Ottawa city council has decided against imposing financial penalties on Coun. Stéphanie Plante for a series of social media posts the integrity commissioner claimed amounted to harassment and intimidation.
Council voted 16 to 8 on Wednesday to reject the commissioner’s recommended three-day suspension of pay and instead issue a reprimand to the councillor. The vote came after a brief but heated exchange between Plante and commissioner Karen Shepherd, where Plante called the proposed disciplinary measures “punitive,” and suggested that Shepherd was attempting to prevent her from speak candidly about issues.
“Political debate is emotional. People are upset, offended, frustrated over a lot of different things. We deal with this every single day, in our inbox and in person,” she said at council’s regular Wednesday meeting.
“Our job is to argue about policy, and people will sometimes disagree strongly.”
Shepherd’s report, published last week, found that Plante violated the municipal code of conduct by posts she made on social media regarding the city’s controversial plan to erect temporary Sprung shelters to house asylum seekers. Plante’s posts, which occasionally featured memes or emojis, criticized several people who opposed the use of the shelters in suburban communities in Ottawa, suggesting they were uninformed about the issue. They occasionally descended into heated back-and-forth exchanges, with Plante accusing one of her critics of “demonizing immigrants,” and another of mobilizing a business improvement association to oppose the temporary shelters, as well as noting the political connections of those voicing opposition.
Plante’s Rideau-Vanier ward is home to several permanent shelters.
Shepherd said she accepted that Plante wasn’t intending to intimidate or bully people who opposed the Sprung shelters but she crossed the line with her personal attacks.
“There are many examples where the Respondent engaged with members of the public who expressed opposition to the Sprung Structure matter that involved a civil exchange of opinions and information. However, I find that the manner in which the Respondent largely engaged with and posted about these witnesses, which included the use of memes, emojis and innuendo, was disrespectful and rose to the level of intimidation and bullying,” she said.
The city scrapped plans for the Sprung shelters this past spring.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe voted with the majority on council against suspending Plante’s pay.
