Editor's note: Sheldon Forgette served as North Bay's deputy mayor during his first and only term on council from 2014–18. He then made an unsuccessful bid for the mayoralty in 2018 and did not receive enough votes as he vied for a seat as a city councillor in 2022 amid legal troubles.
To the editor,
While I was in the Deputy Mayor’s chair, the number of times I was asked if I needed help or if I could do the job, I would have been able to launch dozens of complaints costing the taxpayers lots of money. Maybe even over a million dollars, I never did that, I had empathy towards others especially when all they were trying to do was help get the job done for our citizens.
I helped establish this Code of Conduct and it was for serious matters, not to use against other councillors to play dirty politics with. Not to punish other councillors for their political opinion and that’s basically what happened to Councillor Sara Inch.
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It's my opinion that Councillor Sara Inch’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been violated by the commissioner’s report. I believe the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms supersedes the City of North Bay’s Code of Conduct and I believe Councillor Inch has a right to voice her political opinions.
Based on Council’s vote yesterday, essentially, they’re saying you can never ask a pregnant woman if she needs help in the workplace, you can never question if anyone is capable of doing a job for any reason. Based on council’s vote they are saying the punishment for this is three months' pay.
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Councillor Sara Inch is Vice Chair of General Government, it's her job to be heavily involved in this portfolio alongside Deputy Mayor Horsfield. Her questions & comments in the report are a reflection of her role as Vice Chair in my opinion.
My opinion is that our Deputy Mayor [Maggie Horsfield] should have sucked up her feelings and showed some leadership. A simple conversation would have corrected this outcome. She knows that in politics you have to converse and deal with all sorts of personalities. Horsfield knows that in politics you must deal with all sorts of conflicting opinions and statements. Instead, she chose victimhood at the cost of the North Bay Taxpayer. She’s the budget chief; $36,000 is enough to build changerooms at Omischl, it’s the equivalent of a year’s wages for some or the equivalent to the yearly property taxes of 10 households.
We're elected to serve the public, to have difficult conversations to advance the business of our people. If we can't have difficult conversations, if members are fearful to have frank conversations out of fear of the integrity commissioner, how do they do their job to the best of all their abilities?
Sheldon Forgette
North Bay
