Recreation Facilities Allocation Process be approved.

1:02:18council. I trust you can hear and see me. Yes, we can. Thank you very much for joining us, John,

1:02:23and hope you're well. And I think, you know, the rigmarole here, so I'll just turn the mic over

1:02:30to you to go right ahead with your presentation. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And

1:02:36good evening, everyone. My firm, Airdin Burles LLP, is the integrity commissioner for the city of

1:02:43Guelph. We've been the integrity commissioner now for five years. I can hardly believe it.

1:02:49This is our fifth report, the annual report that we've provided to you. I must say it has been our

1:02:58pleasure and our privilege and our supreme honor to be of service to the municipality

1:03:04already for five years. Every year I come and do an annual report for you. This year is no different.

1:03:12The annual report encompasses a summary of our activities over the calendar year from January

1:03:201 to December 31, 2025. By the way, on September of last year, we were reappointed again to be your

1:03:31integrity commissioner for three successive potential one-year periods. I will mention this

1:03:37again just before I end the presentation because of course Bill 9 is awaiting third reading at the

1:03:45province and that may have some implications on whom your future integrity commissioner could be.

1:03:52As you know, the municipality adopted a code of conduct. It was significantly revised when the

1:03:59Bill 68 amendments were made in 2017 to come into force on 2018. We've had some involvement in that

1:04:11and I'll speak about that in a moment. Unlike many of the other municipalities that my firm looks after

1:04:17as an accountability officer, as integrity commissioner, we have seen an actual decline

1:04:24in the amount of complaints and the amount of requests for services that we received over the

1:04:31last year. Most other municipalities have shown, I guess in anticipation of this year being an

1:04:39election year, a marked increase in the number of complaints, applications, and involvement of the

1:04:47public, whether they're contacting us for requests or information and the like. Concurrent with that,

1:04:57we've also typically received a lot more requests for information and the last year actually showed

1:05:04a marked decrease. You'll see on the front page, we only received one formal code of conduct complaint

1:05:11last year, which is down from four from the year before and I think down significantly, I think

1:05:17we had seven or eight in 2023. We did not receive any at all applications under the municipal conflict

1:05:27of interest act. So the only complaint that we actually dealt with was a complaint regarding

1:05:35an issue that a resident had that a member acted disrespectfully through social media.

1:05:43We did not find a contravention in this instance. We did not fully report because we didn't believe

1:05:51that a full investigation was required, but we want to take this opportunity to

1:05:57ask members if you're at all concerned and you're using social media, please refer to the city's

1:06:05social media guidelines for elected officials. Please be cautious when you use social media.

1:06:12It's worldwide, it's instantaneous, and you can't recall it, so be very, very careful what you put

1:06:21out there. And you can always, of course, seek the advice of the integrity commissioner.

1:06:27With respect to that, this is a good segue, you'll see on page two, we talk about our advice

1:06:33giving function, something that is unheralded in the municipal accountability regime. You always

1:06:38hear about investigations and complaints and applications. You rarely hear about the advice.

1:06:45Members of council and members of local boards reached out to us on eight separate occasions.

1:06:53Four different members of council asked this for advice, and two members of local boards asked

1:07:00this for advice. And the advice ran the gamut on conflicts of interest, whether they were under

1:07:06the municipal conflict of interest act, whether they were in common law or under your code.

1:07:11Some matters dealing with gifts and benefits and proper conduct on behalf of council members.

1:07:19I do want to highlight one paragraph, it's the third paragraph, which has received some media

1:07:25attention. I've written in the report, we would like to highlight a growing concern. We have

1:07:32received various requests from members asking how to respond to harassment, and this is harassment

1:07:39from the public. It is no secret that we live in a volatile state these days. There's polarized

1:07:48divisions. There's a great amount of vitriol and toxicity in almost everything that we have to face

1:07:57day to day, and members of council are not immune to it. Members of the administration are not

1:08:03immune to it. So we've received a number of requests this year that asked, how do I deal with

1:08:12someone doing this? And this has been a more recent phenomenon that we've noticed. Our view has always

1:08:21been, and interestingly enough, there's a recent report from Toronto's integrity commissioner

1:08:27on very much council member being harassed and gives pretty much the exact same advice.

1:08:35We indicate that it's best to seek to not engage and to attempt to de-escalate the matter if you can.

