I don’t know what to call it. It wasn’t a press conference, that’s for sure. I’ve been to dozens and dozens of those. What happened Thursday was definitely not that.
City hall reporter Darren MacDonald called it a circus and I’m inclined to agree with him. A farce might be another way to describe it. Political theatre of the absurd would be yet another way.
Let’s recap: On Jan. 4, Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier called their second “press conference” on the harassment allegations levelled against them by the Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters Association (SPFFA).
In a rambling, disjointed affair more than an hour long, complete with detailed timelines apropos of nothing, redacted emails presented as revelatory and defamatory statements levelled against a named member of city staff, the two councillors made numerous pronouncements, speculations and, frankly, outlandish claims, all to arrive at their ultimate message: They refuse to participate in the workplace harassment investigation unless it’s held in public.
Since such investigations can’t be held in public for very clear and good — not to mention legal — reasons, they are, in effect, refusing to cooperate. They’re taking their toys and they’re going home.
The entire baffling scenario had the quality of a Donald Trump campaign event, which it might have been. Vagnini, after all, has been cagey about whether he plans to challenge Brian Bigger for the mayor’s seat, but it certainly appears he’s angling to do just that.
As perplexed reporters looked on, the councillors played to their audience of supporters, who asked wild questions, applauded ridiculous statements and channeled their rage at … well, city hall, I guess. It was hard to tell.
The whole affair was loud, raucous and angry. There was a definite us-against-them vibe in the air. The “them” being, I suppose, city hall, a faceless entity that’s easy to pillory because it can’t defend itself, and who doesn’t like to hate government, right?
Vagnini and Montpellier, who seem to cultivate political personas as outsider, men-of-the-people types, contend, in essence, that there is a conspiracy at city hall to marginalize and silence them for “speaking out.”
About what? Well, that’s not so clear. The aborted Fire Optimization Plan, I suppose. The plan is dead and gone, and the man who conceived it, former fire chief Trevor Bain, has been fired, so I’m not sure why they think there’s a conspiracy to silence them concerning an issue that ceased to be an issue 10 months ago when council killed it.
At one point, Montpellier referred to the city “rounding up citizens for interrogation.” Are we in the Twilight Zone? That statement is so patently ridiculous I can’t believe he said it. If that’s the type of city and country Mr. Montpellier thinks we live in, he has more problems than a harassment investigation.
We need to unpack this because there is no mystery here and there is no conspiracy — it pains me that that even has to be said.
First, this has nothing to do with city hall or city staff. The career firefighters’ union (the SPFFA), who obviously supported Chief Bain and his fire plan, took exception to Montpellier’s and Vagnini’s vociferous denouncements of it. The union accused the councillors of harassing Bain in public and on social media.
Incidentally, Bain disciplined some volunteer firefighters for denouncing the plan, a move that, ultimately, ended with the fire chief losing his job.
The city, however, didn’t investigate the harassment complaint the union lodged, something they are required to do under provincial legislation. Why didn’t they investigate? We can’t really know for sure. If I had to speculate, I would say it’s because city staff knew the complaint was a bogus political move by the firefighters’ union to make life difficult for two councillors with whom the SPFFA had a bone to pick.
Incidentally, I agree with Montpellier and Vagnini: the harassment allegations are nonsense.
However, a complaint was made that the city is duty-bound to have investigated. That’s the law. When the city didn’t, the Ministry of Labour ordered it to get moving. An independent investigator was hired to ensure the impartiality of the investigation and to fulfill the city’s responsibility under the legislation.
That’s it. That’s all there is to this. If it’s all about the union, why are Vagnini and Montpellier attacking city hall? Probably because the city makes a much better villain. People love firefighters and hate politicians. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
What about the two private citizens — Travis Morgan and Tom Price — who the city councillors say are being investigated as well? Simple, they’re not being investigated, despite what Vagnini and Montpellier would like you to think. That would support their preferred narrative that an evil city hall is trying to silence them for speaking “the truth.” It doesn’t matter that their version of the truth is a self-serving, paranoid version of reality.
Vagnini said at Thursday’s press conference that both men work for him (and by work, I mean they serve as volunteer advisers to the Ward 2 councillor), which means they may have information that’s pertinent to the investigation. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the investigator wants to speak with them.
Why the confidentiality agreements and private interviews with the investigator? Why can’t it be held in public? Well, the legislation prevents it, with the intention that people will speak more freely with investigators in private. That should be obvious.
Since Vagnini and Montpellier are either too narcissistic or too willfully ignorant to understand, I’ll spell it out for them: This investigation is not about you. That might be hard to hear, but it’s true. This investigation is about the integrity of the process. It’s about future workplace harassment investigations.
The allegations against the councillors might be bogus (and I think they are), but that doesn’t mean the complaint can be ignored. If Ontario’s workplace harassment legislation had no teeth, if complaints could just be ignored, it would be worthless. This would mean real instances of on-the-job harassment and bullying could never be investigated and those suffering real harassment would never see any justice.
The law must apply to all of us equally. Even city councillors.
Vagnini and Montpellier are elected representatives of this community, but they don’t seem to understand the gravitas or seriousness that is attendant with their role.
City hall might be a lot of things — slightly dysfunctional, a little bit incompetent, like every other level of government — but what it’s not is nefarious and evil. Even if it were, city hall isn’t the enemy here. There is no enemy, councillors. It’s just politics.
Vagnini and Montpellier need to stop with these stunts. A skeptical view of government and politics is healthy, but sowing seeds of conspiracy among the populace is insidious and dangerous.
Enough is enough.
Mark Gentili is the managing editor of Sudbury.com and Northern Life.
