One of the more unusual things you’ll see at a municipal council meeting is a politician voting against his own motion.

But that’s effectively what happened when North Cowichan councillor Mike Caljouw voted not to support a motion on raw log exports that he amended only minutes earlier.

And Caljouw is not offering an explanation.

It all started with Councillor Christopher Justice’s motion related to senior governments working together on the contentious issue of raw log exports and fibre supply.

The motion — which did not call for an end to raw log exports — recommended:

“Council call on the Government of British Columbia and the Government of Canada to review and strengthen policies governing raw log exports from private managed forest lands on Vancouver Island, with the goal of improving fibre availability for domestic processing, supporting value-added wood manufacturing, and sustaining forestry employment in coastal communities.”

“The Mayor be directed to write to the Premier of British Columbia, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Forests, the Minister of International Trade, the local MLA and MP, and any other relevant parties, requesting their support and action to strengthen policies that improve fibre availability for domestic processing and sustain a strong and competitive coastal forest sector.”

During council debate, Caljouw said he agreed with the “premise of this motion…about 80 per cent of it.”

But he objected to private managed forest lands being singled out. He proposed removing the words “private managed,” which would then include all forest lands, both Crown and privately owned.

Council unanimously approved the amendment.

But just prior to the vote on the amended motion, Caljouw sought clarification from Mayor Rob Douglas.

“Sorry, can you explain to me the process we’re going through at this time?” he said.

Douglas explained what had already been discussed, and Caljouw responded: “If I may, I think, mayor, that I think you had a better idea and that's to postpone.”

But Douglas never suggested that.

What he did say is that if any councillor wanted to gut Justice’s motion by removing any reference to raw log exports they should come back with a new notice of motion at a later council meeting.

That said, next came the vote on the amended motion.

Caljouw voted against it, along with councillors Bruce Findlay, Tek Manhas and Becky Hogg.

Douglas joined Justice and councillor Chris Istace in support.