HALDIMAND — Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady raised eyebrows across Ontario with a new motion asking the provincial government to eliminate the appointment of integrity commissioners (IC) in municipal governments.
Motion 73 would remove what Brady called “costly duplication” within municipalities by instead appointing an authoritative figure already under a municipality’s payroll, like the CAO or clerk, to review integrity complaints.
Speaking with The Press, Brady said she has been contacted by various political figures expressing solidarity and reporting being a “victim of the process,” citing inconsistencies in how reports are written and how reprimands are decided.
“It seems to be a very rogue process where there’s no clarity on what these reports or investigations should actually look like,” said Brady. “They become political weapons.”
Brady was quick to address what she called the “elephant in the room,” namely her role in the IC investigation that found Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley guilty of leaking confidential documents last year. Haldimand IC David Boghosian determined the documents were leaked to negatively impact Norfolk Mayor Amy Martin’s bid for MPP, which she lost to Brady.
Brady refused to comply with Boghosian’s request to submit her phone records involving Bentley and invoked parliamentary privilege to avoid being interviewed for the investigation.
“Damn right I don’t like it,” said Brady of Bentley’s IC investigation, “because I had nothing to do with what I would say was a witch hunt, and yet I still got dragged into a report where an IC – who was supposed to be impartial and objective – wrote editorializing comments like ‘I find it disappointing MPP Brady chose to invoke parliamentary privilege.’”
Brady recalled covering local politics as a reporter earlier in her career.
“What happened was somebody hurt someone’s feelings or whatever around the council table. They came back as adults the next week and apologized,” said Brady. “I believe taxpayers are being hosed for a process that could be done differently.”
Brady elaborated on her idea, noting municipal CAOs, general managers, and clerks are “all paid, all understand proper decorum, all understand code of conduct. Why can’t these people who are already receiving a salary go, ‘OK, you know what, we’re going to investigate this, we’re going to sit down with this person and have a conversation and try to work through these things, instead of paying $30,000-60,000…. It makes no sense.”
Brady has received some pushback online from commenters asking how a county staffer might proceed with an investigation that could impact their job, particularly when involving a mayor who possesses strong mayor powers that could be utilized to fire them at any time.
Notably, Bentley fired former CAO Cathy Case in June 2025, just three days before she was eligible for her full pension.
At the time, Bentley cited “a broader effort to reduce the strain on taxpayers and to … reflect the needs of the people, not the desires of our officials” in a statement on her reasons, disregarding all requests for further details.
A concern was raised by some councillors and residents at the time that the termination occurred while Bentley was under the IC investigation noted above, which Case had co-initiated with Norfolk County CAO Al Meneses just a few months prior after finding the confidential documents on a local Facebook page.
In response, Brady posited that it may be time to get rid of strong mayor powers as well.
She floated the interim idea of a central IC employed by the provincial government who could step in to investigate when a CAO or clerk expresses concern over their role in an investigation.
However, Brady also dislikes one IC serving multiple – sometimes neighbouring – municipalities at the same time, as Boghosian currently does.
“To me, there should a conflict of interest (concern there),” she said.
She cautioned against what she called a ‘voting bloc’ within councils, believing that ICs could be incentivized to recommend reprimands in line with the voting bloc’s desired outcome due to a perceived sense of increased job security.
Further, Brady said that many IC complaints and investigations are driven by political figures making mistakes because “they simply don’t know,” pointing to poor training.
Haldimand’s code of conduct can be read in full on the County’s website.
Boghosian’s recommendation to penalize Bentley for her four code of conduct violations was noticeably different than in the case of Councillors Dan Lawrence and Rob Shirton, who were both found guilty this year of a single violation for allowing a planner to pay for their meal. Boghosian ultimately determined that Bentley knowingly broke the code, while Lawrence and Shirton were under the impression that the meal was acceptable under the code.
Brady also alluded to a politician “not in our area” who is “continually having IC reports brought against them because they question staff. Well, the job of an elected official is to question.”
That person, as confirmed by Brady’s office, is Susan Stevenson, Ward 4 Councillor for London.
Stevenson has faced multiple IC complaints, with reprimands recommended for behaviour such as posting identifiable photos of homeless Londoners seemingly without permission on social media.
Another complaint, filed by London’s Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development in 2024, alleged Stevenson had engaged in a pattern of harassing and bullying behaviour toward certain administrative staff members, including posting on social media in a manner that “incited members of the public to target staff in a threatening manner,” according to allegations listed in an IC report that recommended a 30-day pay suspension.
Stevenson has publicly denied the complaints against her and has questioned the IC process herself.
“It’s not clear where I crossed the line or how any of us (councillors) could avoid this going forward,” said Stevenson in an interview with CTV News in December 2024. “And a month’s pay? This could have a chilling effect on people who want to run for office, who want to make change.”
Ultimately, Brady believes that some reform to IC investigations must be made so as to not discourage potential candidates from running for office.
“If we continue down this path, you will have nobody throwing their hat in the ring in 10 to 20 years. People will be like, ‘This is exhausting. I signed up to do this to serve my community and I’m just constantly in trouble’,” said Brady.
She added, “Why does it have to be a big, lengthy, terrible process for all involved? I think there’s a better, more democratic, diplomatic way to do these things.”
The Press will continue to follow this story. Stay tuned for more updates.
