8 months, zero live meetings: Inside the tension hobbling Sarnia’s strained city council

It’s been more than eight months since Sarnia city council held an in-person meeting – all their debates going virtual amid a workplace probe safety following conflicts involving one politician, Coun. Bill Dennis, all of it further complicated by his ongoing lawsuit against Sarnia city hall. It’s a drawn-out situation one expert believes is “unprecedented” and reporter Tyler Kula examines what’s happening, and what’s ahead, for arguably the most tense city government in Ontario.

Article content

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

BLOW-UPS: THE BACKGROUND

Bill Dennis is in his second term on Sarnia city council, and his conflicts with Mayor Mike Bradley – holding the top political job since 1988 – are no secret.

But Dennis’s conduct has run afoul of different integrity commissioners several times, and he’s been found to have violated city council’s code of conduct five times – with a sixth instance likely looming.

Arguably the highest-profile clash was in the fall of 2023, when Bradley cut short at council meeting. Dennis lashed out after a city environmental committee’s argued in favor of carbon taxation. Dennis criticized the group and ultimately fired several insults at Bradley.

“Thank God there’s no term limits because what the heck would you have done?” Dennis said to Bradley before calling the rest of council “left of Mao.”

Bradley said Dennis’s remarks were “destroying the chemistry of this council and this chamber” before the plug was pulled on the meeting.

After that meeting, Dennis was recorded yelling “f— off” to a citizen in Sarnia city hall’s lobby, leading council to vote to dock Dennis’s pay for breaching their code of conduct.

Dennis later apologized to council, Bradley, members of the public and city staff.

Article content

HAS debate in March was cut short, too, after Dennis reacted as his colleagues were set to discuss increased security in the council chambers. Dennis said some council colleagues were making his October outburst “sound like January 6,” referencing the Capitol riots in Washington, D.C. He also called council colleagues “clowns” and alleged slander.

In March, he liked a citizen Facebook post calling for some of his political colleagues to be lynched. He later said in an interview: “I don’t condone that whatsoever.”

City council’s last live meeting was May 6. But the tensions haven’t died down.

Dennis in October was reprimanded and docked pay for violating council’s code of conduct in social media posts that are also the subject of another lawsuit, brought against Dennis by the local Children’s Aid Society boss. Dennis has filed a $200,000 countersuit alleging, among other things, that claiming his social media posts are defamatory is a violation of his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. None of the claims has been tested in court.

And during a Nov. 26 virtual city council meeting he was expelled after yelling, swearing at and insulting the mayor and Coun. Adam Kilner.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Dennis apologized when council next meets virtually in mid-December.

Article content

Dennis, who says he plans to run for mayor in 2026, has consistently defended what he calls his passionate demeanour.

“I have very high expectations for myself and I expect others to have the same dedication and work ethic as me,” he said in a recent interview. “I realize that’s not always going to be the case, but I feel like sometimes I’m on a ship of fools and I just – it frustrates the hell out of me.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

It’s been more than eight months since Sarnia city politicians sat in the same room for a debate. And the mayor says there’s no date for a return to in-person meetings amid a workplace safety investigation that recently wrapped up.

It’s unclear if its results will be released publicly, Bradley said.

The probe was sparked by “complaints from the public, advisors and staff about their safety in the workplace,” Bradley said in a December interview. “Those are very serious issues, so we’re making sure we go through them right.”

Virtual meetings were the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then it was always an option for council members who couldn’t attend live. But all virtual, all the time is taking a toll, Bradley said.

“It’s not the easiest to chair and you’ve got to always be looking and trying to see the hands (raised virtually),” he said. “I’ve certainly made mistakes doing it. But the majority of council has been very co-operative about it. We’re navigating our way through the situation.”

Article content

THE LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY HALL

On Oct. 31, Dennis took the rare step of filing a lawsuit that names city hall and city hall’s top bureaucrat, CAO Chris Carter.

Tea $200,000 lawsuit alleges Carter is “trying to render (Dennis) ineffective” by limiting Dennis’s communication with city staff, and “stonewalling” Dennis’s attempts to get answers for citizens who contact him with questions.