1:08:47Attempt to withdraw if you're in a public place or you're in a public setting,

1:08:52and attempt to do so on a safe basis. If you must get involved, please, please be careful

1:08:59on how you do so. Remember you're probably held to a higher standard. That certainly was the case

1:09:05in the recent City of Toronto report that received some notoriety. And just be very careful about

1:09:13how you interact with members of the public who may not be polite, who may be provoking you,

1:09:19who may be accosting you, who may be trailing and following you around and seeking to get that

1:09:25gotcha moment. Always take the higher ground and attempt to withdraw with grace, with some dignity,

1:09:33and at all times with some civility. I remind members that requests under the Code of Conduct

1:09:42should be done in writing. That's what's required under the Municipal Act. I certainly have no issue

1:09:49speaking to any member, but the initial request, in order to set out the ground rules and what the

1:09:56background facts are, and to give me an opportunity to understand what the situation is,

1:10:01should definitely be in writing. This year we also did some amendments to the Code of Conduct.

1:10:10My partner, Laura Dean, primarily, did those and she reported back to the Governance Review Committee

1:10:19in March of this year, and Council accepted a number of proposed changes to the Code of Conduct

1:10:29regarding prohibitions on political endorsements, the promotion of third-party interests,

1:10:34and the use of titles in social media during election campaigns. Those were adopted on May 27,

1:10:432025. Our advice and recommendations with respect to changes to the Code of Conduct were

1:10:51rather minimal and scoped. We did what Council was seeking for us to do. Certainly, I've always

1:10:59believed that there could be some updating and perhaps some, for lack of a better word, improvements

1:11:05made to your Code, but we've held off because Bill 9 is now at the province, the Municipal

1:11:14Accountability Act, and you'll see that I've made reference, at some extent, on page 3. It follows

1:11:23the failed Bill 241, which died on the order paper when the provincial government called an

1:11:29election. Bill 9 essentially proposes the same authorities that were put in there. The province

1:11:37has put forward that it's to strengthen municipal accountability. If you probably google my name,

1:11:45you'll see that I have taken issue with that. I do not believe, in my heart, in my mind,

1:11:53that the province actually is doing that. I find that the legislation is not well put together

1:12:01and proposes a removal of members, which I have set on record, and I'll say it tonight,

1:12:09that I don't believe will actually happen. It sets up a two-person investigative process,

1:12:18one by the local integrity commissioner being Ayrton Burlis, the second being the provincial

1:12:24integrity commissioner, which I just don't get the involvement of the provincial integrity

1:12:29commissioner, who can only make recommendations on very serious, egregious breaches of the Code

1:12:36that bring harm and or injury to a person or persons. And then, if that comes before council,

1:12:45council must vote unanimously to remove a member. And this, the province says, is a strengthening

1:12:51of municipal accountability. I believe that the province missed the mark. I spoke in front of

1:12:58the standing committee on the Bill 9 hearings. I think they were largely, the committee was

1:13:05largely deaf to what I was saying, because I'm deaf too, I think what a lot of people were saying

1:13:12about that. So, it is currently in front of the provincial legislature for third reading.

1:13:20You may have seen some recent media attention about this, indicating that potentially the

1:13:26bill may be stalled, because the province can't seem to make up its mind on what to do. And what

1:13:32to do is other things that are in the bill proposed. One is to give, to make mandatory training

1:13:41and some sort of certification requirements for integrity commissioners that looks like it's going

1:13:48to be done by the provincial integrity commissioner. Mandatory training for members of council

1:13:55and local boards. You've had training and we are recommending it again after the election,

1:14:04perhaps in the first quarter of 2027. And a uniform province wide provincial code of conduct

1:14:13for members of council and local boards. And a uniform investigative process, which could,

1:14:20in some instances, actually raise the standard of what's in place in some municipalities. But I

1:14:27fear that in some other municipalities, potentially the city of wealth, that's done a very good job

1:14:31with its code of conduct, potentially lower the common denominator for good standing. So,

1:14:39I'm a little worried about this. And I was hoping that it was going to come out sometime before

1:14:48nomination start on May the 1st of this year, so that anyone who runs for office will know what

1:14:54the game rules are, starting with the new term of council after November the 15th. And yet we

1:15:04still have had nothing from the province. And if you've been following along, it has stalled several

1:15:09times. Former minister Kalandra twice said indicated it was coming forward and never did. Minister

1:15:16Flack has indicated it's still coming forward. And yet it still hasn't. So, it might have a very

1:15:24real determination on what your code of conduct will look like next year and potentially who your

1:15:31integrity commissioner may be. We don't know what sort of rigor the province will put to persons like

1:15:38infirms like ours who do this work. I hope we can still continue to do the work. I enjoy doing it.

1:15:45My partners and colleagues at the firm enjoy doing it. And we certainly have appreciated and are

1:15:52very thankful for the support of the elected representatives of the city of Guelph. But also,