Expressing Support for Bill 5, Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act - by Councillor Gary Crawford, seconded by Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie

The amendments also permit municipalities and local boards to direct the Integrity Commissioner to apply to the court to vacate a member's seat if the Commissioner's inquiry determines that the member has contravened the code of conduct by failing to comply with the workplace violence or harassment policies. All claims would need to be substantiated before remedial actions are taken. Further, City of Toronto Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Batty in his last annual report to Council included a special section on legislative reform that examined this precise question on pages 8 to 12: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-223486.pdf. In there, Integrity Commissioner Batty identifies seven (7) considerations that should be addressed in designing the necessary legislative solution to this problem. There is a growing number of municipalities that have already officially endorsed this bill such as the City of Woodstock, County of Simcoe, and City of Ottawa.