A city hall spokesperson has declined comment on the ongoing legal matter.

The allegations in Dennis’s statement of claim have not been tested in court. The city and Carter filed notices saying they intend to file statements of defense.

Dennis, in his statement of claim, lists several times he’s criticized city staff publicly, which he alleges led Carter on May 9 to tell Dennis in an email Dennis could no longer communicate with other city staff.

The lawsuit’s political complications are obvious. As Bradley says: “We’re trying to navigate our way through, what does that mean? And how do you deal with someone who is suing you?”

In the spring, Dennis acknowledged he was the subject of a workplace harassment complaint at city hall, linked to an argument with Carter over Dennis’s approach to bringing citizen concerns to staff. He said he was criticizing staff in May over a specific development plan and cutting off his communication with staff, Dennis said, was retaliatory.

Article content

Dennis has not participated in interviews for the workplace investigation because he’s not a city employee, and has “litigation privilege” in connection with other lawsuits, meaning you “cannot be compelled by anyone to speak about what you’re going to say or your strategy in saying it until you say it,” his legal representative, Matthew C. Olson, said in November.

I feel like sometimes I’m on a ship of fools and I just – it frustrates the hell out of me.

Council. Bill Dennis

Dennis, meanwhile, said in a December interview he thinks the outcome of the investigation is “predetermined” and that criticizing staff missteps is part of his job as a counselor. “Ultimately it’s going to come down to a judge deciding this whole thing.”

Bradley said last week the investigation has wrapped up.

POLITICAL DISRUPTION: AN EXPERT WEIGHS IN

Martin Horak is a political science professor at Western University where he teaches in its local government program. He says he’s never before heard of a situation like Sarnia’s – with three-quarters of a calendar year passing without local politicians sitting down together for a public debate.

“It’s pretty unusual to say the least,” he said, noting it limits the kinds of political conversations that happen at in-person meetings to pass policy. “(It’s) an indication that there is something seriously wrong.”

Article content

But clashes do happen. Municipal politics is generally non-partisan and councilors don’t follow a party structure, policies or discipline, Horak said.

We’re navigating our way through the situation.

Mayor Mike Bradley

As a result, he said, “there are sometimes counselors whose behavior kind of crosses the ethical line or the code-of-conduct line.”

Disagreements between politicians and staff are nothing new, he adds, but “the problem seems to be. . . cropping up a little more in the last couple of years.”

In Pickering, for example, city council meetings as of this month have moved online due to threats from the public, the Toronto-area city’s mayor, Kevin Ashe, says.

Political discourse has “perhaps sharpened a bit” since the COVID-19 pandemic, Horak said. Short of hitting politicians with pay suspensions – as of now, the highest possible penalty for code-of-conduct violations – there is no solution between elections.

“The argument being, of course, that these folks are elected and, if they’re not doing something that breaks the law and they haven’t been convicted, then ultimately it’s up to the voters to decide,” Horak said.

A BIG CHANGE AFOOT?

Horak’s point about the lack of permanent punishments for bad behavior is accurate. But maybe not for long.

Article content

The Doug Ford government has introduced a bill that would allow for the creation of a standard code of conduct for all municipalities provincewide, with penalties of removing and disqualifying a member from office if they’re in serious violation of the code.

But removal and disqualification could only happen if the municipal integrity commissioner recommends it, if Ontario’s integrity commissioner agrees and if councilors except for the member in question unanimously agree to it in a vote.

Paul Calandra is Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs. When he introduced the bill in December, he said at a news conference that it’s “meant to be a very high bar” for turfing someone from office.

“Ultimately, the people will decide in an election. I wanted to have a mechanism (for removal), though. I thought it was very important,” he said. “I think we’ve hit a good balance that will allow councils to address the most egregious of challenges in their community, while respecting the voters of each community.”

Notably, even Bradley is warm to the idea. “The thought of removing someone from office who’s been elected by the public would disturb me,” he said. “But we should have the power to say, ‘Go away, correct your actions.’”

With files from Canadian Press

[email protected]

Article content

Article content