CENTRE WELLINGTON – Centre Wellington councillor Steven VanLeeuwen did not contravene the township’s code of conduct when he joined the End the Lockdowns Caucus last year. He did not contravene the code of conduct through posts or messages he made on social media. Nor did he contravene the code of conduct in any other way, states a report by integrity commissioner Guy Giorno.
Giorno was asked through a motion of council on Feb. 22 to investigate whether VanLeeuwen breached the code of conduct when he joined the End the Lockdowns Caucus last year.
End the Lockdowns Caucus is a group of politicians opposed to the lockdown measures put in place to combat the pandemic, claiming the financial and mental health fallout of lockdowns is far greater than the health risk of COVID-19.
Central to Giorno’s investigation was that claim.
“The principal claim of Councillor VanLeeuwen and the End the Lockdowns National Caucus, to which he belongs, is that ‘the lockdowns cause more harm than the virus and must be brought to an end.’ The central issue in this inquiry was whether, by making this statement and participating in the caucus, Councillor VanLeeuwen breached the Code,” reads the report.
Giorno’s investigation included interviews with VanLeeuwen, other councillors, the OPP, and the medical officer of health for this region Dr. Nicola Mercer. He also sought information from the Ontario government and evidence to either substantiate or refute the caucus’ claim that the lockdowns cause more harm than the virus.
The province replied to Giorno’s questions in June and stated it “does not have an analysis of the economic impacts that can be specifically traced to COVID-19 restrictions. Other, non-economic, impacts on the citizens of Ontario may not be possible to quantify precisely,” Giorno states in his report.
“Since the impacts are unmeasured, there is no evidentiary basis to prove or to disprove an assertion that ‘the lockdowns cause more harm than the virus,’” Giorno determined.
That means VanLeeuwen’s assertions are political opinion, Giorno states, and “in Canada we do not penalize elected representatives who hold political opinions, even political opinions out of step with the mainstream.”
Councillor Bob Foster, who put forward the motion to have VanLeeuwen investigated, told Giorno that VanLeeuwen was not requiring mask-wearing at his business, which contravenes the law. Giorno’s investigation revealed that public health officials had visited VanLeeuwen’s business twice, but that no charges were laid.
Councillor Kirk McElwain told Giorno he thought VanLeeuwen was using his public title to advocate for ending lockdowns for the benefit of his church.
A photograph of VanLeeuwen standing unmasked, shoulder-to-shoulder with other members of the caucus, indicates VanLeeuwen may have breached the provincial stay-at-home order and the masking and social distancing orders. But councillor Stephan Kitras told Giorno by email that he didn’t think VanLeeuwen was advocating for people to break the law.
“It is pure speculation to say if he were to be invited to an event that he would not wear the mask or do something contrary to the best interests of the township,” Kitras states in an email to Giorno.
Giorno writes that Mercer “strongly affirmed that the pandemic restrictions were proven to save lives in a pandemic that had already claimed many. For this reason, she felt that it was ‘inappropriate, disrespectful and hurtful’ for a group like the End the Lockdowns National Caucus to state the harms associated with lockdowns outweighed the positive public health impacts.”
He goes on to say in his report that Mercer “stated that the End the Lockdowns National Caucus was criticizing not merely provincial choices in the design of lockdown measures, but lockdowns as a concept. She said this approach served to ‘criticize what public health experts are doing without offering solutions’ and suggested that it reflected a form of ‘magical thinking.’”
Giorno also reached out to Helen Fishburn, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington, who acknowledged that lockdown measures do have a role in the deterioration of mental health, due to the distress the measures cause.
However, “COVID-19 spreading like wildfire is an even greater source of both physical and mental health issues” than the pandemic restrictions, Giono quotes Fishburn as saying.
Karen Campbell, director of community initiatives and policy for the Canadian Women’s Foundation, noted in an interview with Giorno that distress calls have gone up during the pandemic.
But she also noted the pandemic is not the cause of domestic violence, Giorno’s report states.
“COVID-19 must be reduced through lockdowns and stay-at-home orders and gender-based violence must be reduced through education, outreach and an array of social and economic supports (many of which are chronically underfunded),” Giorno quotes Campbell as saying.
VanLeeuwen, Giorno writes, was concerned that local constituents were not given a voice at the provincial or federal level and he was merely voicing their concerns.
“We as council have been excluded from a conversation about the very serious consequences of public health measures like lockdowns. Our role as councillors is to make bylaws, but also to represent our constituents and raise concerns when they ask us to. We must be able to speak publicly about those concerns,” VanLeeuwen stated to Giorno, according to the report.
VanLeeuwen also pointed out that other politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford , broke the very protocols they set in place.
Giorno called lockdown polities in Ontario, “a bundle of shifting government policy choices” and noted “the province’s principal lockdown instrument, Ontario Regulation 82/20, developed through 72 versions between March 24, 2020, and June 23, 2021 – a different version of restrictions every six days on average,” he writes.
He went on to conclude, “In this context, labelling people as either ‘for’ or ‘against’ lockdowns is overly simplistic.”
Giorno’s report is included in the agenda package for the Aug. 30 council meeting.
Earlier this year, Giorno also determined that VanLeeuwen did not have a conflict of interest in a council decision to replace a bridge close to his home and business after Foster asked Giorno to investigate.
