The mayor for a southern Ontario metropolis says a councillor is going through a second consecutive 90-day pay suspension and allegations in opposition to her have been referred to police, after he introduced the municipal council would transfer its conferences on-line over alleged threats from her supporters.
The battle in Pickering started greater than a 12 months in the past over complaints about Coun. Lisa Robinson’s social media posts, which the integrity commissioner described as “unacceptable” and doubtlessly dangerous to marginalized communities.
The escalating back-and-forth that has adopted — together with Robinson’s repeated appearances on right-wing media platforms and town’s personal prolonged video posted on-line earlier this week — has come to engulf native politics within the metropolis east of Toronto.
Mayor Kevin Ashe stated in an interview Friday that the integrity commissioner introduced police a criticism that Robinson could also be aiding and abetting legal harassment along with her participation in “far-right” media.
The commissioner’s workplace stated in an e mail that it has suspended its personal inquiry into the criticism “till any ensuing police investigation, and if laid any ensuing cost, has been lastly disposed of.”
The Durham Regional Police Service stated it’s “conscious of those points” and the investigation has been turned over to Ontario Provincial Police. OPP didn’t instantly reply to questions.
Robinson, who was elected in 2022, has beforehand denied allegations in opposition to her. She couldn’t be reached for touch upon Friday.
Ashe alleged that Robinson’s supporters have been trespassing and piping up with “overblown rhetoric” at metropolis council conferences. He stated town has needed to double the police presence on the council chamber and pay for personal safety at current in-person conferences, from which council members have needed to be escorted to their automobiles.
Council conferences had been already as a consequence of be held on-line later this 12 months due to renovations within the chamber, he stated, however metropolis officers determined to maneuver on-line sooner.
“When folks do not feel secure coming to their council chamber … and when folks do not comply with the code of conduct, that diminishes democracy,” he stated.
“I by no means thought we would be right here, however we’re.”
In a video posted by town this week, Ashe stated the choice to cease holding council conferences in particular person was “not made calmly.”
The mass-produced video is 13 minutes lengthy. It options clips from Robinson’s look on a right-wing podcast through which host Kevin J. Johnson calls Pickering metropolis councillors “pedophiles” and “Nazis,” saying they “deserve a baseball bat to the face.” Robinson has beforehand denounced the host’s feedback and apologized to her colleagues.
To a backdrop of dramatic music, the video additionally contains threatening voicemails council members acquired from unidentified callers, and its unnamed narrator alleges that Robinson held an unsanctioned city corridor assembly in September that banned metropolis workers, featured “alt-right supplies” and was run by “outsiders with unknown intentions.”
Ashe stated the video was created in-house by town’s communications division, at no further value to taxpayers. He added they determined to provide it after the final in-person assembly on Dec. 16, at which Robinson’s 5 fellow councillors accepted her newest pay suspension over public feedback accusing town’s chief administrative officer of corruption.
“We made a willpower that we needed to reply to the false allegations of corruption,” stated Ashe.
In a social media publish on Thursday, Robinson accused the mayor and town of “resorting to bullying ways,” calling the video “completely pathetic” and “laughable propaganda.”
Robinson’s December pay suspension marked the fourth time Robinson has been handed a penalty for breaching the code of conduct, together with for feedback criticizing Black Historical past Month, LGBTQ+ advocacy and metropolis officers.
She acquired 30-day and 60-day pay suspensions on separate events in 2023, reacting to the primary by calling herself a “modern-day slave.” Her first 90-day pay suspension — the harshest potential penalty beneath present guidelines — got here in September.
Ashe stated town has spent greater than $100,000 on integrity commissioner charges, added safety and authorized prices associated to Robinson. He stated he and different council members have been petitioning the provincial authorities to go a invoice that might permit the elimination of a councillor from workplace beneath the Municipal Act.
The invoice Municipal Affairs Minister Paul Calandra launched final month would permit for the creation of a regular code of conduct for all municipalities, and penalties of eradicating and disqualifying a member of workplace if they’re in critical violation of the code.
The federal government has stated that elimination and disqualification may solely occur if the municipal integrity commissioner recommends it, if Ontario’s integrity commissioner agrees and if councillors apart from the member in query unanimously conform to it in a vote.
Ashe stated he is “grateful” that the federal government is taking motion.
However even when the invoice passes and turns into regulation, it would not come into impact in Pickering till town’s subsequent election in October 2026, the mayor stated.
Robinson informed The Canadian Press final September that “if the constituents don’t love what I’ve to say or how I am representing them, then the choice shall be as much as them through the subsequent election.”
Ashe nicknamed her “Double Down Lisa” on Friday.
“By no means in my wildest goals would I feel the councillor who could be sanctioned on 4 completely different events for 15 breaches of code wouldn’t present any degree of regret, remorse, and even some trying within the mirror and saying, ‘Perhaps I’m the issue.'”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 3, 2025.
Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press
