City councillors in London, Ont., voted against reprimanding Ward 1 Coun. Michael van Holst, despite voting to accept a report from the city’s integrity commissioner that recommended taking the disciplinary action.
The report from Integrity Commissioner Gregory Stewart was made public last week and stemmed from complaints about van Holst, particularly surrounding his actions and expressed views in response to a proof of COVID-19 vaccination policy for councillors and the overall pandemic.
The most notable complaint came from Mayor Ed Holder, which was filed after van Holst attended and spoke at an anti-vaccine mandate rally held in London’s Victoria Park in October 2021.
Along with referencing the October 2021 rally, Stewart’s report also mentions van Holst’s creation of the Order of Freedom, a creed that aims to provide an exemption for vaccine mandates and proof of vaccination policies.
On the Order of Freedom’s website, it states, “vaccine mandates, passports and proof of status policies being presented as a response to COVID-19 are not compatible with those who hold our beliefs.”
Van Holst previously told Global News he attended the rally to promote his creed, as was also stated in Stewart’s report.
Stewart found that van Holst had violated four sections of council’s code conduct, which includes rules on promoting public confidence in council, communicating council decisions in a way that fosters respect for council’s decision-making process and following council’s bylaws and policies.
“I recommend to Council that a formal reprimand be issued by Council with respect to the conduct of Councillor van Holst,” wrote Stewart in his report.
The report was brought before council on Tuesday and Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy requested to have council vote on the report as two separate motions, one tied to accepting Stewart’s report and another motion on potentially reprimanding van Holst.
“The report speaks for itself … I do not believe, personally, that we need to give the councillor a reprimand,” Cassidy said.
“I believe the public nature of this action and the report from the Integrity Commissioner is enough, and I won’t support piling on and going further than that.”
Ward 10 Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen agreed with Cassidy, telling councillors he felt a reprimand against van Holst is “overreach.”
“While it’s well and good that we have these findings, it’s starting to creep into hindering what some of us may or may not believe and infringe on our ability, frankly, to do our jobs properly,” Van Meerbergen said.
Ward 11 Coun. Stephen Turner found himself “of two minds” on the matter, telling councillors that he was “wary to get into a position where we issue a reprimand that inhibits debate.”
“However, I’m worried as well that not taking action, especially in a crisis situation, allows big, big holes in our ability to garner confidence in policies,” Turner said.
“I recognize where Coun. van Holst was coming from, but I do think some lines were crossed.”
After voting to accept the report’s findings, a motion to reprimand van Holst failed to garner majority support after it resulted in a tie vote.
Those in favour of the reprimand included Turner, along with Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis, Ward 3 Coun. Mo Salih, Ward 4 Coun. Jesse Helmer, Deputy Mayor and Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan, Ward 8 Coun. Steve Lehman and Ward 12 Coun. Elizabeth Peloza.
The opposed included van Holst himself, who did not declare a conflict of interest prior to the vote.
The other opposing votes came from Cassidy and Van Meergbergen, along with Ward 6 Coun. Mariam Hamou, Ward 9 Coun. Anna Hopkins, Ward 13 Coun. John Fyfe-Millar and Ward 14 Coun. Steve Hillier.
Holder, who had issued a complaint following van Holst’s speech at the October 2021 rally, was absent during Tuesday’s council meeting.