REGINA - After several weeks of waiting, a final decision on a penalty has finally been rendered by council with respect to the Integrity Commissioner’s investigation report into Councillors Dan LeBlanc and Andrew Stevens.
In the end, council did not impose a requirement that LeBlanc and Stevens to write an apology letter to City Manager Niki Anderson in connection to the ethics breaches. The final resolution that passed at Wednesday's meeting did, however, accept the findings of the Integrity Commissioner that the Code of Ethics had been breached, and also expressed disappointment in the actions of the two councillors.
The resolution was moved Wednesday by Councillor Jason Mancinelli. “Basically what this amounts to is an ending of this matter,” he said.
Mancinell pointed to the previous decisions by council including the December resolution of support for Anderson, and expressed his desire for council to get back to work on more pressing matters.
“This has gone through council more than enough already. There really isn’t anything we can do as council, and I don’t think we should sit in judgement either. I think it’s best to get back to business and put this matter to rest.”
Resolution had three parts
In the first part of the resolution that passed Wednesday, council voted to accept the findings of the Integrity Commissioner’s report that LeBlanc and Stevens had contravened section 13(1) and (2) of the Code of Ethics bylaw. These are the provisions stating that the councillors failed to act in the best interest of the municipality, and had failed to build and inspire the public trust and confidence in local government.
In the second part of the resolution, it stated that council “reiterate the expression of disappointment over the negative impact on City Council’s operational integrity and oversight caused by the actions of Councillors Leblanc and Stevens, as initially outlined in motion MN22-7 passed by council on December 7, 2022.”
This point referred to the meeting on Dec. 7 in which council unanimously passed a motion expressing confidence in City Manager Niki Anderson, a motion which also had expressed disappointment in LeBlanc and Stevens for their involvement in filing a court action against Anderson, after she had not included a line item on homeless funding in the 2023 budget.
He added that of all the Integrity Commissioner reports that had come to council — “of which I believe there had been too many already” he said — this one was different because it was launched by citizens.
A third part to this resolution was added as a friendly amendment from Mayor Sandra Masters. It directed the City Solicitor and City Clerk to prepare a report for consideration by Executive Committee in quarter three, on the steps required to ensure the city of Regina’s Employee Harassment Policy is extended to cover and apply to the city manager; to provide a jurisdictional review of ethics bylaws, adopted by other Western Canadian jurisdictions, with particular emphasis on the practice in Saskatoon; and outline options by which council could delegate a review and recommended enhancements to be conducted by an external party.
Verbal reaction from gallery causes Mayor Masters to clear the room
It was at this point that fireworks erupted in council chambers. It began when Councillor Cheryl Stadnichuk made it known that while she had no problem including the city manager in the harassment policy, she expressed concerns about linking it to the integrity commissioner’s report, noting the commissioner had not found any evidence of harassment.
“It is as if we are implying this was a harassment issue,” Stadnichuk said.
As Mayor Masters started to respond to Stadnichuk, a commotion erupted from the gallery as guests interrupted the mayor.
Masters then asked the gallery to leave. “Commissioner, please go ahead,” Masters said. “You can escort the balance of the gallery out.”
When a small number of individuals in the gallery refused to leave, council took what was initially supposed to be a ten minute recess but which in reality dragged on for over a half, as police were called in to clear the entire room. Those remaining individuals eventually were escorted out, and the doors to the gallery were locked, with only media and the television cameras allowed in.
In speaking to reporters after, Masters explained it was her role to maintain decorum in chambers.
“I think when the group that was asked to leave decline to leave, the commissioners had to call the police in order to affect that removal,” said Masters.
She added: “The chair is responsible to maintain decorum in the room, so that City Council can do the business of city council.”
After the meeting, Councillor LeBlanc made it known to reporters that he disagreed with the decision to clear everyone out of the room, saying a warning would have been appropriate for a couple of the people who had caused issues. As for the decision to lock the doors, he called it a dangerous precedent.
“Public accountability in democratic institutions is a big deal… people should be able to get in and watch democracy and actually get involved in democracy, it’s not a spectator sport.”
The decision to lock the doors drew opposition at the council meeting itself from Councillor Shanon Zachidniak. She made a motion to challenge Masters’ ruling, but the mayor’s ruling was upheld by a 7-4 vote.
Zachidniak then made a motion to table the main motion, noting there had been significant changes and not enough public consultation.
“This is like a new motion we are considering,” she said. But that tabling motion ended up failing 7-2.
Main motion passes
When discussion resumed on the main motion, Zachidniak made it known she was not happy with the entire ethics process that had gone on.
“This is ridiculous. This has dragged on for months and I want no part of this… Reiterating an expression of disappointment is unnecessary and just drags this on further.”
Councillor Terina Nelson expressed her own disappointment that the final main motion didn’t push even further to require that LeBlanc and Stevens write a letter of apology.
“We’re not holding fellow councillors as accountable as we would hold our own children,” said Nelson.
“There’s been no consequences for the actions and if there’s no consequences, no behaviour has changed.” She said this was “casting a shadow over all of us as councillors who are trying really hard to be public role models… this is childlike behavior.”
In the end, Nelson did join most of council in voting in favor of the recommendations before council. The first part of the main resolution carried with only Stadnichuk casting the lone no vote. On the other votes on Part 2 and 3, both Stadnichuk and Zachidniak voted against. Both Stevens and LeBlanc had recused themselves from the votes.
