Collingwood’s mayor is taking the final report from the judicial inquiry to the Simcoe County government in the hopes he will get support to lobby for the provincial changes recommended by the inquiry commissioner.
Mayor Brian Saunderson achieved the blessing of Collingwood council to lobby upper levels of government, and tabled a motion at the most recent Simcoe County council meeting (Jan. 26), which will be added to a committee meeting agenda on Feb. 9.
Among the 306 recommendations made by Associate Chief Justice Frank Marrocco in his final report for the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry are several suggestions for changes to municipal framework, including the Municipal Act and the Municipal Conflict of Interest act.
For example, Morocco recommended changes to the municipal act definition of the role of mayor and council members as well as the town’s chief administrative officer, updates to the definition of a pecuniary interest for the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act to include more family members, and he suggested the province should mandate each municipality has a code of conduct for its staff. He also recommended the province include a requirement for each municipality to have a standard set of procurement policies by mandating them via the Municipal Act.
Marrocco stated the matters he and the commission investigated were “central to municipal governance,” and therefore applicable to all municipalities in Ontario, not just Collingwood.
Mayor Brian Saunderson told Collingwood council on Jan. 25 he hoped to see the recommendations from the local inquiry applied by upper-levels of government, “so that what happened here may not happen in other jurisdictions.”
Councillor Deb Doherty pointed out many of Justice Marrocco’s recommendations for changes to provincial legislation governing municipal governance had already been proposed by commissioners of other inquiries focused on municipal governance.
“It’s important to take this as far as we can,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Keith Hull said he hoped Collingwood and its taxpayers are “not forgotten” should the inquiry report lead to “key pieces of legislation.”
“One of the positive outcomes of this inquiry is that could make really great strides in changing how we operate as a province,” he said. “If the province was to simply take action on what has been recommended and make bold and broad changes to the current municipal act, it would make, in my humble opinion, a far greater province from a legislative, open and transparent system.”
Council unanimously supported Saunderson’s bid to bring the report to county council to help lobby for provincial changes.
Saunderson said he’s also talked with Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson about the inquiry report and the recommendations contained in it.
The Collingwood Judicial Inquiry took place from 2018 to 2020 and investigated the 2012 sale of 50 per cent of COLLUS to PowerStream and the subsequent spending of the proceeds from the share sale.
