“We have a gap in municipal governance,” said the mayor of Whitby, Elizabeth Roy, as councillors debated a motion to establish a public registry of third-party consultants used by city councillors.
The motion passed unanimously at Monday’s town council meeting in hopes of promoting transparency and strengthening public trust in municipal governance.
If implemented, Whitby would join Pickering and about 10 other municipalities in Ontario that already have similar frameworks in place, as noted during the meeting by Coun. Niki Lundquist.
She also highlighted the importance of this bill.
“If we are not transparent, the inevitable effect is an erosion of trust in the work that we do,” said the councillor from the Centre Ward.
The initiative, moved by Roy and seconded by Lundquist, also included the participation of Jessica Street, a Whitby resident.
Street, who presented at the meeting, shared her experience at a political event organized by a councillor she did not wish to name.
She said the councillor did not disclose they were the event organizer and lobbyists were present. Street told council that information should have been reported.
Coun. Maleeha Shahid later disclosed that she had organized the “campaign school” mentioned by Street.
Street also said the measure is an area where the town could lead, particularly in light of Bill 9, which proposes a new standardized municipal code of conduct and has been ordered for third reading in the provincial legislature.
Lundquist noted the motion to create a public registry promoting self-reporting is permitted under provisions of the Municipal Act, 2001.
Roy added that other municipalities “have actually asked for this motion to be brought to them” as they will be actioning similar ones in their municipal governments.
She said the registry is needed “to ensure that our Municipal Act is one that is up to date and is working with the current state of affairs, not the state of affairs that are back to 2001.”
According to Roy, Bill 9 has opened similar conversations “within not just municipal government, but government as a whole.”
Street fears third-party influence without transparency “creates uncertainty and uncertainty can quickly turn into mistrust.” She agrees with Roy.
Street added “transparency matters” and said the public deserves to know who is influencing decisions at any level of government.