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Opening comments: More at the end.
The Toronto Sun - Jul. 23 1982 - By John Downing McCallion was wrong Hazel McCallion got an expensive slap-on-the-wrist yesterday but the judge who found her guilty of contravening the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act let her continue as Mississauga mayor. In her joy at not being removed from office, McCallion insisted to a ring of reporters in a Peel courthouse corridor that the "charges" had been dismissed by county court Judge Ernest West. Hardly! She'd better hope the voters don't read the judge's decision. The winner is Jack Graham, the Mississauga lawyer who asked the judge to rule that his former colleague had contravened the act by her behavior at a special council meeting last Nov. 2. Not only was he awarded costs ---- which could amount to $10,000 or more ---- the judge said she committed "a substantial error in judgment." Judge West said that a councillor with a pecuniary interest in a matter before council must disclose that interest as soon as practicable after the meeting starts, refrain from taking any part in the consideration or discussion, refrain from voting on any question with respect to the matter, and not attempt to influence the voting. The judge said that "although a breach of anyone of these proscriptions constitutes a contravention ... I must find that the respondent (McCallion) has breached all of them." But he didn't throw her out of office, one punishment listed in the act, because her contravention was caused by a "bona fide-error In judgment." It's understandable that McCallion, a gritty, determined woman who has served with distinction as a councillor for more than two decades, would want to put the best light possible on her loss. But there's just no way the judge's 21-page decision can be interpreted in her favor. She was wrong. Graham was gracious when asked for his reaction to McCallion's attempt to claim victory. "I'm a lawyer and she isn't. Maybe she's confused." It seemed clear enough as the judge painstakingly summarized the evidence and said "the relevant facts are not in dispute." Mississauga politicians and officials squirmed on the front benches reserved for them by an attendant, waiting for the climax: Would the judge stand the politics of the country's ninth-largest municipality on its head by removing its leader? Most of them rallied to McCallion's side after my columns outlining her conflict appeared and Graham filed his motion. One rumor is that some will help with her considerable legal bills. Not only does she have to cover Graham's legal expenses, she has to pay her own counsel, Douglas Laidlaw. And there could be an appeal. The matter involves the McCallion home, five acres on Britannia Rd. bought in 1951. For the last six years, senior Mlssissauga and Peel officials studied what new city areas should be released for residential development. A major report released last Oct. 14 recommended 3,120 acres for housing. However, in a series of private meetings, seven councillors ---- but not McCallion --- decided to change the recommendations. Their selections released 3,799 acres as three areas were added ---- one of them including the McCallion property --- and areas recommended by officials were halved, reduced or dropped. This scheme involving a fortune in land was approved at the controversial Nov. 2 meeting. McCallion chaired the meeting and defended the new proposal but did not vote on the part of the complicated motion which affected her home. She had often declared a conflict with respect to the family land but she just didn't do so in the proper way that crucial day. Despite her attempt to make a flimsy victory out of defeat, this is really a stunning embarrassment, especially when you consider she headed the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. AMO was a key group advising Queen's Park on the writing of a new conflict-of-interest act. Now a judge has found AMO's former president broke the old act in just about every possible way.
[COMMENTS BY DON B. - ]
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