SIDEBAR: Can Ontario government 'cherry pick' the WAY they govern?
Welcome to another issue of #munipoli Matters, where we discuss all about municipal elections and the often unreported arena of local governance in Canada and beyond. I’ve tried this before, so I’m reintroducing what I call ‘side-bars’, where I deviate from my regularly scheduled local election news to do some deep dives into a specific issue.
The Ontario Legislature rose for the Christmas break and is currently not sitting until February 22, 2022. Before the adjournment, people were expecting the provincial Conservative government to table legislation allowing city councillors to be removed from office for bad behaviour.
For example, Ottawa city councillor Rick Chiarelli was cited in two integrity commissioner reports for “incomprehensible incidents of harassment” against staff, specifically sexual harassment of various nature. Chiarelli also had his pay docked until November 2021.
Other examples of city councillors accused or caught in bad behaviour include:
Surrey, BC Mayor Doug McCallum, who was charged with public mischief by claiming someone ran over his foot during an encounter with petitioners (McCallum says he is still planning to run for reelection in 2022)
Brampton councillor Gurpreet Dhillon, who was cited by the IC of ‘inappropriate sexual misconduct’ during a city business trip to Turkey.
Under the current system, the most severe punishment that can be meted out to a misbehaving municipal politician: a 90-day suspension of pay, and depending on which municipality possible removal from committee roles.
Chiarelli’s pay was docked 450 days - 90 days for each of the five official complaints against him. Both McCallum and Dhillon faced similar little to no repercussions.
However, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark did not table any legislation before Queen’s Park’s holiday break. An email Clark’s spokesperson said “the bill is an incredibly important and complex piece of legislation”.
"Set against the backdrop of a patchwork system of inconsistent codes of conduct and integrity commissioners within each municipality, rushing out a piece of legislation that impacts each of Ontario's 444 municipalities differently would compromise our ongoing efforts to foster safe and respectful workplaces — which is not something our government is willing to do," the statement read, according to the CBC.
The government did get agreement from the opposition Liberals and NDP to fast track the legislation. But the NDP critic said the government had enough time to develop a systemic response and now worries that the new legislation won’t be in effect by the 2022 municipal elections.
Liberal MPP Stephen Blais, a former Ottawa city councillor, had additional concerns about setting up the ground rules for the municipal elections. "Everyone who wants to put their name forward for the election should understand the rules of the game before the election begins.”
That line really struck me as it’s almost like “deja vu” all over again with this Tory government when it comes to dealing with municipal affairs.
Four years ago when the 2018 municipal campaign was underway, the newly minted Ford government wasted no time in tabling legislation to arbitrarily reduce the size of Toronto city council with zero consultation in the middle of the campaign.
Candidates who already registered to run, spent their dollars, had to change their plans either by starting all over again in a completely different ward that they were campaigning in…or in some cases dropping out altogether.
Ford even took it so far as to threaten to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in order to pass the law, only to back off after the Court of Appeal upheld the government’s decision, allowing the passage of the council cuts and reducing Toronto’s council from 47 to 25 wards.
I bring this up because it seems when it comes to legislating matters related to municipal administration, the Ford government showed in the past it can move with breakneck speed on passing fundamental changes to democratic representation within the space of a few months.
It was an extreme demonstration that municipalities are really “creatures of the province.”…to the detriment of good governance.
The council cuts also upended the “rules of the game”, the same concern Blais ironically put forward four years later. Although it’s related to something else within municipal government, candidates should understand the rules that they are to conduct themselves under should they successfully get elected.
While I understand this requires negotiation and the proper legislative procedures, this doesn’t seem as complex as fundamentally altering the composition of a municipal council, so I don’t understand why the minister couldn’t table a bill before the House rose.
Maybe the COVID-era has changed Ford’s approach to governing and while that is a good thing in some areas, there’s not a lot to argue if you can get all parties to support the legislation to address the bad behaviour from local politicians who currently face little consequences.
If Ford was willing to run through an entire election like a ‘bull in a china shop’ a few years ago, I don’t see why he can’t do some of that now.
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