By MPP Bobbi Ann Brady
“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Public office often comes with pressure to fall in line, to support legislation because it is politically convenient or broadly supported. But when the vote on Bill 9, the Municipal Accountability Act, came up this week, I knew it demanded something different, which was honesty.
Bill 9’s goal was to deal with misbehaving councillors. After scrutinizing the legislation, I concluded if the goal were accountability, transparency, and restoring public confidence, then we as legislators were not being honest about whether it achieved that. It opens the door to council members potentially voting out a fellow elected colleague. That’s not how democracy works. Democracy means at election time the taxpayer decides whether or not to remove politicians.
Those opposed to the bill felt they had won the day when an unanimity vote barrier was included in the legislation. Meaning for a councillor to be removed, the entire council must be in favour. As many agree, that is difficult so I question if the process becomes so restrictive that meaningful action is nearly impossible, are we strengthening accountability and will that misbehaving councillor really be dealt with? The answer is no.
Although I was the lone dissenting vote, I am not alone in my assessment of this legislation. Ontario’s top municipal lawyer calls the bill “fatally flawed.” Some colleagues who voted in favour, were in the media listing the bill’s shortcomings. I also received plenty of correspondence from elected officials around the province – many females – who agreed with my vote. Those sentiments are on my social media.
A professor wrote to me that my dissenting vote took courage. “Compliments and thanks! Time will tell that you voted correctly on this issue.”
It’s important to consider how we got here, because chaos in Ontario council chambers is not uncommon. Headlines detail dysfunction, infighting, procedural battles, and escalating complaints between elected officials.
Increased council dysfunction coincides with the province’s 2019 decision to mandate integrity commissioners in every municipality. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The system often incentivizes councillors to weaponize the process against dissenting colleagues, and sometimes they get help from allies in the community. This monopolizes resources, costs the taxpayer hefty lawyer fees, and accomplishes nothing. Bill 9 doesn’t change that, and in fact might exacerbate the issues.
If I saw these issues, why couldn’t others? I believe they could, but the debate morphed into something different. Bill 9 was introduced to protect all municipal officials, not just women. However, efforts to pass this legislation were led largely by a group dubbed “Women of Ontario Say No.” The group’s name and implication bring the difficult optics of voting against a bill framed in those terms.
Abuse, violence, and sexual harassment are serious matters and deserve profound consequences, which are issues best dealt with by law enforcement, not left to an integrity commissioner process.
I respectfully ask the handful calling my vote “a sad day for women” to read the bill and examine what it does and equally important, what it doesn’t do.
If this discussion is about protecting women and accountability, did they pay equal attention to the outcome of the vote on Lydia’s Law?
Voting against Bill 9 was not a vote against women. My decision was based on the legislation, not the politics or optics surrounding it. Women deserve meaningful protections, serious responses to abuse and harassment, and effective legislation, not a politically charged bill.
My heart raced realizing I would be the lone dissenting voice, but you elected me to exercise independent judgment and to stand firm when principle demands it. I will not disclose private conversations, but Premier Ford complimented me for standing by my convictions.
I thank the army of constituents who supported me on social media – that makes standing by my convictions easier.
Every Ontarian deserves policy delivering more than optics – Bill 9 fails to deliver and time will prove it.
Bobbi Ann Brady is the MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk