After many years of advocacy from local Ottawa residents, and incredible groups like Women of Ontario Say No, the government has tabled Bill 9, the Municipal Accountability Act. This legislation creates a process to remove municipal councillors from office in cases of serious misconduct.
Municipal government is the level closest to the people. It is where we listen, where we respond, and where we are most directly accountable to the communities we serve.
However, what I have learned over time is that municipal government can also be the level most vulnerable to abuse, with the fewest tools to stop it. I am in favour of stronger accountability measures, because I lived through a failure of accountability that no municipality should ever have to face again while representing our community on Ottawa City Council.
Watch my comments on Bill 9 here:
On August 26th, 2025, I travelled to Queen’s Park for clause-by-clause considerations and amendments of Bill 9.
After months of hearings in municipalities across the province, where we asked residents, experts and survivors what needed to change to ensure elected municipal officials can be removed for egregious code of conduct violations like sexual harassment and sexual abuse towards staff, the Ford government showed once again that your voices do not matter to them.
The bill sets unrealistic thresholds and barriers. After the committee meeting was finished we were no further ahead in protecting staff, especially women, in the workplace of Councils across Ontario.
You can watch my full comments from the meeting here: