City councillor found to have harassed city CAO fears ‘chilling effect’ on politicians if court won’t overturn judgment

Coun. Russ Wyatt’s requests that a court overturn a finding he harassed the city’s top bureaucrat, and order city council to apologize for a reprimand that followed, could affect politicians far beyond Winnipeg, his lawyer argued Friday.

“Your decision has the prospect of having an impact on municipal councils right across the country,” Kevin Toyne said during a hearing in the matter.

In January, city council formally reprimanded Wyatt (Transcona) after an integrity commissioner found he violated the city’s code of conduct by harassing former chief administrative officer Michael Jack.

Since most municipal governments now have similar codes of conduct and/or integrity commissioners, the decision could have wide-reaching implications on how elected officials communicate, Toyne said.

Municipal politicians are expected to speak openly and publicly on important matters, he said, stating Wyatt’s comments were part of fulfilling that duty.

Toyne noted Wyatt is a member of Winnipeg city council, which has the responsibility to hire, fire and monitor the city’s chief administrative officers.

“If they’ve lost confidence in the CAO, they need to be able to publicly articulate that and explain why…. Those are comments that he is entitled to make on the floor of the (council) chamber and outside of the chamber,” said Toyne.

Wyatt made his comments in a 2023 media report after a judge ruled two city officials deliberately stalled the Fulton Grove housing development at the former Parker Lands and ordered the city to pay $5 million in damages. The councillor criticized Jack for not firing a staff member named in the judgment and suggested Jack himself be replaced.

“We need a change. We need a new CAO and we need to start removing some of the dead wood that exists in senior management,” Wyatt said at the time.

City of Edmonton ethics commissioner Jamie Pytel ruled the comments were “offensive, disrespectful, threatening and amount to harassment,” while also finding Wyatt tried to use his authority “for the purpose of intimidating, coercing or influencing the complainant.”

City council formally reprimanded Wyatt after he refused to apologize for his comments.

The city has since won an appeal of the order to pay $5 million in damages to the developer of Fulton Grove. The developer, Gem Equities, then applied to challenge that decision at the Supreme Court of Canada.

On Friday, the city’s lawyer argued the requirement for city councillors to make open and transparent decisions did not justify Wyatt’s remarks.

“He goes much further than simply expressing displeasure with somebody and saying that he’s lost confidence with them…. There’s clearly a threat that is made to the CAO in public that this councillor’s looking for you to be fired if you don’t act a certain way,” said Greg Tramley.

Wyatt never apologized or modified the comments, “doubling down” on them instead, Tramley said.

“This is a smart, experienced, senior councillor who knows their way around the media and knows exactly what they’re saying and why they’re saying it,” he said.

Tramley stressed imposing a code of conduct on city councillors, along with penalties for not following it, aims to allow freedom of expression while ensuring some ethical standards are met.

“Yes, you can talk to the media about something that’s important but you can’t cross the line and now start threatening employees…. That is a violation of the code,” he said.

After the hearing, Wyatt said a ruling in his favour would protect free speech and ensure councillors can continue to speak to residents through the media.

“If you’re not on the executive (policy) committee, and if you’re not on the inner team (of city council), you really have very few means to be able to raise issues for public discourse and for public accountability. And if (this option) is taken away, then we’re in big trouble, because then city councillors are just basically sleeping dogs collecting a paycheque. And that would be a shame,” he said.

If the court upholds the integrity commissioner’s findings, Wyatt said that could create a “chilling effect” that leads elected officials to stay silent on important matters.

“(It would) be like a permanent, unofficial (non-disclosure agreement) pushed down on (every) member of council,” he said.

Wyatt has also asked the court to order the city to pay his legal costs.

King’s Bench Justice Christian Monnin reserved his decision to an unspecified date.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga