Once upon a time it was a rare event that internal conflict at the municipal council table made headlines; there was the Louis Antonakos situation in Carleton Place- resolved by the voters in the 2018 election- and Rick Chiarelli’s behavioural issues in Ottawa’s College Ward- resolved by his retirement prior to the 2022 vote.
The latter case may have spurred Queen’s Park to get off its duff and change stuff- but legislative efforts have so far fallen short- at least until now.
That’s McNab-Braeside Deputy Mayor Lori Hoddinott, whose own Council is currently embroiled and hoping for change.
Hoddinott says Queen’s Park had hoped to get the ball rolling in the summer of 2023.
The McNab-Braeside Deputy Mayor says the Provincial Government’s first inclination was to vest the authority to remove an elected official in the local representative body.
Having had its own Integrity Commissioner case in December of 2023, the Deputy Mayor was fresh with fix-it ideas when she attended the Rural Ontario Municipalities Conference in Toronto this past January.
Hoddinott’s plan would take the matter out of local hands, but still allow for a thorough and consequential review.
She says the idea is gaining momentum.
Hoddinott understands there’s widespread non-partisan support for her suggested methodology.
The McNab-Braeside Deputy Mayor says positive change may be a side-benefit of local situation(s)
In reviewing the Integrity Commissioner’s file received by McNab-Braeside Council December 18th of last year, the first of nine allegations against Mayor Mark MacKenzie (dating from March 2nd of 2023) presupposed a fixation to discredit previous Council’s fiscal integrity- an issue still touted under another guise.
MacKenzie has appealed the IC report to the Provincial Ombudsman, but has yet to receive a formal response.
By Rick Stow