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Mayor Fortin pushes for councillor code of conduct


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#1 Mike K.

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Posted 13 September 2013 - 09:08 AM

Mayor Fortin is pushing for a code of conduct at the council table, reports Victoria News, which has already been criticized as "too broad and nearly impossible to observe" by the BC Civil Liberties Association. Three councillors, Lisa Helps, Geoff Young and Ben Isitt, are opposed to council being bound by vague restrictions that they believe will stifle respectful debate.

Facing criticism from the three councillors, Mayor Fortin said "there’s nothing about the code that restricts democratic debate. ...It merely asks you to turn your mind to how you say it. I don’t think insults, intimidation and bullying further democratic debate.”

I doubt councillors Helps, Young and Isitt think insults, intimidation and bullying further democratic debate either, but I gather that they they do not need a golden rule above their heads to remind them of common sense and decency towards their follow elected officials.

Asked by the paper if the Mayor remembered an instance where insults, intimidation and bullying impacted debate between councillors, the mayor said he could not reference any incidents and that the code is meant to be "proactive."

Proactive? In the video below Mayor Fortin doesn't seem to mind putting then councillor Phillipe Lucas in his place by insulting him. Was intimidation and bullying in there as well? You decide (fast-forward to the 1 minute mark). Once you've seen the video, check out a discussion on the Mayor's heavy-handed leadership style in this thread from back in 2011.

Personally I really like Mayor Fortin, he's a hard working politician and very amicable when approached on the street. But I do think that his style of leadership needs to be brought out into the spotlight if he's insisting on implementing a code of conduct that he says is "proactive."

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#2 Mike K.

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Posted 13 September 2013 - 09:44 AM

We've received an update from Councillor Helps that the code of conduct was voted down last night.

Good stuff, the last thing we need are dubious do's and don't's dictating what our elected officials can and cannot say, and how they say it. Emotion is a part of any debate but being respectful and acting with integrity should not hinge on some code.

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#3 aastra

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Posted 13 September 2013 - 09:57 AM

In the video below Mayor Fortin doesn't seem to mind putting then councillor Phillipe Lucas in his place by insulting him. Was intimidation and bullying in there as well? You decide...


Snark attack.

#4 http

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Posted 14 September 2013 - 12:48 PM

[ snip ]Proactive? In the video below Mayor Fortin doesn't seem to mind putting then councillor Phillipe Lucas in his place by insulting him. Was intimidation and bullying in there as well? You decide (fast-forward to the 1 minute mark).[ snip ]


Holy seven smokes. Bullying? Possible but not certain. Belittling? Absolutely. You have to be a special kind of arrogant to ignore input from someone simply because they dont have professional certification. Oddly enough, traffic pros already know this. Joel Cohen's 1988 paper on traffic insfrastructure expressed it remarkably simply:

"It might be inferred from these examples that real conflict and cooperation should be left to the management of experts. Such an inference is not justified."
The Counterintuitive in Conflict and Cooperation


The conclusions are challenging and may apply across a multitude of professional fields. The math used is elementary school level. I recommend following along and checking for arithmetic errors yourself - I had to because I could not believe the results.
"Who are those slashdot people? They swept over like Mongol-Tartars." - F. E. Vladimirovna

 



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