Councillors who break confidentiality rules could be taking a hit to their bank account if newly proposed rules go ahead at Halifax city hall.
On Tuesday, councillors will debate whether they should face financial penalties if they leak information from in-camera meetings.
The recommendation is in a report from staff that was already approved by the executive standing committee.
It recommends asking the province for an amendment to the Halifax Charter so that the city can determine a financial penalty for members of council who release information from in-camera meetings.
Those meetings often cover sensitive matters like contract talks, negotiations for land sales, and personnel matters. Currently, consequences are limited to non-monetary penalties such as an apology or counselling, the report says.
All the councillors Global News contacted on Monday – councillors Jennifer Watts, Tim Outhit, Steve Craig, and Waye Mason – said they are in favour of stiffer consequences. Mayor Mike Savage said he’s also in favour of the change. Councillor Lorelei Nicoll said she is leaning in that direction as well.
“We want to be able to use some fairly strong tools to be able to indicate that this is not appropriate,” Watts said. “It’s not going to be tolerated and that there are in fact serious repercussions to this.”
According to the report, other cities like Toronto and Ottawa already have financial penalties for in-camera breaches. For example, it says in Toronto a member of council could lose up to 90-days pay for breaking the confidentiality rules. The report doesn’t suggest a specific financial penalty for Halifax.
No one on council has faced any consequences for releasing information discussed in-camera in the last four years, but cases have happened. Someone released the names of contenders for the city’s top job of chief administrative officer to a news outlet, Mason said. He says cases like that jeopardize the city’s position and could put negotiations at risk.
“It’s embarrassing because it would make people hesitate to apply to a job. It would make people hesitate to want to negotiate with Halifax,” Mason said.
Outhit said he’s supporting the proposed rule change but with one caveat: he’d like an exception to the penalty added if information is released for the public good.
If councillors pass the motion at council, it will then go to the province to decide whether it will grant the city the power to do so.
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