Introductory Remarks – Denise Bellamy
Good Governance: Thoughts on the Roles and Actions of Municipal Officials and Staff - John Fleming, Anna Kinastowski and Greg Levine
Conflict of Interest - Valerie Jepson and Rick O’Connor
Ethical Government in Ontario - David Wake
Municipally-Owned Corporations - Mary Ellen Bench and Wendy Walberg
Procurement: Best Practice Discussion - Marian MacDonald and Mike Pacholok
Lobbyist Registries - Suzanne Craig, Linda Gehrke and Robert Marleau
Note: Full transcripts of the Part 3 hearings can be found here.
Lessons from the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry and Toronto External Contracts Inquiry
The Honourable Denise Bellamy is a retired judge of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario. She was the Commissioner of two judicial inquiries involving the City of Toronto: the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry and the Toronto External Contracts Inquiry. In 2005, she released a four-volume report covering both Inquiries. The report consisted of 244 recommendations relating to ethics, governance, lobbying and procurement. The report also included a volume on public inquiry process, which has been used by practically every public inquiry in Canada since. She has given many speeches relating to public inquiries and, in 2017, wrote a lengthy chapter entitled “How to Run a Public Inquiry” in Public Inquiries in Canada: Law and Practice.
Ms. Bellamy obtained a B.A. in Political Science from Carleton University and her law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. Before her appointment to the bench, she held a number of senior legal positions with the government of Ontario.
Ms. Bellamy was elected a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario and served in this position for eight years. She was President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the umbrella organization of the 13 governing bodies of the legal profession in Canada and was also the Vice-President of the Ontario Centre for Advocacy Training.
John started his career as a social worker but rapidly rose through the management ranks of local and provincial governments as well as not‐for‐profits achieving the most senior leadership positions in several organizations, including service as a Chief Administrative Officer in two large Ontario municipalities, Deputy Minister of several portfolios in Ontario and as CEO of a national health charity. After completing his full‐time career he continued his leadership work by achieving the Chartered Director designation and opening his consulting practice aptly named with the insights and humour that John brings to all of his professional work – Occasional Consulting. His practice is located in Oakville, Ontario.
Since 2008 he has focused his work around governance teaching and advice, executive mentoring, coaching and group facilitation, especially emphasizing his ability to help boards and teams to work effectively to identify and achieve common goals. He is the Integrity Commissioner for the Town of Caledon and Chair of the Board of Governors of Sheridan College; has served on numerous boards and committees and is a past Chair of the Board of Directors of Halton Healthcare Services. He is also a past Director of OMERS Sponsors Corporation, the governing board of one of Canada’s largest pension plans.
His newest venture is as Co-Chair of a dynamic team of health and human service leaders who are working together to create an Ontario Health Team for Hamilton.
Anna retired from 35 years of public service in early June, 2016. She served as the City Solicitor for the City of Toronto for the last 14 years prior to her retirement. During her career, she held senior positions in the former City of Scarborough and on amalgamation, was appointed Director, Planning and Administrative Tribunal Law. In March 2002, Anna was appointed City Solicitor, responsible for the provision of legal services to the City. She oversaw the largest municipal legal division in Canada consisting of approximately 300 staff including almost 130 lawyers. Anna was certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Municipal Law: Local Government/Land Use Planning and Development. Anna was the first recipient of the International Municipal Lawyers' Association (IMLA) Bruce A. Noble Award honouring an outstanding Canadian Municipal lawyer and recognizing excellence, dedication and service in the practice of Canadian municipal law. She was awarded the Ontario Bar Association's Tom Marshall Award of Excellence for Public Sector Lawyers. Anna was also awarded the Charles S. Rhyne Lifetime Achievement Award which is IMLA's highest award.
