HALDIMAND—It’s been three weeks since Haldimand Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley fired County CAO Cathy Case with no warning and, to date, no fulsome reason why.
For an outsider’s perspective into the issue, The Press spoke with Peter Woolstencroft, a retired political science professor from the University of Waterloo.
“A big change has occurred,” said Woolstencroft on the expansion of strong mayor powers in Ontario. “Very few people are aware or thinking about how consequential this change is…. I certainly think it’s a bad change.”
He continued, “It’s changed the dynamics of what happens at municipal levels…. The organization is fundamentally in the hands of the mayor as opposed to the council at large.”
One question taxpayers should be asking, according to Woolstencroft, is how much money Bentley’s use of the powers could cost Haldimand.
“There are going to be a lot of legal bills here. No doubt there’s insurance that will cover that, but both parties, the County and the CAO, will have lawyers and their bills will have to be paid. That will affect insurance rates paid down the line.”
He warned that while corporate firings happened all the time “deep in the last century,” in recent years employment law has evolved: “You just can’t willy nilly dismiss people.… She wasn’t on probation, and also, she had excellent performance reviews…. I was staggered to read the CAO was fired three days from her full pension entitlement.”
Woolstencroft touched on the bad optics of firing Case shortly after she co-initiated an investigation into leaked County emails, with early evidence not ruling out the mayor’s involvement.
“The lawyers will have fun with that…. It will go to court, there’s no doubt about it,” said Woolstencroft.
He also noted potential future human resources concerns, both for potential and current employees.
“The way she was fired … will make it very difficult for Haldimand to hire people.… It would make me very leery about the work environment,” he said. “The job of the civil servant is to offer their best advice without fear of being choked to death on it. If you work in municipal government and you see that the mayor will be very mindful of positions you take and will evaluate you on whether or not you agree or disagree with the mayor, then you start to hedge your bets.”
He noted the goal should be for staff “to offer their best advice … because their professional education, training, and judgement tells them ‘this is the way to go, this is the best course forward’.”
Woolstencroft questioned Bentley’s use of the word ‘transparency’ in justifying her actions to both accept the strong mayor powers and to fire Case.
“This is a classic example of what irony is all about,” he said. “Here’s something that was fundamental – a transformation in the way the municipal government is going to operate – and people had no idea about it, and it’s justified in the name of transparency.”
He agreed that the mayor was acting within the bounds of the legislation in those decisions, however he added, “She could have gone further than what the legislation requires, which is to involve the council.”
Woolstencroft warned that councils divided over issues like strong mayor powers may not be in the best interest of residents.
“We do see that in Canada, and we see it immensely in the US where things are so immensely politicized…. The nature of council discussions and debates will be more polarized than they are now,” he said. “The strong mayors approach is divisive and it assumes that the mayor is on top of things … which may be the case and may not be the case.”
He expects any changing of direction for strong mayor powers will depend on the political culture in the riding following the next municipal election in October 2026.
Woolstencroft hopes voters will ask three questions to themselves when they reach the polls: “What do they think about democracy? What do they really think about the way the municipal government should operate? And how do they judge the behaviour of politicians who are working in that system?”
