Province vowing to fix laws governing towns, cities
There is no shortage of complaints about injustice and contradictions, and the province says it is serious about reform.

thestar.com
July 19, 2015
By David Rider

When then-mayor Rob Ford was found to have overspent his legal 2010 campaign spending limit, Toronto’s compliance audit committee voted to do nothing. When former Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro was convicted of overspending his limit, and trying to cover that up, he was led away to jail in shackles.

It is not difficult, at city halls across Ontario, to find complaints about loopholes and contradictions in the provincial laws that govern both towns and cities and the conduct of their candidates and elected officials.

Those laws - the Municipal Elections Act, Municipal Act, Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and City of Toronto Act - are not thrilling reads, but they have dramatic impacts on politicians and local democracy itself.

Some calls for reform go back, like 27 recommendations from Justice Douglas Cunningham in his 2011 inquiry into then-Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion’s actions involving failed plans for a luxury hotel and convention centre.

Cunningham found McCallion acted in a “real and apparent conflict of interest” but she did not break the narrow rules in the Conflict of Interest Act that apply to politicians’ conduct only at council meetings and not at gatherings outside city hall.

That should change, said Cunningham, who also called for a broader range of penalties for council members found in conflict. Currently, if a judge finds them guilty and the act was intentional, they must be removed from office.

Justice Charles Hackland, who found Ford guilty of conflict of interest in 2012, also lamented the lack of punishment options. Ford’s mayoralty was saved only by an appeal court ruling that hinged on a technicality.

“It’s sort of a sledgehammer,” is how Toronto lawyer Paul-Erik Veel describes campaign finance rules in another act.

“It’s very difficult to pick up, very difficult to get it moving, but when you finally do get it moving, it can only result in complete destruction. It’s not a very nuanced approach.”

Toronto Councillor Maria Augimeri says unjust rules cost her about $300,000. That’s how much she personally spent in legal and other costs defending her narrow 2010 re-election victory after runner-up Gus Cusimano challenged in court.

Ford hosted a fundraiser to clear his ally Cusimano’s expenses not covered by the city, but Toronto’s integrity commissioner advised Augimeri no such fundraiser could be held for a councillor.

“So the sitting mayor was allowed to fundraise for his boy but I was left twisting in the wind,” said Augimeri, adding she was financially able to draw on family savings while others would have been forced to give up and concede office. “The province needs to make it a fairer playing field.”

Such calls have, for years, gone unheeded. That may be about to change.

As part of a periodic review, Ontario’s municipal affairs ministry is asking for input from members of the public and municipalities on possible legislative reform.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin says he is serious about listening to such stories and hopefully making changes by next spring. That includes fixes and bigger reforms, such as Toronto’s request municipalities be able to use ranked ballots to elect council.

“We need to clean things up, make rules a bit easier to understand,” McMeekin said on a trip to meet with southwest Ontario politicians.

“It’s not a matter of getting enough good ideas. I think when the smoke starts to clear it will be a matter of piecing it all together...and it will be made more clear what we need to act on.”

The deadline for Municipal Elections Act submissions is July 27. The ministry on Thursday extended the deadline for public feedback on the other laws to Oct. 31, to match municipalties’ submission deadlines.

Veel, who has represented municipalities in court, wants a streamlining of the process to challenge a candidate’s election finances, which under current rules must be initiated by an elector. He would also introduce modest monetary penalties, meted out through an administrative process.

Another municipal law expert, John Mascarin, said he would like to see municipal integrity commissioners able to directly punish wayward council members, rather than councillors being asked to sanction their colleagues. Potential penalties should be broadened to include loss of a chairmanship or reduced office budgets.

Not everything, however, is up for discussion. Alan Redway, a former East York mayor, is campaigning for a review that could lead to Toronto being de-amalgamated - broken up into smaller municipalities with a citywide government only for regional issues.

“The issue of amalgamation and de-amalgamation is not part of the review,” McMeekin said. “That’s not a place we’re prepared to go at this point.”