“On Tuesdays, we wear purple,” to appropriate a line from the 2004 movie “Mean Girls.”
At least, those who wish to support Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée.
Led by community member Rosie Beaulieu, who moderates the Facebook page “Sudbury Politics and News,” those who support Labbée are being encouraged to wear purple to Tuesday’s city council meeting.
At the meeting, Labbée faces a potential 20-day suspension, per the recommendation of city integrity commissioner David Boghosian. A vote of city council members will make the final determination on whether to proceed with sanctions.
“I appreciate Coun. Labbée’s commitment to transparency and open government and want to support that in our municipal government,” Beaulieu wrote.
In response to a comment in support of the purple shirts, Labbée wrote that purple is her favourite colour.
“This whole thing is so overwhelming, and yes, I do consider myself brave and strong,” Labbée wrote. “I appreciate this showing of support and I'm so humbled by it.”
While Labbée calls herself “brave and strong,” and Beaulieu joins other supporters by commending the city council member’s transparency, Boghosian had a very different take regarding Labbée’s actions in his report, which city council will review on Tuesday.
The core issue is Labbée’s response to last year’s wage hikes to non-union pay groups 15-18 of an additional six- to eight-per-cent beyond their regular three-per-cent jump.
The wage hikes were approved by city CAO Ed Archer last year using the delegated authority a unanimous vote of city council members afforded him, including that of Labbée. Archer increased wages in accordance with city council-approved guidelines, and city council was informed of the increases’ costs during a closed meeting on Dec. 12, 2023, which Labbée attended.
A closed-session report city council members received in February also shed light on the wage changes. This February report, which Boghosian shared in his report tabled for Tuesday’s meeting, read that Archer used his “delegated authority in 2023 to adjust salaries by eight per cent for director-level positions and by six per cent for senior manager-level positions. This adjustment brought salaries within approved guidelines and created a positive effect on the level of candidate interest in vacant positions.”
Despite all this, Labbée has publicly pointed her finger at Archer, and penned an open letter in May saying that if she were CAO, she would resign over the wage-hike issue.
“It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission,” she wrote, despite Archer having permission to hike wages through the delegated authority she voted to give him.
Labbée made “repeated breaches of confidentiality and misleading statements in the name of defending herself,” Boghosian concluded in his report.
By disparaging city CAO Ed Archer, Labbée sought “to distance herself” from last year’s wage hikes “in order to salvage her own political fortunes,” Boghosian added.
Despite all this, Labbée is sticking to her guns.
“I maintain that what I said is accurate and I have not misled the public in any way,” she wrote on the Sudbury Politics and News Facebook page recently. “I spoke up for myself and my colleagues and nothing I have said is incorrect.”
In her open letter published in May, Labbée wrote that city council was not disclosed the wage hikes’ total cost until it was leaked to Sudbury.com in March, “and I will die on my sword over this fact!!!!”
Documents in Boghosian’s report prove the costs were shared with city council on Dec. 12, 2023, during a closed meeting at which two staff members and one city council member said context regarding the numbers was also verbally shared. Boghosian also reported that the percentages associated with the wage hikes were shared with council members in February.
The idiom to “fall on one’s sword” means “to resign from one's position as a result of failure, wrongdoing, etc.”
“I can guarantee you I’m not resigning,” Labbée wrote on the Sudbury Politics and News Facebook page last week.
“I stand by all of it,” she added. “I don't care what the reporter says the idiom means, either. He wasn't in the closed meeting in December, or subsequent ones, neither was the integrity commissioner.”
(Closed meetings of city council are closed to members of the public, including journalists. Sudbury.com reported on a summary of the meeting by city staff in attendance which was leaked to us through email correspondence, as well as what was relayed through Boghosian’s report, which includes recollections from city staff members and a city council member present.)
Among those to support Labbée online is Sudbury East-Manitoulin-Nickel Belt federal NDP candidate Andréane Chénier, who offered that budget documents include “a lot of information to digest,” and noted that Labbée wasn’t alone in expressing that they were blindsided by Sudbury.com’s story.
(Four of 13 city council members expressed surprise when the wage-hike information was made public, while some, such as Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, countered that city council members should have fully known what was going on.)
“I also don't see a reason to resign,” Chénier added. “I support you, Natalie Labbee.”
Depending “on how things go,” Labbée told Sudbury.com that she has a “bombshell” she might drop on Tuesday.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Ward 12 Joscelyne Landry-Altmann also faces a potential 20-day suspension for “offensive” conduct at a public meeting in April, which Boghosian described as “a prime example of a councillor supporting NIMBYism in its most offensive and vitriolic form.”
The public portion of the Sept. 3 city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. It can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
