Pickering welcoming potential Code of Conduct changes to Ontario’s Municipal Act

Changes to municipal harassment rules that would help local councils better deal with rogue councillors was close to reaching the floor of the Legislature in the fall of 2021.

A provincial election the following June and then the public relations disaster that was the Greenbelt scandal in the fall of 2022 put those proposed changes on ice, leaving cities like Pickering toothless in disciplining councillors who consistently breach code of conduct policies.

Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe said the proposed changes would be “welcome” in helping council discipline Ward 1 Councillor Lisa Robinson, who has been suspended twice for 30- and 60-day periods for “hateful” comments, was the subject of an appeal to the Ontario Human Rights Commissioner, and most recently, a request to the Province to bring in stricter sanctions for councillors after her appearance on a alt-right podcast where the host published the names, pictures, and personal phone numbers of councillors and labelled them “pedophiles,” “nazis” and “fascists.”

A report from Global News has confirmed a review of the Municipal Act is underway. There are no provisions in the Act for the removal of a member for code of conduct violations. Councillors have been removed in the past for financial “irregularities.”

Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe

Ashe believes something has to be done to protect the safety of councillors after Robinson’s appearance on notorious anti-vaxxer, wanted fugitive and disgraced mayoral candidate Kevin J. Johnston, who stated on the Rumble video content platform that Pickering’s elected officials “deserve a baseball bat to the face,” suggested that a “vicious and powerful dog” be let loose at council meetings and asked for “70s biker types with big biceps and scarred knuckles” to remove the councillors by force.

“This inflammatory, defamatory, and violent rhetoric is not only reprehensible, but also poses a direct threat to our safety and the safety of our families,” declared a statement jointly signed by Ashe and councillors Maurice Brenner, Linda Cook, Mara Nagy, David Pickles, and Shaheen Butt, with the statement claiming that Robinson’s recent appearance on the podcast was “deeply troubling,” given that Johnston is a notorious figure who has served time in jail, “owes millions of dollars in court-ordered damages to victims of his lies, and is currently a fugitive from Canadian law.”

Pickering Councillor Lisa Robinson

The councillors made a formal request to Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Callandra for the changes to the Municipal Act.

A confidential memo from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) obtained by Ashe highlighted some of the changes that had been in the works at  Queen’s Park, including provisions to allow municipalities to recover the financial costs of code of conduct inquiries from sitting councillors; allow judges to “remove or disqualify” a member of council for up to seven years upon application from local Integrity Commissioners; give councils the authority to impose penalties and allow those commissioners to dismiss “frivolous and vexatious” complaints; and develop consistent standards for their investigations.

AMO was involved in discussions with the Province in 2021.

“All these would be welcome,” Ashe said. “I urge the government to consider this legislation.”

A spokesman from Ford’s office said a report from Ontario Integrity Commissioner David Wake on the proposed changes to code of conduct legislation is expected this fall.

Ontario Integrity Commissioner David Wake

Ford and his government ran afoul of Wake’s office two years ago during the fallout from the Greenbelt swap scandal, with Wake’s damning report costing Ford his then-Housing Minister Steve Clark and several key senior staff and continuing to serve up new tidbits of subterfuge and alleged corruption every day for months following its release.

Meanwhile, Councillor Brenner said earlier this summer the municipality’s business is being “derailed” because of the actions of Robinson and her supporters. “We want it to end so we can back to the business of the City.”

“Residents are frustrated,” he added. “They’ve had enough.”