SIDEBAR - Mississauga councillor's resignation shakes city hall to its core
A councillor's resignation snowballed into one of the wildest stories to hit Canada's sixth largest city in years
Welcome to another issue of #munipoli Matters, where we discuss all about municipal elections and the often unreported area of local government across Canada and beyond. This is still a developing story, but I haven’t seen anything this enticing since the days of Hazel McCallion’s conflict of interest troubles while she was the mayor of Mississauga.
Ward 2 Councillor Karen Ras announced her resignation effective January 28 to take up the role of Director of Communications, Government and Stakeholder Relations with the Mississauga-based Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). She was first elected in 2014 in a close race with about 28% of the vote in a crowded field, then romped to reelection in 2018 with 93% of the vote.
While Ras eventually planned to leave council after the 2022 municipal election, the “fantastic job opportunity” from ESA exacerbated her departure timetable. But what stood out from the now former councillor’s statement was the following:
At the time of her press release, Ras didn’t elaborate further on what workplace issues she was talking about, only telling the Mississauga News that her car was vandalized in the secure underground parking garage beneath the Mississauga Civic Centre.
I asked City Manager Paul Mitcham who would have access to that parking lot, and he emailed saying, “The garage is security access controlled. Only those with approved key cards have access to this parking garage. These individuals include the Mayor and Members of Council and their staff, authorized City staff, and security personnel.”
But there was more to come, almost right when councillors would decide on how to fill the Ward 2 vacancy as required under the Municipal Act. It was revealed that the alleged culprit was none other than Mississauga Ward 6 Councillor Ron Starr.
According to the expose, since 2019 Ras’ car had been keyed at least 7 times in the secure parking garage. There were no cameras installed until 2021 so the vandal was never caught. When cameras were installed, a man was recorded using his keys to tear two long, deep scratches into the Sportage’s paint and metal.
Before the Star published their story, the CBC reported that a ‘male councillor’ had done this. So I emailed the five male Mississauga councillors to ask them if they did it or knew anything about this. Ward 8 incumbent Matt Mahoney said “it was NOT me and this kind of behaviour is despicable and upsets me to the core.”
What is interesting is that Mahoney hit reply all when responding to me, meaning that the other male councillors, including Starr, saw what he said.
As for any subsequent investigation, the police redacted the name of the vandal on the incident report obtained by the Star and they decided not to lay charges after consulting with the local crown attorney. Mississauga’s Integrity Commissioner could not investigate because of the police’s involvement.
The city’s code of conduct determines what an integrity commissioner can investigate. It says “all councillors should have a work environment free from discrimination and harassment.” However, it also says that if a complaint “on its face” involves an allegation of behaviour “consistent with the Criminal Code of Canada,” the commissioner can’t pursue it…hence why the IC declined to pursue further.
Given how this is a complete failure of the structures for accountability and transparency at city hall, it’s no wonder Ras decided to go, and who could blame her?
“What this means is that a councillor can get away with behaviour that would not be acceptable in any workplace in the private sector,” Ras said to the Star. “And even if an integrity commissioner does do an investigation, it is up to the council to decide if it will accept a recommended punishment.”
“So you have councillors policing themselves, which just doesn’t work.”
Reactions from other councillors ranged from sympathetic to outright tone-deaf. “You need to show respect to your fellow council members. I'm shocked that this happened to her and quite frankly, I don’t think anybody should have to experience that,” said Ward 9 Councillor Pat Saito, who said that while Ras never raised issues about the code of conduct, changes may be required.
But Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish dismissed the issue, saying “politics is not for the faint of heart.” Sorry, Councillor Parrish, no one who aspires to be in public life should have to tolerate this level of intimidation and physical property damage. If you still expect politics in 2022 to operate the way they did during the days of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed, maybe you should think about doing something else.
It also seems that Mayor Bonnie Crombie contradicted herself in this matter. At first she told a local community news outlet that she knew nothing about the Ras allegations last week, only for the Star to reveal that Crombie had know about this situation since the spring of 2021.
The mayor may have to explain herself down the road as to why she didn’t take further action, this perhaps being the first real crisis to her leadership since she took over from McCallion in 2014. Crombie also has to reconcile with the notion that her vision of a genial council all working together may not be as accurate as she believed.
(UPDATE: In her press conference on February 3, Crombie said Starr is denying the allegations. She also apologized for not taking action sooner but insists that, outside of this incident, council continues to work well together.)
As for Starr himself, he clammed up and wouldn’t comment any further on the matter. The Star reported that he ended up settling with Ras by paying for her vehicle’s damages, to the tune of $1,250. Council just finished day long in-camera (aka private) session in which they unanimously passed the following:
But this really isn’t about money at the end of the day; this is about whether people who run for public office and get elected to serve can do their jobs without intimidation, harassment or threats to their personal property…or otherwise. As of this writing, social media is filled with calls for Starr himself to resign.
Overall, Ron Starr is a grown man with serious responsibilities; if this is the way he’s behaving around a colleague, voters should think otherwise if he comes to their door asking for another four years in office. I don’t think a leave of absence is enough.
Maybe he should have been the one to resign.
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