Paid speeches allowed under Toronto city planner Jennifer Keesmaat’s contract

Keesmaat says her paid speeches - four out of 127 speaking engagements over the past two years - do not conflict with her official duties.


Thestar.com
Feb. 17, 2015
By David Rider

City of Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat says she has been paid to give a small percentage of her many speeches and will not reveal the identities of those clients or how much they paid her.

Keesmaat confirmed Tuesday that, when the city hired her away from a busy consulting practice in 2012, she negotiated a contract clause allowing her to continue making paid appearances, including speeches and panel discussions.

The high-profile advocate of walkability and urban density, who is helping shape Toronto’s building boom and overseeing a controversial hike in development fees, says she had 66 speaking engagements in 2013 and 61 in 2014.

All were unpaid except for three in 2013 and one in 2014, said Keesmaat, adding the four paid gigs were on her holiday or weekend time and in no way conflict with her official city duties. The clients were “not for profit” organizations vetted beforehand by a deputy city manager, she said.

When asked to name the clients and reveal how much they paid her, Keesmaat said: “No, I won’t comment on that.” While acknowledging she is described by the agency Speakers’ Spotlight as Toronto’s chief planner, the appearances are her private business, she added.

“In my capacity as chief planner, the field is rife with potential conflicts (of interest). When I talk to developers about projects and development interests, nobody buys me so much as a coffee (because it could) create the impression of doing a favour for me.

“I turned down the vast majority of speaking requests, number one, because of scheduling, and number two, more importantly, I’m cautious that there might be a conflict of interest. I’m highly sensitive to the fact that I have not acted in any way that is a conflict.”

According to the provincial “sunshine list,” Keesmaat earned $216,867 for her chief planner duties in 2013.

The issue of employees who are expected to be impartial making side income through professional speaking erupted recently at the CBC. The public broadcaster eventually banned the practice for on-air staff journalists after senior business correspondent Amanda Lang faced allegations of potential conflicts of interest.

City rules forbid employees from doing outside work that: conflicts with their duties as a city employee; uses their knowledge of “confidential plans, projects or information about holdings of the corporation”; or is likely to “negatively influence or affect them carrying out their duties.”

The Star interviewed representatives from several neighbourhood groups who confirmed that Keesmaat spoke for free on evenings and weekends.

“We invited her to talk to residents of the city of Toronto,” said Dennis Horgan of the Bloor West Village Residents Association, which hosted Keesmaat in May 2013. “She accepted and we never paid her.”

The previous month, Keesmaat spoke on “women in leadership” at the Women in Business Conference at the Pantages Hotel, as part of a roster that included home decor guru Debbie Travis, “leader of the largest celebrity brand in Canada.”

Perry Jensen, an official with the event’s organizer, Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, said in an email that the “contract with the agency that supplied our speakers is private information”.

Asked if she plans on making more paid speeches, Keesmaat said: “Absolutely. Will I have time? I don’t know. In 2014, I had very little time.”