THUNDER BAY – An attempt to bar city councillors from holding public meetings during the municipal election period found little support at city hall Monday.
Coun. Trevor Giertuga argued the exposure and chance for self-promotion offered by ward and town hall meetings provide incumbent councillors an unfair advantage.
The meetings, which give councillors the chance to address issues of public interest and allow constituents to ask questions, are promoted on social media and broadcast on television and livestreamed online by the city.
In a motion presented at Monday’s council meeting, Giertuga proposed barring such meetings once the nomination period opens.
In the 2022 election, nominations will open May 2, while councillors can continue to hold ward and town hall meetings until the end of June.
Candidates face other restrictions on the use of city resources during the election period, Giertuga said, rules that were recently expanded slightly at the recommendation of the city clerk. Communications about ward meetings during the election period will now no longer feature councillors’ names or images, for example.
“The rationale is it would give an unfair advantage to the incumbents, and the incumbents already have a leg up on everyone else just because they are incumbents – statistically, that’s true,” Giertuga said. “But we’re allowing ward meetings and town hall meetings until June 30.”
“I just think it’s an unfair advantage – we’re stopping all of these other things, so I don’t see why we won’t be stopping the ward meetings.”
Giertuga said he himself wouldn’t participate in a town hall meeting featuring the city’s five at-large councillors, planned for June, regardless of how his colleagues voted.
He suggested he would likely not run for re-election in 2022. Candidates can officially register from May 2 until Aug. 19.
Giertuga noted at-large councillors had held no town hall meetings whatsoever in 2019, but three in 2021 and were proposing to hold three in 2022.
The seeming subtext of that comment was not appreciated by fellow at-large Coun. Mark Bentz.
“I don’t like the insinuation that we’re hosting so many meetings right now to gain an advantage – I don’t think that’s a fair characterization,” he said.
Like several other councillors, he argued ward and town hall meetings were an important way to engage with and be accountable to constituents, saying stopping them nearly six months before voting begins in October was too much.
He also questioned just how much of an advantage the meetings, which typically attract audiences in the dozens, could realistically bestow.
“Let’s face it, ward meetings and town hall meetings, there’s not throngs of people attending,” he said. “I do view this as part of our role… I appreciate the sentiment, however I don’t see it as a misuse of city resources. I think it’s part of our job to communicate with the public.”
City clerk Krista Power said she saw the current policy as striking an acceptable balance.
“Publicly elected officials still have to govern, still have to communicate with their constituents,” she said. “It’s important that residents still feel heard, regardless of whether or not members are choosing to become a candidate again.”
“We’re doing our best to try to level the playing field while also trying to balance residents’ needs to be able to connect with their member of council.”
There were three ward meetings and one town hall meeting of at-large candidates so far planned after nominations open May 2, she said, emphasizing promotion for those won’t include councillor names or photos.
“We were elected in 2018 to do a job, and our job doesn’t stop on nomination day – our job continues until inauguration,” said Coun. Andrew Foulds. “We continue to make decisions… We have to be transparent, and we have to be accountable, that’s our job. I think doing that into June is responsible.”
Foulds said he acknowledged incumbents have “huge advantages” at the municipal level, but also doubted ward meetings would move the dial, particularly several months ahead of election day.
Coun. Aldo Ruberto suggested the fact several new councillors were elected in 2018, with some defeating incumbents, showed the advantages of incumbency weren’t as insurmountable as some might think.
Couns. Giertuga and You supported his motion; Couns. Aiello, Bentz, Foulds, Fraser, Hamilton, Johnson, and Ruberto voted against.
The city’s election website is now live, offering voters and candidates information on key dates, how to vote, and more.
