Two city councillors keeping Sudbury's integrity commissioner busy

Sudbury -

A report headed to city council Nov. 23 outlines the work of the city's integrity commissioner since 2019, when he began policing the behaviour of local politicians in Sudbury.

In that time, Robert Swayze has written four reports that found city councillors violated the city's code of conduct. Two of them involved Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan, and two involved Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier.

It was Kirwan's behaviour on social media that got him into trouble. His responses to members of the public on his Facebook page sparked an investigation in September 2019.

Swayze said Kirwan "repeatedly abused and harassed members of the public," in nine separate complaints. Several of the complaints were related to comments made on Kirwan's Valley East Facebook page.

The second instance was in September of this year when it emerged that his wife was criticizing people on the Valley East page under a false name. While Kirwan argued that a backup account was needed to administer the page, Swayze ruled that didn't explain why his wife was attacking critics using the false name.

In Montpellier's case, he wrote a public letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in January of this year criticizing city CAO Ed Archer. During a meeting, Archer's comments calling Montpellier's behaviour "buffoonish" was seen by the public. Archer later apologized, and was reprimanded, but an angry Montpellier wrote Trudeau, comparing Archer's behaviour to that of former Governor General Julie Payette, who resigned when an investigation uncovered bullying and other issues.

Swayze ruled that Montpellier's letter was "an attempt to injure the professional reputation of the CAO."

In the other case, dating to July of this year, Montpellier was found to have violated the code of conduct for his public criticism of staff in the fire department.

The highest number of complaints Swayze has received was in 2019, when he received 22. That includes nine complaints against one councillor, and one complaint about another three. Only the complaint against Kirwan warranted an investigation, Swayze said. He billed the city $76,064.91 that year.

In 2020, none of the 12 complaints he received warranted an investigation, and the bill for his services dropped to $20,282.84.

But in 2021, he received 16 complaints, including four complaints against one councillor, two against three members each and one against one councillor.

Swayze issued three reports in 2021, two involving Montpellier and one against Kirwan. The bill for his work this year totalled $85,943.19.

Read the full report here.