By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
After tensions rose during last month’s Committee of the Whole meeting, councillors sought to lower the temperature of debate and reduce political posturing to a minimum.
A motion was tabled to appoint Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte, who is the only councillor not seeking re-election or running for mayor, as chair of both the July 6–7 and September 14–15 meetings.
Stolte chaired June’s tumultuous meeting.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said that Stolte “did an outstanding job of chairing our last committee cycle.”
“I think it’s extremely helpful to have somebody in the chair who is not running for re-election,” Meed Ward said. “She can help to ensure that our proceedings are focused on the business of the city and not campaigning or politicking in council chambers.”
Stolte commented on the motion, saying that she is “not the least bit interested in participating in a meeting again as we had at the June Committee of the Whole.” The June Committee of the Whole lasted three days, with councillors bickering and raising various procedural objections; Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns walked out of council on the third day.
“Council chambers is a sacred place meant for professional, respectful democratic debate, discussion, and decision making,” Stolte said. “The June Committee of the Whole meeting was, by multiple members of committee, used to be purposely argumentative, combative, and disruptive.”
Stolte said that she believes that many questions were not used for clarification but instead “geared to political posturing meant to impress, influence, and potentially deceive the media and the public during the election period.”
“This type of behaviour is not professional,” Stolte said. “It’s beneath us as elected officials on behalf of the community.”
Stolte said that she would be chairing the meeting “as professionally and as efficiently as possible.”
“I will not tolerate any disrespect towards the chair or each other,” Stolte said.
Councillor and mayoral candidate Kearns asked staff if it would be possible for a member of city staff to chair the meetings instead of a councillor or the mayor.
Kearns said that because the deadline to run for office or seek re-election isn’t until August 21, the rationale for appointing Stolte as chair based on her decision not to run for office again is premature.
Stolte announced her decision on June 11 in a letter to residents and endorsed candidate Chris Carter as her replacement.
Michael de Rond, city clerk, said that it would be “very unorthodox for a member of staff to chair a meeting of elected officials.”
“I don’t believe it is possible,” de Rond said.
Ward 3 Councillor and mayoral candidate Rory Nisan claimed that the procedure bylaw was broken twice during last month’s meeting, as chaired by Stolte.
“Both were to improperly close debate,” Nisan said. “One needed two-thirds, and the second time was upon Councillor Sharman making comments, introducing a motion, and then being allowed to close that debate. So I’m concerned about bias. I’m concerned about this being a railroading of this committee by a majority to put someone in the chair.”
Meed Ward responded to Nisan’s claim of improper procedure.
“There was a democratically taken vote,” Meed Ward said. “We make our decisions by majority vote and when necessary, by two-thirds vote. There are options within a meeting to raise a point of order or a point of privilege, and the chair rules on that matter. There is also an opportunity to challenge the ruling of the chair. And that, in fact, happened: the Council member was outvoted on that, and there were the appropriate votes with the majority thresholds to close debate that had gotten beyond the business of the city. There was nothing amiss or improper. This is our democratic process.”
Nisan said that Stolte has “very strong opinions on one side of the procedural debate and on the question of what occurred last month.”
Stolte asserted that there are “no opinions around the procedure bylaw.”
“It’s not a matter of opinion,” Stolte said. “It’s a matter of fact that we’ve all agreed to. And I can assure you that I will be relying not on council members to interpret their opinion of the procedure bylaw. I’ll be relying on our [committee] clerk and our city clerk.”
Responding to a comment from Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman about turning the motion into a political discussion, Nisan said that he didn’t “appreciate the gaslighting that we’re bringing politics into this chamber.”
“There’s only one side bringing politics into this chamber,” Nisan said. “Talking, at least in a minority, ahead of time, to bring this motion and not giving any notice. So when you talk about trying to put an end to politics, we could be halfway through our agenda right now. This is obviously politics. The motion is politics.”
Kearns introduced an amendment to the motion to direct the city clerk to co-clerk the July and September committee meetings with the committee clerk.
While Meed Ward and Stolte disagreed with the motion, claiming it was disrespectful to Committee Clerk Suzanne Gillies, Kearns clarified that she had full faith in Gillies, but felt that having both clerks in council would ensure full compliance with the procedure bylaw.
Kearns said that Meed Ward was turning the amendment into a political topic, which Meed Ward objected to, asking Kearns to apologize for the comment. Kearns refused.
Both Stolte and Kearns threatened to excuse themselves from the meeting if the arguing continued, but both ultimately remained in chambers.
Kearns’ amendment failed with her as the lone vote in favour, while the main motion was approved, with Kearns and Nisan voting against.
