For immediate release
October 20th, 2025
QUEEN’S PARK: Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady today stood at the Ontario Legislature to speak against the Ford Government’s Bill 9, Municipal Accountability Act, 2025.
“Bill 9 will enable the creation of a new standardized code of conduct, mandatory code of conduct training for members of council and local boards as well as an integrity commissioner inquiry process that would be consistent across Ontario,” said Brady. “…It all sounds great until you realize the key pillar of the legislation creates a mechanism to remove council members from office if they’re found to have committed egregious acts. What is the definition of egregious? That’s where things get a little scary in democracy and this should be highly concerning to all of us.”
Brady asked the House to imagine a vindictive government who doesn’t like the way things are unfolding in a municipality and decides they’re going to get rid of some of the people around the table. She also cited the sentiment of many in Haldimand-Norfolk toward municipal politics being that local politics is being manipulated by a higher force.
Brady also flagged a widely-held concern that the government, despite hearing from many elected officials and key stakeholders, refused to make any amendments where the final decision to remove an elected official would be up to a judge. She emphasized that municipal politicians should not vote on whether to remove a fellow politician because they are not judges. Only the taxpayer should decide come election time at the ballot box whether or not a politician is elected or removed.
Members of the opposition agreed with Brady, take for example MPP Stephen Blais: “Bill 9 pretends to fix municipal accountability. It talks about serious cases and stronger codes of conduct, but the fine print tells a different story. Cabinet “may” prescribe a code of conduct. Not “shall” prescribe or “will” prescribe; it “may” prescribe. There’s no real guarantee of a single standard. It’s optional. It’s window dressing,” said Blais. “And the so-called ultimate penalty, the removal of a councillor or a mayor from office? That decision is left to the very same council colleagues—the friends, the allies and the political partners—of the person being accused. And not just a vote—not a majority, not even a two-thirds super-majority—it requires unanimous consent. Every single colleague. Nobody can be absent. One friend, one political buddy, one member of the old boys’ club, can block accountability. Madam Speaker, under Bill 9, if you can find a single friend, you can keep your seat, no matter what you’ve done.”
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For more information, contact MPP Bobbi Ann Brady at [email protected] or 519-428-0446