Prince Edward County is going to be reviewing its municipal procedures in an effort to promote more civil behaviour during the proceedings of the municipal government.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Councillor Phil St-Jean put forward a motion to review the procedural by-law, and several other by-laws governing conduct in council chambers and during other municipal government meetings. Council staff were directed to prepare a report on the policies with suggested changes in order to cut down on threatening and harassing behaviour.
Councillor St-Jean said that a series of incidents with hateful language being directed not just at councillors, but also towards municipal staff, prompted him to take action.
“This has been a recurring issue across many years, but certainly has been ramping up lately,” said Councillor St-Jean. “We all need to treat each other equally and fairly, whether it’s staff and staff, council and staff, when the public’s mixed in there with staff and council, all of that has to be done respectfully and civilly at all times.”
He also stressed that the objective of the motion was not to block residents’ free speech or ability to criticize council’s work.
“Yes, we have every right to criticize. It’s how you criticize that’s the important thing, and that’s the intent. It’s making sure that that criticism is done in a proper, respectful, civil way,” said Councillor St-Jean.
The motion passed after brief debate.
Staff were directed to complete the review and return to council in the third quarter. The review is also set to include public consultation and no changes have currently been proposed.
