its own project, and added: "However, if the province wishes to step in and be part of it ... I'm open to that." Four councils have asked the province to do exactly that. Freshet News reported on July 16, 2026 that New Westminster had joined Surrey and the two North Vancouver councils in asking the Inspector of Municipalities for an independent review. Fontaine said Metro Vancouver's review "is not truly independent". On September 5, 2026, CTV News reported that Metro Vancouver had parted ways with its chief administrative officer, Jerry Dobrovolny. Hurley said the move came ahead of the municipal election and amid governance reform. ## Pay and the Deloitte review Metro Vancouver directors are paid for each meeting on top of their city salary. CBC News reported on January 31, 2025 that the rate was $547 for a meeting of up to four hours and $1,094 for a longer one. That day Hurley said he was convinced the provincial government needed to be involved in the governance review. The same week Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he would boycott the board, calling its governance "broken". Deloitte's review called the 41-member board "large and unwieldy", Global News reported on May 23, 2025. The board ended meeting fees paid while travelling and double fees for meetings over four hours. Asked what that would save, Hurley said he could not put a number on it, and that in his experience it would not be much. Global News reported on December 16, 2025 that Hurley's pay in 2023 was $330,000, among the highest totals of the region's mayors, and that Deloitte had suggested mayors earn no more than a cabinet minister's $183,000. ## The budget the new board will decide At the board's last meeting of the term, on October 30, 2026, the directors deferred the $1.7 billion 2027 operating budget to the incoming board, the Squamish Chief reported. Only 14 of the 41 directors had been re-elected. Hurley opposed the deferral. "Passing the budget doesn't prevent the new board from making changes," he said. The motion passed 87 to 36 in a weighted vote, and Hurley conceded: "Looks like we're going to defer everything." New Westminster's mayor-elect, Fontaine, told Freshet News on October 23, 2026 that he will move an accountability charter at the board: no extra pay for mayors, a full independent review of the plant, a smaller elected body and an auditor general for local government. Asked on election night what the region's results meant for Metro Vancouver, Hurley told Freshet the district "will stand on its own". ## A shelter where a park was promised In Burnaby itself, Freshet News reported on July 2, 2026 that buyers of the Kin Collection townhouses in Royal Oak were told in 2020 that a park was planned next door at 7320 Buller Avenue. Council then decided, in closed meetings, to run a shelter there, and in 2025 to keep it open year-round until April 30, 2028. Residents wrote to the city about safety, litter and drug use. Hurley told Freshet the park's delay from 2024 to 2028 "wasn't because of the shelter". He first said, "It wasn't a priority for parks at that time, I believe," then changed that to say park planning takes time and the parks budget is limited. He said the buildings will come down in 2028. ## What to watch The new Metro Vancouver board meets on November 27, 2026 to choose a chair and decide the deferred 2027 budget, and Fontaine has said his charter motion will come early. The independent review of the plant has no published date for its report. The Inspector of Municipalities has not said whether it will act on the four councils' requests. ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/bc/burnaby-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.