Richmond Hill councillor who blocked Twitter account found in breach of code of conduct

Integrity report rules against Carmine Perrelli, but he rebuts

Yorkregion.com
April 26, 2021
Yoyo Yan

Sorry elected officials: you can't block a constituent on social media just because you don't see eye to eye.

A report from York Region integrity commissioner found Richmond Hill regional Coun. Carmine Perrelli in violation of code of conduct after investigating the complaint of Perrelli blocking a Twitter account.

However, no sanction was recommended on Perrelli, given the absence of guidance available in this relatively new social media milieu.

Jason Cherniak, a Richmond Hill resident, filed a complaint after Perrelli blocked him on Twitter. On Jan. 14, Perrelli posted a tweet asking the province not to extend pandemic lockdown in York Region. Cherniak disagreed in his retweets, using hashtags such as “Covidiot” and “Shyster.”

The integrity report, which was made public through the agenda of the regional council special meeting April 15, ruled that Perrelli’s decision of blocking was “arbitrary,” done to silence disagreement and, therefore, a “breach of the code of conduct”; while finding the complainant’s comment was not “offensive or abusive.”

“We find that the councillor’s action in blocking the complainant on his social media account constitutes conduct which undermines the apparent transparent and open public discourse and debate on a matter of significant public interest,” stated the report dated March 30, 2021.

“Councillor Perrelli blocked me on Twitter, while he could have just muted me if he did not want to hear from me,” Cherniak told the special meeting on Zoom. “Unless Councillor Perrelli unblocks me on Twitter, he will remain in violation of the code of conduct.”

The council meeting then went into a quite lengthy debate. In one of the more contentious moments, Richmond Hill’s acting mayor, Joe DiPaola, said that Perrelli is a “problematic councillor” and “misunderstands his role as a councillor.”

In his defence, Perrelli disagreed with the rule of his blocking as “arbitrary.” Further, he issued a concern about the retroactive determination by the integrity commissioner regarding the nature of social media blocking.

“We are opening a real Pandora’s box here,” said Perrelli, who is also Richmond Hill’s deputy mayor.

Cherniak was disappointed with Perrelli’s response. "All I asked was that he unblock me on Twitter. Instead, he is doubling down on his breach of the code of conduct,” Cherniak told the Liberal via email.

York Region council accepted and approved the report by the integrity commissioner, which recommended that the council develop a policy framework for when and how members may block constituents from their social media accounts, including Twitter.

In the meeting, regional chair Wayne Emmerson noted that council always has three options when a member is found guilty of a code of conduct violation: receive complaint and do nothing; issue a reprimand; suspension of pay.

The council moved to defer the discussion for further action until May.

This was the first such report since the Principles Integrity firm was appointed as the region’s integrity commissioner in 2018.