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Niagara regional council has voted to dock the mayor of West Lincoln, Ont., one week’s pay following an investigation that discovered he violated its code of conduct by asking a lady in Could if the COVID-19 vaccine modified her menstrual cycle.
Mayor Dave Bylsma posed the query to Emily Spanton in a non-public Fb message in Could.
“Not a traditional query to ask an acquaintance, however did you discover any modifications in your interval?” he requested partially. “Once more it is also none of my enterprise. I respect your particular person and privateness.”
Spanton beforehand advised CBC that previous messages with Bylsma had been largely round civic points. She mentioned she discovered the COVID-19 query about her cycle startling and invasive, and determined to not reply.
“I do not see something that I might say that will flip this right into a productive dialog,” she mentioned on the time.
On Thursday night, council obtained a 19-page report compiled by interim integrity commissioner Michael Maynard following a criticism filed by St. Catharines Coun. Laura Ip on Could 19.
The councillor wrote that asking anybody about their menstrual cycle is “to this point past applicable conduct for an elected official that I do not know the place to start.”
Bylsma replied in a proper response dated June 7, 2021, that the message was despatched privately and the truth that it was shared publicly was Spanton’s choice.
The mayor added he had apologized inside two days, and prompt Ip’s criticism was an try to make use of the integrity commissioner’s workplace to “suppress sincere debate.”
Mayor violated 2 sections of code of conduct
In his evaluation, Maynard described Bylsma’s query as “alarmingly invasive and arguably insulting.”
He decided the mayor contravened two areas of the Pursuit of Excellence part of the area’s code of conduct, noting Bylsma’s “actions had been irresponsible, and likewise appeared to violate a belief relationship with Ms. Spanton.”
Council voted 29-1 in favour of the integrity commissioner’s advice that Bylsma’s pay be suspended for seven days.
Solely West Lincoln Coun. Albert Witteveen voted no.
Councillors are paid $30,204 per yr, in line with the region’s website. Which means Bylsma will lose roughly $580.
No precedent as a result of query by no means requested
The mayor had already confronted criticism and received a court summons for collaborating in an anti-lockdown rally.
That matter stays earlier than the courts. He faces a possible wonderful as much as $10,000.
When contacted by CBC about council’s choice to dock his pay, Bylsma despatched a quick assertion by textual content: “I’ll proceed to show vaccine damage and oppose medical apartheid.”
Bylsma expressed comparable sentiments throughout the assembly, alluding to research he mentioned confirmed impacts of COVID-19 vaccines on girls and drawing particular consideration to a current article within the New England Journal of Drugs.
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik responded, referring to correspondence in the same journal that said: “Our research discovered no proof of an elevated threat for early being pregnant loss after COVID-19 vaccination.
“I wanted to learn that into the general public area so that folks can see we won’t simply put out the title of a journal and say it validates what we predict with out really studying the data that was supplied,” mentioned Sendzik.
Bylsma advised council on Thursday that he made a “honest” and “full” apology to Spanton.
He added be believes the integrity commissioner’s report confirmed “bias” and was “flawed.”
The mayor additionally took challenge with a number of facets of the investigation, together with that the integrity commissioner was “hanging out into new territory” as he couldn’t level to any comparable state of affairs or precedent on which to base his choice.
In the course of the council assembly, Ip fired again, saying Bylsma’s problem of its findings “calls into query the sincerity of the apology.”
As for his level about there being no precedent, she had a solution for that too.
“I’d counsel that is as a result of no councillor has ever requested a citizen about their menstrual cycle earlier than.”
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