A deluge of head-scratching moments
Integrity commissioner to give councillors a primer on confidentiality
Regional councillors spent the first two hours of a special meeting Thursday railing about leaks that led to a Niagara dailies story on a whistleblower report and demanding somebody do something to stop the leaks.
Council then spent two hours over a month-old news story that correctly reported the investigator’s findings, which council released on its own after the meeting.
Niagara Falls Coun. Bob Gale kicked off the discussion with what he insisted was a “point of order.”
He demanded Regional Chair Jim Bradley issue a written statement denouncing the closed-session breaches, that it state the story was misleading, and refer the entire matter to the Region’s integrity commissioner for investigation.
“Isn’t this a motion?” Bradley asked.
“I ask that you rule on my point of order, that is not debatable,” Gale replied.
“No, no, no,” Bradley said. “I’m asking if you are moving this as a motion, and if you have a seconder, we can move forward.”
Councillors make a point of order when they believe council’s rules or customary procedures have been incorrectly applied or overlooked. Gale was asking council to take action — in this case engaging the integrity commissioner.
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik didn’t like the sound of not being able to debate the issue.
“Coun. Gale is asking for a decision by the chair and trying to make it non-debatable,” Sendzik said. “As a council, we should be able to weigh in on a request for council to take a direction on something. We have a point of order that asks the chair to make a decision. That sequence of events, I’m confused by that.”
Gale wouldn’t let go. “Under the rules of procedure, a point of order is not debatable,” Gale said. “You have to make a ruling. And if you rule against me, I’ll bring it to council.”
St. Catharines Coun. George Darte and West Lincoln Mayor David Bylsma then stepped in turned Gale’s request into a motion and seconded it. And that opened up the debate floodgates.
Several councillors jumped on the anti-leak ship and voiced support for an investigation. Thorold Coun. Tim Whalen wanted every leak over the last three years investigated. Gale liked the idea of subjecting regional staff to the same inquisition.
“I’m ex-military who had a top-secret plus-plus clearance, so I know about keeping secrets, and then I picked up the St. Catharines Standard, and there was a confidential report,” Grimsby Coun. Wayne Fertich said.
“Enough is enough,” he thundered. “Let’s deal with it!”
The Standard never published the whistle blower’s report. The story addressed the issue in broad strokes while maintaining the anonymity of the whistleblowers.
“I haven’t seen the article, but if there has been a breach of confidentiality, I am in favour of sending it to the integrity commissioner,” Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said.
“Did a breach of confidentiality occur, and if so, by whom? If that person is identified, what is the appropriate remedy?
“It doesn’t matter what the cost is. If there has been a breach of confidentiality, we can hardly sit by and not do anything about it. That was the devil in the last council. It ought not to be the devil in this council.”
The Region’s lawyer, Donna Gibbs, was asked to give council advice about investigating leaks but Gale cut her off before she finished.
“Mr. Chair, point of order, please!” Gale said. “I asked for a point of order, not a motion. It’s been changed around to a motion by the chair and the clerk.”
It was Darte and Bylsma who put the motion on the floor, not the chair and clerk.
By then, Gibbs had regrouped for another try.
“The difficulty is some councillors assume there is a smoking gun they can easily find,” Gibbs said. “If a conversation happened on a personal phone, I don’t know how they would ever locate that. I highly doubt an email trail that would be readily ascertainable on a regional device could be found.”
Regional clerk Ann-marie Norio said the cost of an investigation would be “significant.” Other previous integrity commissioner reports where there are only one councillor, and one complaint, average around $20,000
In the end, the motion by Bylsma and Darte was deferred.
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik suggested the integrity commissioner could give the reguinal councillors an in-person primer on the importance of maintaining the secrecy of closed session reports and discussions.
Sendzik’s motion was quickly approved.