A city council in Ontario caught up in a tense internal battle is calling on the provincial government for help as it plans to request a third integrity commissioner investigation into one of its members in less than a year.
On Wednesday, Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe and the majority of his council colleagues issued a public statement after Ward 1 Coun. Lisa Robinson appeared on a far-right podcast, where the host referred to councillors as “pedophiles” and “Nazis.”
The online show Robinson appeared on was hosted by Kevin J. Johnston, a controversial figure who lost a $2.5-million defamation lawsuit against Ontario restaurant owner Mohamad Fakir over language the judge called “classic hate speech.”
He was also sentenced in 2021 to 18 months in jail for being in contempt of a court injunction. He was also arrested at one point in 2022 while trying to cross the border into the United States by foot after being sentenced to 40 days in jail for violating COVID-19 restrictions in Alberta.
The coalition of Pickering councillors and Mayor Ashe said Johnson had shared images of them and their personal contact details during the podcast, saying they “deserve a baseball bat to the face.”
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“This inflammatory, defamatory, and violent rhetoric is not only reprehensible but also poses a direct threat to our safety and the safety of our families,” the group said in a statement.
The councillors said Coun. Robinson’s decision to appear on the show was, in their view, a violation of the council code of conduct.
Robinson appeared again on Johnston’s show on Thursday evening to read a statement distancing herself from his comments.
“I do not condone anything that Mr. Johnston said in a hateful manner or that advocates violence against any of my fellow councillors,” she wrote in a similar statement sent to Global News.
“I want to make it perfectly clear that I reject and disassociate myself from any such rhetoric. It’s telling, however, that while I stand against these extreme views, the Mayor and Pickering City Council seem to have no problem with similar attacks when they’re directed at me.”
After the councillors issued their statement, Johnston hosted an hour-plus episode of his show calling Mayor Ashe a pedophile.
The councillors said that, while Robinson was on the show, she “often smirked, chuckled and nodded her head” while Johnston made comments.
The Pickering councillors said they would together be filing a fresh complaint over the appearance to the city’s integrity commissioner, who has already investigated Robinson twice.
In a matter of a few weeks in fall 2023, Robinson was twice docked pay by her council colleagues after investigations by the integrity commissioner. She has filed a judicial review of those decisions, which is set to be decided around September.
Pickering councillors said that, while they would again go to the integrity commissioner with their grievances against Robinson, there are legislative barriers in Ontario.
The group claimed that docking Robinson’s pay had not deterred “such unethical behaviour” and instead had seen the councillor receiving other funding, they alleged, from “far-right sources.”
The situation, they said, lays bare a “fundamental flaw” with the Municipal Act, which governs city councils.
“As Councillor Robinson continues to receive this funding without any disclosure or accountability, we believe the Government of Ontario should take immediate action to close this glaring loophole and amend the Municipal Act to allow for stricter sanctions beyond suspension of pay,” the group said.
On Thursday, Mayor Ashe wrote to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra to make the request.
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