Council strips Wright of positions
Councillor says mayor being ‘very heavy-handed’
Coun. Stephen Wright has been stripped of his position as economic development vice-chair and dropped as city council’s representative on the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce board.
City councillors made the decision Monday night in the wake of Wright’s ill-fated trip last month to New Brunswick in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic to see for himself how restaurant reopenings were working out in the province.
Wright issued an apology last Wednesday, admitting he made “an error in judgment” and he was being “overzealous.”
Mayor Diane Therrien had earlier demanded the apology after New Brunswick’s premier and the mayor of Saint John, N.B., criticized the trip for putting New Brunswick residents at risk of the virus.
Therrien said Monday night that the apology wasn’t enough and moved that Wright be removed from the two positions.
Councillors voted 8-3 in favour, with Wright opposed along with Coun. Kemi Akapo and Coun. Gary Baldwin.
Councillors also voted to rescind a vote from March 30 to allow Wright to stand for election for a board position with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
All but Wright voted in favour of that plan. The punishments were suggested by Therrien and she said they were necessary because it was reported in the media locally and in New Brunswick that Wright went on his road trip in May to see firsthand how restaurants were faring in the reopening (which is occurring sooner in New Brunswick than in Ontario).
The trip wasn’t sanctioned by the city or council and wasn’t paid for by the city, Therrien said — and that’s why she felt there needed to be some consequences for Wright on council.
But he said the mayor was being “very heavy-handed” when he’s apologized; he’s been ostracized since his trip and he deserves no more punishment.
He also said it was unnecessary for the mayor to remove the possibility of his running for the FCM; he said diversity is badly needed on the FCM board.
“I didn’t commit a criminal offence here,” Wright pointed out, adding he thinks he should not be punished any further.
Meanwhile, the province of New Brunswick is investigating Wright’s trip. The province had closed its borders to curb the spread of novel coronavirus and Premier Blaine Higgs said he wanted to know what questions were asked of Wright at the border and what answers he supplied.