Thunder Bay Council elect to post-pone ratifying a decision regarding Aldo Ruberto until March.
The At-Large Councillor faces a five day suspension in pay, to which council voted 6-4 in favour of on February 7th, which would equal $593.10 commencing with the next pay period.
In the report released on February 2nd, Principles Integrity (starting on Page 76) stated that Ruberto breached the Code of Conduct for comments made on a social media platform in October 2021 about an incident that was under police investigation.
Ruberto declared a conflict of interest but was given a chance to weigh in on the complaint
“I sent the report to another investigator, who works with the RCMP and other levels of government. He did not agree with the investigation going forward after reviewing the wording on the original Facebook post,” Ruberto stated on February 7th. “What is our society becoming when we as politicians cannot express our hopes without being raked over the coals. Cancel culture has affected our society and trying to dictate what you can and cannot say.”
“The complaint isn’t solely about whether the councillor impeded in an investigation by police,” stressed Commissioner Jeff Abrams. “It’s about a person with status in the community commenting (on the case) because there is potential for the judicial process to be affected by that sort of thing.”
McKellar Ward councillor Brian Hamilton felt the Integrity Commissioner (IC) did their due diligence with the investigation.
“They’ve brought a recommendation to council, we’re not judges and juries,” remarked Hamilton. “I trust the IC, who has had decades and decades in public service, to do the investigation in a fair and appropriate way.”
Council also voted in favour of the recommendation to develop a general social media guidance and cautions for Members of Council, including with regard to their responsibilities regarding blocking on open social media sites.
