A new piece of provincial legislation meant as a recourse for violent and harassing conduct by elected municipal officials passed last week with a vote of 110 to one after years of false starts.
Bill 9, the Municipal Accountability Act, then received royal assent on June 2.
“Everybody said it was never going to happen,” said Emily McIntosh, a Simcoe County resident and founder of Women of Ontario Say No, a non-partisan group advocating for a legislative change.
McIntosh has been advocating for a law to hold elected municipal officials accountable since 2022. Until now the only recourse for offending municipal politicians was a 90-day suspension.
Bill 9 essentially standardizes codes of conduct across Ontario and creates a process to allow for the removal of municipal councillors who commit serious acts of harassment.
McIntosh first appeared before Clearview council in October of 2022. After being denied a deputation to Simcoe County council, she was touring to each member municipality as a representative of the fledgling The Women of Simcoe Say No, asking members to endorse Bill 9’s predecessor, Bill 5 The Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act (which Clearview did endorse.)
Bill 5, introduced as a private member’s bill by Liberal MPP Stephen Blais, was defeated in 2023, by a vote of 34 to 72.
Public and municipal pressure led the government to introduce Bill 9.
“It’s insane that we should even have to advocate for it,” said McIntosh. “Most residents in Ontario believe it already exists, they’re just shocked to understand that it doesn’t. It’s only those municipalities that have had a bad experience that know that there is a lack of accountability so this was a huge win for the people of Ontario and the Women of Ontario Say No.”
She said Bill 9 is “very flawed” because it requires a unanimous vote by fellow council members to expel a colleague, even after investigations by local and provincial level integrity commissioners find that there has been a breach of the code of conduct.
“To require unanimous support means that one person’s buddy could derail the whole system of accountability and that’s a high level of investment from the Ontario taxpayer in a system like this,” said McIntosh. “To see that kind of power being given to one person on council doesn’t make sense.”
She said a three-quarter threshold would be better, “but unanimity is ridiculous.”
Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack, who introduced Bill 9, has stated that it is open to improvement but there was a push to get something in place before this fall’s municipal elections.
“That is very encouraging,” said McIntosh. “There is a recognition amongst the Conservative caucus that this needs to be better. Ideally, a third- party review makes the most sense – by a panel of integrity commissioners or the court. It’s a very flawed system that municipalities hire the people that investigate them and then ask their peers to vote on them. It’s not a best practice because we’re missing that judicial branch involvement.”
She said the hope is to make some changes to make the legislation more robust.
“It’s very hard to endorse something that you really recognize as being inherently flawed, however, it is quite precedent-setting to have a process for removal, albeit high,” said McIntosh. “I think it is a very important first step.”
Reflecting on the four-year battle, she said, “It’s just really important that we never forget that elected representatives work for the people and that they need to answer for their decisions and they need to be accountable to advancing legislative change that actually improves the lives of the residents of Ontario at all levels.”
