Ottawa city councillor accuses Mayor Jim Watson of running 'toxic' workplace

OTTAWA - A rookie Ottawa city councillor is accusing Mayor Jim Watson of running a “toxic” work culture at city hall.

In a profane tweet Tuesday morning, Capital Ward councillor Shawn Menard wrote “I can’t tell you how sh***y it is to go into work every day knowing that the mayor despises you for wanting policy changes”.

This has come along with being barred from sitting on committees, childish things like cutting me out of pictures, pre-announcing events in my ward to try to “one-up” others. It is toxic behaviour and needs to end. Won’t stop me from fighting for better policy decisions.

— Shawn Menard (@ShawnMenard1) September 24, 2019

Menard and Watson have consistently clashed on a number of issues, including creating a “free fare” zone for transit, like other cities have implemented.

Menard describes Watson’s management as  “toxic behaviour”, by excluding Menard from committees, announcing events in his ward without the councillor, and even cutting him out of official photographs.

Menard tweets that this behaviour won’t stop him from fighting for better policy positions.

The Mayor's office issued this statement late this morning, in response to Menard's tweets:

"Mayor Watson recognizes that all members of Council have the right to express their opinion and looks forward to working collaboratively with each of them to move the city forward."

This afternoon Councillor Shawn Menard also issued a statement:

"This morning, after finishing breakfast with my family, I was reflecting on my experience at City Hall in the first 10 months. I was feeling down after the Mayor insinuated that I was a hypocrite for wanting to look at policy changes to election signs being allowed on public property. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated occurrence.

The culture at City Hall needs to change. We have witnessed allegations of sexual harassment, admissions of inappropriate gestures during elections, intimidating behavior towards resident’s and very personal insinuations.

There is a dysfunctional structure at City Hall, and whenever it is challenged—by Councillors, the media or the public—those who have created and who benefit from this structure will seek to shutdown dissent or critiques.

This structure needs to be challenged and I believe it’s something worth fighting for. I will not stop highlighting existing inequitable power structures at City Hall."

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