In addition to reviewing four complaints about the behaviour of city council and committee members last year, the city’s integrity commission fielded a “series of requests” for guidance involving inter-council and council-staff relations.
“We recognize that working collaboratively across the political spectrum can be challenging, and that council was tasked with making a number of difficult and controversial decisions this year, which sometimes led to heated debate,” reads an integrity commissioner report heading to city council next week. “We remind all members that they should, at all times, act with civility, respect and professionalism when communicating with fellow members, as well as with staff and with the public, even, and perhaps especially, on contentious and divisive issues.”
Each of the complaints received involved alleged violations of council’s code of conduct, including claims of bullying, intimidation, over-reach of position and the improper acceptance of gifts. No purposeful violations were found.
The latter matter was the subject of a special report to council in November. It focused on Mayor Cam Guthrie’s attendance at a Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy summit in Dubai, paid for by Bloomberg Philanthropies. He was found to have “inadvertently” violated the code, which council then unanimously changed to allow for such things. The mayor himself brought the mistake forward.
There were no complaints received under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, the report notes.
One of last year’s complaints alleged a member of council violated the code of conduct by taking part in a non-city meeting that “led to violent counter protests,” and that the individual was involved in organizing those activities.
“We determined that we had no jurisdiction to review the complaint as it was commenced beyond the applicable limitation period,” the integrity commissioner explains.
Complaints must be filed within 60 days of the alleged incident or series of events in order to be investigated by the integrity commissioner, a city spokesperson explained via email.
Another complaint alleged a member of council purported to speak for “all council” on a controversial matter, in violation of the code of conduct.
“Upon review of the relevant materials, we determined that the member had acted within the strictures of their responsibilities as a member of council and that no breach of the code of conduct had occurred. We do note that the complainant had initially reached out to city staff who provided essentially the same response that we did. We dismissed the complaint without further investigation.”
One of the complaints, filed in January 2024, was made regarding social media posts from a committee member the year before which resulted in two complaints at that time that were “summarily dismissed.”
“While we did not find a contravention, we recommend that all members be cautious when using social media for communication purposes, even from personal accounts,” the latest report notes.
The integrity commissioner also fielded an unspecified number of written requests for specific advice from members of council and committees.
“The inquiries related to the application of various provisions of the code of conduct and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, as well as certain municipal policies,” the report explains. “We reiterated in a number of separately issued advisements to members that the purpose of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act is to prohibit members engaging in the decision-making process for matters in which they have a significant pecuniary (i.e., financial) interest, be it direct, indirect, or deemed. We also received a number of requests for advice with regards to gifts and benefits, one of which triggered the aforementioned report to council.”
Council is also set to receive its first annual report regarding the municipal lobbyist registry, which came into effect in September. There were no complaints filed about it.