The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is calling on every municipality in Ontario to take part in consultation around the Municipal Code of Conduct.
“We want to ensure that councillors and heads of council maintain a safe and respectful workplace and carry out their duties as elected officials ethically and responsibly,” stated Steve Clark, the minister of municipal affairs and housing in a letter addressed to Ontario’s heads of council.
The provincial government will be looking to consult council members on how accountability can be strengthened.
Jill Dunlop, MPP for Simcoe North and associate minister for children and women’s issues will be leading two, one-hour telephone town hall sessions on June 8 for western Ontario's municipalities. Local councils have been asked to elect one council member to attend.
“Having been involved in this process the last couple of years as a member of our own local committee and also at the county level, I would be quite interested in being involved with this,” said Rob Potter, deputy mayor of the Town of the Blue Mountains at a council meeting held on May 3.
“Some of the things I've seen, I think we need to take a good close look at as a council. I would see this role as being there to gather the information and determine what our view as a council would be,” he added.
At a council meeting held on May 5, the Grey Highlands council appointed Deputy Mayor Aakash Desai as the representative to participate.
The consultations will focus on what changes or mechanisms are needed to better hold council members accountable for code of conduct violations, how to effectively enforce the codes, whether a broader range of penalties for violations is needed and the circumstances in which these penalties could be applied.
In addition, an online survey has been launched for input from the municipal council members who are not attending the consultation.
The code of conduct review is also currently open to any feedback from the public until July 15. Click here for more.
