ELORA – Integrity commissioner Guy Giorno has found that an email sent to select residents in June by Centre Wellington councillor Stephen Kitras did not contravene the code of conduct as alleged by Mayor Kelly Linton.
“I am pleased with the results,” Kitras said at a special council meeting on Jan. 27. “I feel vindicated by the results.”
However, councillor Ian MacRae viewed the report differently.
“I just want to point out that this report is not a complete vindication,” he said.
“I just want to state that for the public record.”
Linton, who filed the original complaint, was absent for the council discussion on Monday, as he was admitted to the hospital for a bacterial infection.
The topic of the complaint was a June 15 email sent by Kitras to 13 township residents, including fellow councillor Kirk McElwain and four former township or county councillors.
The email encouraged recipients to speak out against the township’s new code of conduct, which Kitras called “incomplete and bad” and “an assault on democracy.”
The lengthy email digressed several times from the code of conduct, covering topics such as a performance review of CAO Andy Goldie, team building workshops, comments made during an all-candidates meeting and contributions made to Linton’s re-election campaign in 2018.
Giorno’s report found that the email supports “a pattern of criticism” from Kitras, whom the commissioner noted “can be accusatory, challenging and argumentative, in addition to prolix.”
However, Giorno found that exhibiting those qualities is not a contravention of the code of conduct.
He offered four main point of analysis.
CAO performance
Giorno found Kitras should not have publicly mentioned the performance evaluation of the CAO.
In the report Kitras stated that the CAO performance review was listed on a public document as early as June 2018 so mentioning it again was identifying something that was already public information. The error came in assuming the date of the report (June 17, 2019) was public as well.
“I recommend that council accept the acknowledgement of councillor Kitras that he should not have mentioned the CAO’s performance review in his June 15 email, and accept his apology for the same,” Giorno wrote in his report’s sole recommendation.
At the special council meeting Kitras said, “The report says that I apologized for the mistake that I made and I sincerely am regretful of that.”
Intimidation
Giorno said council members are allowed to “motivate people to support one’s viewpoint”; it’s part of the democratic process and is not in violation of the code of conduct.
He also said the integrity commissioner has no jurisdiction over political speech as long as it complies with the code. He found that there was no contravention.
Injuring or impugning reputation
Giorno looked at whether Kitras maliciously or falsely injured or impugned the professional or ethical reputation of Linton.
The commissioner noted he’s not sure this section of the municipal code is even applicable to council – it moreso refers to staff.
Also, Linton has already mitigated the comments made about his political contributors.
“With great respect, I note that this – responding to what the other side says – is how politicians traditionally handle criticism,” Giorno wrote.
“If an unfair or inaccurate criticism is made in the course of political debate, then political debate offers its own remedies to address those inaccurate or misleading comments.
“Specifically, the other side has the ability to correct the record, to provide context, to counter attack, and to defend the conduct.”
Kitras’ email implies that Linton appointed people who contributed to his political campaign for mayor to advisory committees.
Linton clarified in the report saying that two of his 2018 campaign contributors were already on the economic development taskforce between 2014 and 2018.
This means that of the 17 total committee members, only two joined after making 2018 campaign contributions.
“I find no evidence that campaign contributions influenced appointments to advisory committees,” Giorno stated.
Yet he also ruled Kitras’ comments did not breach the code of conduct and the integrity commissioner should not interfere with political debate.
Indecent, abusive or insulting words or expressions
Linton contended Kitras used indecent, abusive or insulting words in his June email, but Giorno said the integrity commissioner is not meant to police political speech.
The report
Kitras said he was concerned it took about seven months for the report to come back to council.
“Having a complaint against you and having to be quiet about it and silent and holding that within you is a lot of stress,” he said.
Councillor Neil Dunsmore agreed the report took too long. He also said the report was balanced.
“There was a lot said about free speech and how the integrity commissioner was not going to engage in counselling people or getting involved in an argument around free speech,” Dunsmore said.
“I think moving forward as a council …. we should have that discussion regarding the code of conduct …
“We should take a look at how we speak to each other and the tone in which we use and perhaps we can prevent stuff like this from going forward.”
MacRae agreed the report was fair and balanced and said he learned a lot about when to engage the integrity commissioner and what might be considered “offside.”
“It’s just a matter of sort of being a little bit more reflective on how best to communicate what we’re thinking so that we don’t leave an impression with some individuals that might be misinterpreted and considered in a certain way when in fact according to what the integrity commissioner is saying it isn’t the same sort of thing,” he said.
Bylaw
Council also asked that staff come back to the March meeting with a recommendation for a bylaw that will address covering council legal fees when there is an issue that needs to be addressed with the integrity commissioner.
MacRae said he would like staff to include information about possible repercussions if the ruling is not on the councillor’s side.
“I don’t want the public to think that we are going to bail out councillors every time they get offside with a complaint – it has to be within reason,” he said.
