Vancouver city council voted today in favour of hiring a barrister to investigate the source of a leak of in-camera information regarding a $100-million loan guarantee.

After a sometimes testy debate, Vision Vancouver and COPE councillors approved NPA councillor Peter Ladner’s motion to give city manager Judy Rogers authority to hire a barrister to look into the release of details about the guarantee to developers of the Olympic Village.

“I think it’s important to get to the bottom of this,” Ladner said. “I don’t think it will be a long and complicated investigation.

Section 177 of the Vancouver Charter gives council authority to do this. In 2002, the City has signed a contract with Olympic officials guaranteeing completion of the billion-dollar Olympic Village by November, 2009 in return for a $30-million contribution.

At one point during the debate, Vision councillor Heather Deal said it was a “shame” that Ladner misplaced his document from the October 14 in-camera meeting. News reports suggested that Ladner’s in-camera report was the source of information that first surfaced in the Globe and Mail.

NPA councillor Suzanne Anton demanded that Deal retract her remark. “That is a really ridiculous thing to say, and I think Coun. Deal should take it back,” Anton said.

COPE councillor David Cadman criticized Ladner's motion, which suggested that the barrister work in collaboration with Vancouver police who are already investigating the leak.

“My knowledge is when the police do an investigation, they’re very circumspect about who they tell,” he said.

Cadman introduced an amendment to wipe out the preambles to Ladner’s motion. These preambles included a claim that the leak of information undermined the City’s negotiating ability, potentially damaged sales of condo units, and generally caused financial damage to the City.

Cadman’s amendment passed unanimously. The Georgia Straight will have more on this story in its print edition, which will be distributed across Metro Vancouver on Thursday (November 27).