City councillors in Ottawa may soon need to disclose personal relationships with staff

Ottawa city councillors may soon need to disclose personal relationships with city staff to the city’s integrity commissioner.

A walk-on motion moved by Coun. Eli El-Chantiry and seconded by Coun. Cathy Curry called on the integrity commissioner to review and consider updates to the code of conduct for members of council to “address the issue of personal relationships between members of council and staff.”

The review, the motion says, should include consideration of a requirement for a member of council to disclose any personal relationships with city hall staffers to the integrity commissioner. 

A disclosure policy is in place for City of Ottawa employees, who are required to identify any personal relationships with their colleagues to their direct managers.

City clerk Rick O’Connor told councillors that he encouraged the motion be moved at Wednesday’s council meeting—the last one before the Oct. 24 election—because the integrity commissioner is currently reviewing the code of conduct.

“I thought it would be better to have it up front now than wait another few weeks and have her try to squeeze something in towards the end of the term,” he said.

There was an attempt by Couns. Jeff Leiper and Catherine McKenney to defer approval of the motion until the meeting on Nov. 9, but it failed by a vote of seven in favour of deferral and 15 against. The motion was then passed.

Councillors who voted to defer the motion were Matthew Luloff, Catherine Kitts, Riley Brockington, Catherine McKenney, Diane Deans, Jeff Leiper and Shawn Menard. Of these, only Deans is not seeking re-election. McKenney is running for mayor.

In a Twitter thread, Leiper said he wanted to defer the motion to make time to talk to people he trusts but since the deferral motion failed, he and other councillors chose to carry the motion.

"The narrative I’ve seen that any councillor voted against C. El-Chantiry’s motion is simply wrong. I’d have liked to have talked to some folks before voting, but in the end we all supported this and I know every councillor is committed to a safer workplace than we’ve had," he said.

Speaking to reporters after the council meeting, outgoing Mayor Jim Watson said the motion is about ensuring councillors are held to a high standard.

“I believe that we should be extra cautious about any inappropriate behaviour on the part of any member of city council and to ensure that we have the rules in place that follow industry best standards,” he said.

The motion came on the heels of another walk-on motion moved by Coun. Catherine Kitts and seconded by Coun. Theresa Kavanagh requesting that the mayor write to Premier Doug Ford to fast track a bill that would give a municipality the power to fire councillors who violate the code of conduct. Council approved this motion as well. 

Liberal MPP Stephen Blais, a former Ottawa city councillor, raised the bill in question in the provincial legislature following ethics reports about Coun. Rick Chiarelli’s conduct toward female staffers. Chiarelli continues to deny the accusations against him. He is not seeking re-election.

Blais later praised the El-Chantiry-Curry motion on social media, saying Ottawa would have "some of the strictest integrity rules for elected officials" in Ontario.

"Disclosing relationships will protect everyone involved," he said.