Ontario town hopes procedural changes to late motions will return decorum to divided council

Last minute additions to agendas in Whitby will become less frequent after councillors approved changes to the procedure bylaw to require more notice for motions to be introduced, the latest in an ongoing saga of micro-aggression in and outside the council chambers that is now more than a year-and-a-half old.

Under the new rules, if a motion is late but submitted to the clerk before 8 a.m. the day of the meeting – and only if it is of an urgent nature – a member can try to waive the rules to introduce it.

If the late motion is submitted after 8 a.m. the rules of procedure may not be waived and the matter must wait until the next meeting to be considered.

“By prohibiting the ability to waive the rules of procedure for motions submitted after 8 a.m., council will eliminate attempts to surprise other members with late motions and circumvent staff’s review,” the motion read.

As well, delegations for late motions will no longer be allowed and members of council will not be able to ask to waive the rules for them to be heard. “Allowing delegations on late motions that do not appear on the published agenda creates an information asymmetry,” the report notes. “It privileges those who may have ‘insider’ knowledge of late motions while effectively excluding the broader public who rely on official notice periods through the published agenda to exercise their democratic rights.”

The changes are part of plan to return some decorum to council, with taxpayer-funded legal fees to defend itself from allegations of racism from councillors Steve Yamada and Chris Leahy – who have both been sanctioned for code of conduct violations – now up to an estimated $100,000. An Ontario Human Rights Commission complaint by Yamada filed against Mayor Elizabeth Roy, the Town of Whitby, the town’s integrity commissioner and councillors Rhonda Mulcahy and Niki Lundquist is the latest in the long-running dispute that has made Whitby Council among the most factitious in the province.

The dispute over Yamada’s treatment during his abbreviated stint as Deputy Mayor in the spring of 2024 has been on the council floor numerous times since with those meetings punctuated by allegations of “silenced” councillors, a 30-minute interrogation of the author of the report, procedural games and even tears.

Roy’s public statement about “vindication” after the town’s Integrity Commissioner absolved her of any wrongdoings and sanctioned both Leahy and Yamada over their accusations of racism has also become part of the narrative.

The Integrity Commissioner eventually sanctioned Yamada and Leahy for code of conduct violations, docking the pair a week’s pay each.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission complaint could add another $150,000 to the legal costs to the town.