Wilmot councillors accused of 'bullying' by colleague cleared of code of conduct violations
CBC
Two Wilmot Township councillors have been cleared of code of conduct violations after a council colleague accused them of "bullying and harassing" behaviour during a town hall meeting in January.
In a complaint to the township's integrity commissioner, Coun. Steven Martin said he and Coun. Lillianne Dunstall planned to hold a town hall for residents on Jan. 4 to discuss the township's budget and proposed tax increase. The budget had been a contentious issue in the township because the original proposal recommended raising property taxes by 50 per cent.
Martin says he sent an email to his fellow councillors asking them not to attend the meeting because he was worried they would accidentally hit quorum for a council meeting. Once more than four councillors are together at a meeting, it can be viewed as a council meeting and if it's not previously advertised as such, it can be considered an illegal meeting.
On the day of the meeting, Coun. Stewart Cressman arrived, then Coun. Kris Wilkinson and Coun. Harvir Sidhu also arrived.
Martin says he asked Wilkinson and Sidhu to leave but both refused.
"I said that we might be fined, and I did not want to risk that. Some people said that I should leave. I believe that Coun. Wilkinson encouraged or incited others in the crowd to say derogatory things to me. It is my belief that Coun. Wilkinson participated and/or encouraged people to make fun of me. At this point Coun. Cressman stood up and said that he would leave so as to alleviate the problem," Martin said in his complaint to the integrity commissioner.
Martin ended up leaving his own meeting to avoid reaching quorum.
"It is my contention that Coun. Wilkinson and Coun. Sidhu were 'bullying and harassing' by not respecting my role as host of the meeting. They also did not respect my decision on the quorum issue. Even if I am wrong, on the issue of quorum or an illegal meeting, they could have respected my concern since it was my meeting," Martin wrote in his complaint.
Benjamin Drory of the mediation firm ADR Chambers is integrity commissioner for the township. In a report received by council Monday night, Drory said Wilkinson and Sidhu did not violate the township's code of conduct by attending the meeting.
But Drory said it was clear to him, and likely to people who attended the Jan. 4 town hall meeting, that the councillors were not working together.
"Nobody who attended the town hall should feel particularly good about what took place," Drory wrote in the report.
"[The] town hall struck me as unseemly in its apparent absence of goodwill, and an unwillingness among members to simply work with each other towards a common good."
Drory said it's not his role to "resolve the rift" between councillors, but he hoped they could find ways to work together.
"I make no suggestion about how they could specifically do that, but I hope they will make some kind of concerted effort to do so," Drory wrote.
A jury in Cayuga, Ont., has found both Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala.
A woman from Guatemala says she and her two U.S.-born children were held for nearly a week by customs agents in Detroit after a phone app's directions to the nearest Costco led them to an international bridge connecting the city to Canada.
Alberta's measles outbreak is now the worst recorded in nearly three decades and that has health experts raising the alarm and renewing calls for stronger messaging from the provincial government.
Continued investments in affordable housing should be a priority for the next federal government if any progress is to be made on the homelessness crisis in Thunder Bay, the executive director of a community organization said.
A former fare inspector for Metrolinx says enforcing the rules around accessible parking spots at GO stations was not a priority for the transit agency during his time there.
"Welcome to my campaign office," Val Neekman says as he opens the trunk of his car.
With just days to go until Canadians head to the polls to vote in the federal election, candidates across P.E.I. are hitting the campaign trail in an effort to become — or remain — a member of Parliament. To make sense of who's running for which party and where, CBC P.E.I. spoke to the candidates running in each of the province's four ridings.
Students at Yellowknife's St. Patrick High School had a chance to meet some of the N.W.T.'s federal election candidates on Thursday and ask questions about things that matter to them, including the cost of living, the drug crisis and community safety.
Through a fluke of timing, the federal election coincides almost perfectly with the one-year anniversary of the government-owned Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion coming online — at a time when public sentiment around pipelines is relatively positive.
Cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2018 and yet the Marijuana Party — which was formed to champion legalization — is still running two candidates in this election.
If Mark Carney is to lead his Liberal Party to its fourth straight term in government, seats in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area will form the backbone of his win.
The City of London is looking to streamline approvals for large-scale housing developments in a bid to get more units built faster.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump did bring up the prospect of Canada becoming the 51st state during their March 28 call, while insisting Trump did show respect for the country as a sovereign nation.