Ford rushes to call for tougher penalties for councilors who misbehave

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Premier Doug Ford appears to have dashed hopes of imposing tougher penalties on city councilors who have harassed or abused employees, or are guilty of other misconduct.

“Every city has its integrity commissioner and they have powers to do whatever is necessary if someone misbehaves, if you want to call it that. They can make their decisions,” Ford said Thursday.

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Earlier this month, Ottawa city council added its support to an Association of Ontario Municipalities motion calling on the province to strengthen the law by updating municipal codes of conduct, enacting new flexible penalties and allowing municipalities to ask the courts that remove a councilor. if so recommended by the integrity commissioner.

The most severe penalty a board can impose under current law is a 90-day unpaid suspension for each violation. That’s what Ottawa council did to former councilor Rick Chiarelli after the integrity commissioner found he had sexually harassed several female staff. In total, Chiarelli was suspended for a total of 450 days and lost his salary worth $132,000. He has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Orleans MPP Stephen Blais, a former Ottawa city councilor who worked alongside Chiarelli, has twice introduced a private member’s bill in Queen’s Park that would have toughened penalties. On both occasions, the Conservative government rejected it.

“Ultimately, if they want to remove someone, it’s the people,” Ford said Thursday. “That’s why we have elections every four years. People either like you or they don’t like you. If they like you, they will give you another chance. If they don’t like you, well, you’ll be sitting on the bench somewhere. But it is the people who are going to decide.”

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The premier’s statement appeared to contradict what Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra said in February after Blais’ bill was rejected for a second time. Callandra said the government was working on its own legislation that would likely be presented to the legislature before the summer break.

“It’s a very important piece of legislation that has to be constitutional (and) that really has to achieve the results that I think everyone is asking for,” Calandra told reporters.

The premier’s Thursday statement disappointed Emily McIntosh of the group Women of Ontario Say No, which has advocated for tougher penalties. She called Ford’s response “incredibly dismissive.”

“An integrity commissioner can do an investigation, can substantiate a complaint, can make recommendations for corrective action, but there is no real incentive for the person who committed the misconduct to take even the most rudimentary corrective action,” McIntosh said.

“We cannot allow people in positions of power to perpetrate harassment that would be considered unacceptable in any other workplace.”

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Ottawa was just one of more than 200 Ontario municipalities that backed the AMO’s call for tougher penalties, he said.

“There is a real disconnect between what the Prime Minister says and the lived experience of people in communities and councillors,” McIntosh said. “To know about these things, victims have to come forward. And for victims to come forward, they have to feel that the action will be resolved. Otherwise, there is no incentive.”

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