Ottawa mayor to push province on legislation that ousts misbehaving councillors

Ottawa's mayor has been tasked to write to the Ontario premier to express support for a private members' bill that aims to oust city councillors who don't comply with workplace violence and harassment policies.

The Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act, or Bill 5, was introduced by Orléans MPP Stephen Blais, and will see a second reading in the Ontario legislature at the end of May, for the second time.

At Wednesday's meeting of Ottawa city council, Coun. Ariel Troster put forward a motion that calls on mayor Mark Sutcliffe to write to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and express support for the bill.

The motion was unanimously approved, with Sutcliffe saying he supports the bill because it is reasonable and appropriate. 

Former Ottawa city councillor Rick Chiarelli was docked pay for 15 months in 2020 after CBC and two integrity commissioner reports found he harassed former staff members and job applicants for years and abused his power of office.

Liberal MPP Blais, who served on Ottawa city council for about a decade, said that incident inspired him to pen Bill 5. 

Under current rules, councillors can only lose their seats for breaking election spending rules and certain conflict of interest policies, with the most severe penalty being suspension of pay. 

Bill 5 passed second reading at Queen's Park in March of last year but the Ford government did not push it through to third reading before the last provincial election.