Sloppiness Kills Provincial Abuse Bill

Should there be a law against abusing councillor employees so that an offending politician could be removed from office? Yes.

Should it be the Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act? No.

The act (also known as Bill 5) which was voted down at the Ontario legislature this week would allow municipal councillors to remove a fellow councillor for harassment and violence.

Now were all councillors instilled with the ethics of Mother Teresa, maybe Bill 5 would be effective.

They’re not. Politics is often a very dirty business where ethics are situational at best. The actions of Ottawa City Council, for example, in buying about $1-billion worth of e-buses with no public discussion of the issue taints the current council. Yes, $1 billion of vital public policy passed with no formal consultations. That’s ethical? No.

Knee-Jerk Ex-Council Couldn’t Judge Its Peers: BENN

The lack of oversight by the previous council on the Ottawa light-rail fiasco showed the incompetence of that group of individuals to the tune of $2.2 billion. Furthermore, not only did top civic officials lie and withhold information on that mess, they lied to a public provincial inquiry charged with investigating why Ottawa’s LRT has repeatedly failed. Trust?

You want these people with the power to remove an elected councillor? You wouldn’t give them that power were they the ruling body of a high-school glee club. Ottawa City Council has proven repeatedly it could not even remotely rise above its biases to judge a member of council fairly. Furthermore, many members lack the competency, ethics or guts to do the right thing.

The biggest issue facing city hall today is not the light-rail fiasco, nor the sketchy Lansdowne proposal, nor the massive overruns on the new central library. It’s trust and truth.

You betray the good intentions of residents on issues of important public policy and you lose the trust of the public. And governance depends on the legitimacy of Ottawa City Hall. Lose that legitimacy and the rule of law comes into question. From there … well … you hate to go down that road.

Better to leave this in the hands of the impartial judiciary. Its members know what they are doing. Ottawa City Council and city staff don’t. Not only have they been woefully incompetent, the public has lost trust in the legitimacy of Ottawa municipal government due to repeatedly lying and withholding information that should be in the public realm plus its absolute failure to get mayor programs right.

Incompetence? All you need do is look at the framing of Bill 5.

Sutcliffe Was Wrong To Support Blais’ Abuse Bill

And whose legislation was it? Why none other than former city councillor and Orleans Liberal MPP Stephen Blais. The MPP was carrying the mail for former mayor Jim Watson. Need we say more? Blais blew a chance to properly deal with a problem through sloppiness. Isn’t that playing to form.

So should there be a provincial law that would see a councillor removed if abuse and harassment of an employee can be proven? Yes.

Should it be Bill 5? Not a chance.

Ken Gray

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