What to do about a sitting council member accused of serious misconduct has been a thorny issue in Ottawa and across Ontario.
Article content
Orléans Liberal MPP Stephen Blais is calling for support in the provincial legislature to fast-track passage of a bill that would allow a city councillor or mayor who violates workplace violence or harassment policies to be removed from office by a judge.
Advertisement 2
Article content
“It’s time that the government set an example and take action and let it be known that elected officials won’t be treated any differently than any other employee in any other workplace in Ontario,” Blais said at a Wednesday morning media conference.
What to do about a sitting council member accused of serious misconduct has been a thorny issue in Ottawa and across Ontario.
College ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli is back on city payroll after a 450-day salary suspension over lewd and inappropriate behaviour reported by five women who worked in Chiarelli’s office or were interviewed by him for jobs.
Chiarelli has faced calls to resign from the public, fellow council members and even Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing — but none had the power to force him from office and it would be up to the provincial government to make that change. Ottawa city council, Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden and former Chiarelli staff members have been among those pushing for reform.
Advertisement 3
Article content
A 90-day salary suspension was the harshest penalty available in Chiarelli’s case, which was recommended by Ottawa’s integrity commissioner for each violation under council’s code of conduct. Council also blocked his power to hire staff, stripped his committee responsibilities and took other steps to sanction the longtime councillor.
Blais, who sat with Chiarelli at the council table before running for provincial office, also pointed to recent incidents of alleged harassment by council members in Brampton, Barrie and Mississauga.
“The women who have faced this harassment and emotional trauma have taken the most difficult and courageous step,” he said. “They shared their stories so that a light can be shone on this dark corner and actions can be taken to stop it from happening again. And now it’s time for the legislature to act just as courageously.”
Advertisement 4
Article content
Blais’s private member’s bill — the Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act — passed second reading Wednesday evening and will next be reviewed by the standing committee of social policy.
It proposes to mandate that codes of conduct, which all municipalities must have for municipal council members and certain local boards, include a requirement to comply with workplace violence and harassment policies.
If an integrity commissioner’s inquiry has determined that a member has failed in this regard, the bill would give municipalities and local boards the power to direct the commissioner to apply to a Superior Court judge to remove the member from their seat. The judge could make that order if they agreed the individual had violated the code of conduct with respect to workplace violence or harassment.
Advertisement 5
Article content
The judicial application couldn’t be pursued during an election period.
Blais said he believed there was sufficient time in the remaining sitting weeks to get the bill fast-tracked through the committee process and approved for royal assent before the legislature dissolves for the provincial election in June.
He’s also hoping this can be accomplished before municipal election season begins. Candidates for mayor and councillor in Ottawa can start filing nomination papers on May 2.
It was Blais’s understanding that the provincial Progressive Conservative government was preparing to introduce its own version of what he’s trying to achieve with his private member’s bill, and he said he spoke to Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark on several occasions about work the ministry was doing in preparation for government legislation.
Advertisement 6
Article content
Last spring, the government launched a public consultation on strengthening municipal codes of conduct and on recommendations submitted by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, which included allowing a judge to remove a council member from office on the advice of an integrity commissioner who had found “serious and/or repeated breaches” of the code of conduct.
“Our government supports MPP Blais’ bill in principle,” Clark’s spokesperson, Zoë Knowles, said Wednesday.
As for the efforts to put together a government bill, Knowles called it an “incredibly important and complex piece of legislation” and said that “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.”
Blais said he believed there would be support for his bill from the provincial NDP, which hold 40 of the legislature’s 124 seats. Blais is one of seven Ontario Liberal MPPs.
With Postmedia files
Orléans MPP Blais calls for support to fast track bill that would enable removing abusive elected municipal officials from office - Ottawa Citizen
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment