Canadian Lawyer

12 A P R I L 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP to disqualify an elected official and remove that person from office. Formal censure proceedings are not in any legislation but grew out of court challenges with courts ruling local govern- ments have the power to hold censure meetings but must ensure a fair hearing. Harding, who has run several of these meetings, says they are legally complex, expensive to run, and the solutions are often inadequate. Censure may involve removing an errant councillor's right to travel or removing the individual from committees, but, for instance, they can't dock a councillor's pay. Internal censure can also create divi- sions on council resulting in a bit of a "blood-letting" atmosphere. Those feelings can impair the council's ability to get busi- ness done for the municipality. The other court alternative to remove or disqualify a council member can be costly. Harding says this is usually for something severe such as conflict of inter- est or misuse of powers, or it may be the result of a council member becoming ill and not being able to fulfil her duties. Harding's paper notes Ontario has led the way with a 2006 amendment to s. 223.3 (accountability and transparency) of the Municipal Act, which states munici- palities can adopt a code of conduct for members of council and local boards and appoint an integrity commission. The integrity commissioner can suspend remuneration to the elected official for up to 90 days. Toronto became the first city in Canada to create an Office of the Integrity Commissioner to advise on the code of conduct and carry out complaint investi- gation and provide education to council members on ethics and integrity. Now, about 40 municipalities of 422 in Ontario have created such an office. Harding says no one is really sure why there are more incidents of questionable behaviour occurring. "The vast majority of elected officials are individuals who are there to do a great job and work- ing for their community," he says. The "small minority" of problems seems to have emerged after the 2011 election. He says he is not sure whether it is that some newly elected officials have difficulty fol- lowing parliamentary procedures or if it is the effect of social media, where indi- viduals are used to voicing their concerns without having to face the individual and that has made society more abrupt. By far the biggest attribute that an integrity commissioner can bring to coun- cil conflicts, says Harding, is education and providing a sounding board or guidance to new council members who are unclear on procedural issues and code of conduct. "It would be giving the responsibility to some- one to assist with the educational aspect to prevent problems from occurring and there is also someone there to investigate when there is a problem," he says. — JEAN SORENSEN jean_sorensen@telus.net B.C. needs code of conduct for politicians behaving badly Continued from page 11 REACH ONE OF THE LARGEST LEGAL AND BUSINESS MARKETS IN CANADA! With more than BOBWFSBHFPG,00 page views and ,000 unique visitors monthly canadianlawlist.com captures your market. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT Colleen Austin: T: 416.649.9327 E: colleen.austin@thomsonreuters.com www.canadianlawlist.com AVAILABLE ONLINE AND IN PRINT Untitled-2 1 2016-03-15 7:44 AM

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