London’s integrity commissioner to meet with council after month-long delay

London city councillors will sit down with integrity commissioner Greg Stewart Tuesday, but not for an investigation. Instead, they’ll be chatting about his inaugural report.

Stewart’s document was tabled last month, but he wasn’t at council to speak to it, as he had not been invited to join the session.

In his report, Stewart said he received 14 complaints over his first 15 months on the job, but launched only two investigations, dismissing the other 12 as “politically motivated” or not within his jurisdiction.

Of the two that did, one dealt with the conduct of a council member during a committee meeting. Stewart launched an investigation and concluded the council member’s conduct did not violate the code of conduct.

The other one was in connection to Mayor Matt Brown and then-deputy mayor Maureen Cassidy.

Stewart says the relationship between Brown and Cassidy broke the code of conduct, but he decided not to probe further into their activities, saying it would have been “an exercise in seeking out the salacious details of the situation.”

Both Brown and Cassidy were censured by council but received no further punishment. They both remain on council.

Morgan says this is the first time they’re meeting with Stewart face-to-face after the release of a report.

“I can’t tell you exactly what the conversation is going to look like because this is going to be the first one that we’ve done talking about his annual report, and hopefully talking about how we will move forward on some of the other components of his job,” he said.

Morgan says it’s important, for council and the city at large, they talk to Stewart.

“The whole point of having the integrity commissioner is to be as transparent as possible, and to make sure that Londoners know that if they want to challenge a decision or a process or something that a councillor has done with respect to the code of conduct, that there is a fair and unbiased process and a person that they can approach on that. The conversation is very important on behalf of Londoners, too.”

The integrity commissioner’s responsibilities include investigating complaints about the conduct of London’s municipal politicians, and offering advice for navigating the city’s code of conduct.

The report covers Stewart’s time on the job from May 17, 2016, to Aug. 1, 2017.