Councillor reprimanded over subway talk
Colleagues find Matlow’s politicization comment breached code of conduct
Toronto city council reprimanded Councillor Josh Matlow Thursday after a long debate over whether he had breached the city’s code of conduct when he raised concerns about the politicization of city staff during the controversial Scarborough subway debate.
Integrity commissioner Valerie Jepson tabled three reports at this week’s council meeting after investigations into councillors Michael Thompson, John Filion and Matlow. She faced an intense round of questions over each councillor.
Council rejected Jepson’s recommendations to reprimand Thompson for what Jepson found was “going to bat” to try to help a longtime developer friend at city hall who was looking to build in another ward. Council received a related report on Filion, and agreed with the integrity commissioner’s findings that he had done nothing wrong.
In the case against Matlow, Jepson recommended council find he had breached the section of the code that says “no member shall maliciously or falsely injure the professional or ethical reputation, or the prospects or practice of staff, and all members shall show respect for the professional capacities of staff.” It followed a complaint made by now former TTC CEO Andy Byford.
On Thursday, Jepson said her findings stemmed from an interview Matlow gave on CBC’s Metro Morning in 2016, where he questioned the objectivity of staff and the influence that a culture of politicization has had on their work as it related to a problematic briefing note. That memo, the Star previously reported, cast doubt on whether a return to a light-rail alternative would be possible and was used to influence a key vote. The memo, the auditor general found in a separate investigation, contained several errors and was selectively circulated to Mayor John Tory’s office and that of TTC chair Councillor Josh Colle. The auditor general concluded there was no evidence that staff had deliberately misled council.
On Thursday, several members of council, including Councillor Gord Perks, stood to defend Matlow, saying the integrity commissioner had not shown that his comments were either false or malicious.
Under questioning, the integrity commissioner said she did not reinvestigate the issues the auditor general had looked at, saying those findings “conclusively dispose of” any underlying concerns about politicization. But, Perks noted, Jepson was not aware of the documents or people compelled by that investigation. It’s not clear if Jepson considered a text message sent by Byford to Matlow that contradicted his public statements about the origin of the briefing note. In a message to council read by Colle on Thursday, Byford called the text “badly worded.” “I don’t know how you come to the conclusion that that completely disposes of the matter when you don’t know if the full investigative powers were used,” Perks said.
Most agreed with the integrity commissioner that Matlow had crossed a line. The vote to reprimand Matlow, which did not align along typical political leanings, was 27 to 12.