Your city councillor can't be fired, but the Ford government is changing that.
Under the Municipal Accountability Act, tabled on Thursday, councillors found to have harmed the "health, safety or well-being of persons" would be able to be removed by their municipal council. Offences will be outlined in a code of conduct that will apply to all 444 Ontario municipalities.
Outside of the courts, the harshest penalty municipal politicians can currently face is a 90-day pay cut. Only voters can remove them from office in an election.
To remove a councillor, the local integrity commissioner would first have to investigate and recommend to Ontario's integrity commissioner that the offending politician be removed. After a provincial inquiry, the Ontario commissioner would have to recommend removal to the local council. The council would then have to vote unanimously (except for the person in question, as well as anyone with an approved absence or conflict of interest) to remove them.
Emily McIntosh of The Women of Ontario Say No said the government should change that last part.
A unanimous requirement "means that one person's personal relationship and potential friendship could actually usurp the outcome," she said.
Municipal Affairs Minister Paul Calandra said the law was created based on recommendations from the provincial integrity commissioner and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. He didn't say whether either group had called for the unanimity clause.
"Look, it is meant to be a very high bar," he said.
McIntosh and other advocates have been calling for this legislation for years, after several incidents, including alleged sexual harassment, car-keying and other, more absurd occurrences.
Ontario's Big City Mayors (OBCM) noted that it had passed "several resolutions on this matter" while waiting for action.
"This is important legislation that our mayors have been fighting for, and we are happy to see that the province is addressing the importance of a municipal code of conduct for all municipal councils and staff," Burlington Mayor and OBCM chair Marianne Meed Ward said in a release.
The NDP also welcomed the bill and noted that it had introduced a similar one (as had the Liberals).
"After years of delay, we are glad to see the government taking this step in the right direction," NDP municipal affairs critic Jeff Burch said.
Calandra said it took time to make the legislation airtight.
"I thought it was going to be a lot easier, if (I'm) being honest. And the more we delved into it, the more complex it became," he said.
McIntosh said she's happy the bill has finally been tabled.
"Oh my gosh. Many emotions. I probably, most importantly, feel relief that we are seeing something on the table. It is so far overdue, but we applaud the government for introducing it," she said.
Calandra also said that some municipal integrity commissioners also held other roles at those municipalities, which he called a "potential obvious conflict of interest."
The government will bar that from happening in the regulations of the Municipal Accountability Act, Calandra said.
