Ontario’s brand-new bill to deal with misbehaving city councillors received royal assent this week, but there is currently no clear timeline as to when those rules will kick in, and what local powers will remain once Bill 9 is implemented. Under this new Ontario legislation, if a series of conditions are met, City Council would possess the power to remove a councillor from office. It stems from a string of inappropriate behaviour from former College Ward councillor Rick Chiarelli, who was the subject of three separate reports from two Integrity Commissioners – all of them ruling that he harassed and bullied female staff members. Despite those scathing reports, Chiarelli remained in office until the council term ended. Stephanie Dobbs and Nancy Cairns were two of the former councillor’s complainants, and both have been advocating for changes to the system in the years that followed. They argue that Bill 9 is not adequate, and fear that levels of accountability will be watered down because of it. Both join Andrew Pinsent on CFRA Weekends.

<p>Ontario&rsquo;s brand-new bill to deal with misbehaving city councillors received royal assent this week, but there is currently no clear timeline as to when those rules will kick in, and what local powers will remain once Bill 9 is implemented. Under this new Ontario legislation, if a series of conditions are met, City Council would possess the power to remove a councillor from office. It stems from a string of inappropriate behaviour from former College Ward councillor Rick Chiarelli, who was the subject of three separate reports from two Integrity Commissioners &ndash; all of them ruling that he harassed and bullied female staff members. Despite those scathing reports, Chiarelli remained in office until the council term ended. Stephanie Dobbs and Nancy Cairns were two of the former councillor&rsquo;s complainants, and both have been advocating for changes to the system in the years that followed. They argue that Bill 9 is not adequate, and fear that levels of accountability will be watered down because of it. Both join Andrew Pinsent on CFRA Weekends.</p>