Farkas’s stand on parental leave shocks colleagues
A near slam-dunk proposal on Calgary council asking the city to develop a parental leave policy for councillors erupted in anger Monday over one councillor’s suggestion that an elected official taking leave amounted to a “betrayal” of their constituents.
Coun. Jeromy Farkas was the sole vote on council against the motion at Monday’s meeting directing administration to look at creating a parental leave policy for councillors along the lines of one passed by Edmonton’s municipal government last month.
Farkas said he believed councillors already had sufficient flexibility on the job.
“Every day we make really important decisions,” Farkas said. “If I’m not here and part of those decisions, I find that to be a betrayal of those who elected me.”
The rebuttal was swift and angry from his colleagues.
“If this conversation was around somebody with a disability, or an injury, that kept you out of council chambers, we would do everything we could to figure out a way that that person could join in from home or their hospital bed,” said Coun. Jyoti Gondek.
“We have the technology for God’s sake, why don’t we use it? I am appalled that somebody would say you cannot represent your constituents because you have a child.”
A visibly frustrated Coun. Peter Demong cited statistics on the paltry number of women running for office in Alberta despite “a sustained 10-year campaign to try and get more women involved in politics.”
“If you turn around and you basically say, ‘You can only take this job if you promise to not have a child,’ I don’t even know what to say in response to that. I’m offended,” Demong said.
Coun. Shane Keating responded on Twitter following the vote.
“Not understanding the issue at hand and playing loose with the facts is the real betrayal of the people who elected us,” Keating tweeted.
Edmonton’s city council recently elected to allow councillors a maximum of 26 weeks leave for the birth or adoption of a child; councillors in that city receive full pay for the first 10 weeks and are eligible to receive a percentage of their pay in the subsequent 16 weeks, depending on the duties they are able to perform.
One of the key questions that Calgary ’s parental leave bylaw will have to address is how to handle council votes in the temporary absence of a councillor, administration said Monday. One possibility raised was proxy voting where one councillor votes on behalf of another.
Council voted 13-1 in favour of a parental leave policy for councillors, with Farkas dissenting.
Coun. Evan Woolley voluntarily removed himself from the debate, since he is expecting to become a new parent himself in August.