This, imo, is unfortunate. "Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch called it “disturbing” that the provincial government shot down legislation that would have allowed municipalities to essentially fire city council for bad behaviour. The province decided not to do anything at all,” he said.
This bill has come forward for the second time, the exact same bill. It was passed unanimously in the Legislature previously. But Wednesday, he said “all the Conservatives voted against it — all the other parties spoke in favour of, spoke about the need for it.”
“We’ve seen time and again in this province councillors get away with absolutely disgusting and egregious behaviour...When councillors who commit such acts are not held to account, it denies justice for those who’ve been harassed and creates an environment that prevents others from coming forward. He said without that legislation, local leaders can operate by a different set of rules when they should be held to a much higher standard...when councillors who have harassed municipal staff or their fellow councillors can retain their positions, no matter how serious, it creates and protects toxic workplaces; which in turn has an adverse effect on mental health in the workplace and throughout the community.”
But, go figure, the majority of Oshawa Council REFERRED IT TO STAFF (which I commented on previously on my blog) —it is not the sort of matter to refer to staff, it is like a confidence vote, a personal, subjective matter specifically for those in municipal elected office...
imo the referral to staff was like ducking going on record making a decision to support or not support, which was odd considering
1) that 156 municipal Councils in Ontario gave their endorsement of Bill 5 including Oshawa's neighbouring municipalities, the City of Pickering, Town of Ajax and Town of Whitby; and
2) Oshawa's 6 Regional Councillors (who make up a majority of Oshawa's 11 member Council) gave their unanimous support at Region Council in April, but less than a week later would not confirm their support when I asked at the May 1st Oshawa Council meeting.
www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-region/2023/06/02/failed-legislation-would-have-defended-the-defenceless-from-abuse-by-elected-officials-says-proponents.html?fbclid=IwAR2YU-euzix2jUwRmEz7VkYvtN3oxWBqupWo6mYeyQXZHZ7cAXH3JwKoWgk
This bill has come forward for the second time, the exact same bill. It was passed unanimously in the Legislature previously. But Wednesday, he said “all the Conservatives voted against it — all the other parties spoke in favour of, spoke about the need for it.”
“We’ve seen time and again in this province councillors get away with absolutely disgusting and egregious behaviour...When councillors who commit such acts are not held to account, it denies justice for those who’ve been harassed and creates an environment that prevents others from coming forward. He said without that legislation, local leaders can operate by a different set of rules when they should be held to a much higher standard...when councillors who have harassed municipal staff or their fellow councillors can retain their positions, no matter how serious, it creates and protects toxic workplaces; which in turn has an adverse effect on mental health in the workplace and throughout the community.”
But, go figure, the majority of Oshawa Council REFERRED IT TO STAFF (which I commented on previously on my blog) —it is not the sort of matter to refer to staff, it is like a confidence vote, a personal, subjective matter specifically for those in municipal elected office...
imo the referral to staff was like ducking going on record making a decision to support or not support, which was odd considering
1) that 156 municipal Councils in Ontario gave their endorsement of Bill 5 including Oshawa's neighbouring municipalities, the City of Pickering, Town of Ajax and Town of Whitby; and
2) Oshawa's 6 Regional Councillors (who make up a majority of Oshawa's 11 member Council) gave their unanimous support at Region Council in April, but less than a week later would not confirm their support when I asked at the May 1st Oshawa Council meeting.
www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-region/2023/06/02/failed-legislation-would-have-defended-the-defenceless-from-abuse-by-elected-officials-says-proponents.html?fbclid=IwAR2YU-euzix2jUwRmEz7VkYvtN3oxWBqupWo6mYeyQXZHZ7cAXH3JwKoWgk
