Pickering councillor's pay suspended for pattern of bad behaviour
CBC
A councillor in a southern Ontario city has been issued a 90-day pay suspension — the most severe penalty possible under current rules — after the municipality's integrity commissioner found she has been demonstrating a continued pattern of "unacceptable behaviour" that risks hurting marginalized members of society.
It's the latest in a series of penalties levelled against Coun. Lisa Robinson of Pickering, Ont., and a situation that the mayor has said underscores the need for changes to the province's Municipal Act to allow stricter sanctions, up to the removal of a councillor from office.
Robinson, for her part, denied the integrity commissioner's findings, called his report "full of lies" and accused the council of conducting a "witch hunt" against her.
The situation in Pickering, a city east of Toronto, is one that has been developing since last year.
The city's mayor said he isn't optimistic Robinson's latest pay suspension — her third since last September — will have much of an impact.
"I hope that the distraction of Coun. Robinson's behaviour will hopefully be put in the rearview mirror. I'm not confident that will happen," Kevin Ashe said in a phone interview. "Our path forward is cloudy."
The mayor and councillors wrote a letter last month urging Premier Doug Ford and the municipal affairs minister to close what they call "a glaring loophole" in the Municipal Act by strengthening sanctions that can be levelled against councillors who engage in harmful actions, including the potential for removal from office.
"I think it should be a legislative priority," said Ashe. "I'm hopeful that the minister and the government will, in short order, do something so that councils have a stronger tool to deal with this egregious behaviour."
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra has said he wants to consult more and seek advice from the province's integrity commissioner before tabling legislation.
Robinson, meanwhile, said any city official who asks for changes to the Municipal Act should step down, saying it would bar "dissenting opinion."
"If the constituents don't like what I have to say or how I'm representing them, then the decision will be up to them during the next election," she said in a phone interview.
Robinson, who was elected in 2022, first received a 30-day pay suspension in September 2023 after social media posts identifying some Pickering residents triggered an integrity commissioner investigation for cyberbullying and intimidation. She was then condemned by council for referring to herself as a "modern day slave" as a result of the docked pay.
In October last year, she received a 60-day pay suspension after another investigation by the integrity commissioner into remarks she made about drag queen story time events, universal washrooms and the raising of Pride flags. The commissioner found Robinson had "promoted attitudes which are homophobic and transphobic," which she denied.
In November 2023, she suggested in a social media post that the inclusion of an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the city's Santa Claus parade would be inappropriate for children. In February, she wrote an op-ed denouncing Black History Month.
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