Public Service is a Privilege That You Must Honour with Your Conduct.

I am troubled by the tone of the debate and the proceedings which we have witnessed in the past few months.  They have been unproductive.  Emotion, accusations, rhetoric and hyperbole have distracted council from doing the very work that our residents sent us to Town Hall to accomplish when they voted last October.

 

Regardless of ideology, regardless of the causes each of us passionately believes in, and regardless of plans for future elective office, we must move beyond the sort of dialogue which we have witnessed the past few months and return our focus – collectively and individually – to the business of the town, which, of course, is the business of our residents.  We must do so unequivocally and without delay.

 

Freedom of speech is a fundamental right of all Canadians which no one disputes or challenges.

 

Members of council have both the right and the obligation to express his or her views on the issues before council.  Those views are many and varied and I would argue that a variety of views on a particular issue can in the end only serve to make the decisions we make more thoughtful, more reasonable and, we hope, more effective.  But with the obligation to express our honestly held views comes the obligation to do so factually and to do so respectfully and within the bounds of decorum.  Honourable people can, and should, disagree, reasonably and respectfully.

 

In 2007 we adopted a Council Code of Conduct (By-Law 2007-42) which identifies expectations and establishes guidelines to ensure that (among other things):

• Newmarket residents have confidence in the integrity of their local government;
• The conduct of Members of Council is of the highest standard; and
• There is fairness and respect for differences and a duty to work together for goodwill and common good.

 

We cannot be expected to govern the town if we cannot govern ourselves.  Newmarket’s municipal government has long enjoyed the reputation of healthy, constructive debate which, I must say candidly, is a claim that some of our neighbouring municipalities have not always been able to make.  The events of the past few months have put that hard earned reputation at risk.

 

I pledge to uphold our council’s history of constructive debate and I invite each of my colleagues to join me, unequivocally and without hesitation.