Greg Levine practises administrative, municipal and government ethics law in Ontario. He has been an Integrity Commissioner for several Ontario municipalities. He is a member of the Law Societies of Upper Canada and British Columbia, with an LL.B. from the University of Toronto, as well as a Ph.D. in cultural geography from Queen’s University in Kingston. He is also a member of the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars based in Vancouver. The author of three books -The Law of Government Ethics: Federal, Ontario and British Columbia, Municipal Ethics Regimes, and Ombudsman Legislation in Canada: An Annotation and Appraisal and numerous articles - Greg Levine has been involved in government ethics law work in various contexts for many years.
Ms. Jepson is the Integrity Commissioner for the City of Toronto. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and the Code of Conduct for elected and appointed officials by: raising awareness about the Act and the Code; providing advice to elected and appointed officials to help them to meet the standards of conduct; and, carrying out investigations when allegations of misconduct are made.
From 2007 to 2014, Ms. Jepson was Counsel to the Integrity Commissioner for the Province of Ontario. As Counsel, Ms. Jepson advised the Ontario Integrity Commissioner on all aspects of the Commissioner’s mandate including the conduct of MPPs, lobbyist registration and disclosure of wrongdoing and provided day-to-day management of the disclosure of wrongdoing framework. Prior to joining the public sector, Ms. Jepson practiced as a litigator in private sector law firms in Calgary and Toronto in a variety of areas of law.
Ms. Jepson is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Law Society of Alberta. From 2012 to 2015, Ms. Jepson taught Canadian Administrative Law in the Global Professional LLM program and the Internationally Trained Lawyers Program at the University of Toronto. Prior to becoming the Integrity Commissioner for Toronto, Ms. Jepson was an active member of the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) Public Lawyers Section and held various positions on the executive.
In 2018, Ms. Jepson was awarded The Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators Medal and in 2019 was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by the University of Victoria Faculty of Law.
With his 1989 call to the Bar in Ontario, Rick O'Connor became a solicitor with the former Region of Ottawa-Carleton. With the amalgamation of the City of Ottawa in 2001, he became the Deputy City Clerk while retaining the title of Legal Counsel. In 2006, Rick was appointed City Solicitor and, on December 1st, 2008, he was appointed to the newly established position of City Clerk and Solicitor.
Rick successfully achieved his Certified Municipal Officer (“CMO”) designation through the AMCTO, and was the proud recipient of AMCTO’s 2006 Prestige Award. In 2010, Rick also achieved his Certified Specialist (Municipal Law: Local Government) designation through the Law Society of Ontario. Honoured to be the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award for 2012 by the Ontario Good Roads Association, Rick received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his leadership in the evolution of open and accountable public administration in Ontario in 2013.
The author of numerous legal articles and editor of the "Municipal Corporation" volumes of O'Brien's Encyclopedia of Forms, Rick also co-authored Conduct Handbook for Municipal Employees and Officials (2nd ed., 2003), wrote Open Local Government (2nd ed., 2004) and co-authored A Practical Guide to Ontario’s Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (3rd ed. 2019).
The Honourable J. David Wake was appointed as the Ontario Integrity Commissioner effective February 1, 2016. The Commissioner is an independent Officer of the Legislative Assembly who has seven mandates under five pieces of legislation affecting both elected MPPs and Ontario public servants.
Commissioner Wake was educated at McGill B.A.’69 and Queen’s LL. B. ’72 and called to the Bar in Ontario in 1974. He practised principally in litigation in Ottawa for 20 years. He was appointed as Queen’s Counsel by the Minister of Justice for Canada. In 1994 he was appointed as a judge of what is now the Ontario Court of Justice, presiding in Brampton. He was appointed as Associate Chief Justice of the Court in 1999 and served as Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Chief Judges from 2004-09. Most recently he was appointed as Vice Chair of the federal Social Security Tribunal from 2013-16.
As a judge Commissioner Wake has participated in a number of international legal assistance projects notably in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Ukraine, Bosnia and Mexico. He was Chair of the Ontario Court of Justice Education Secretariat, co-author of the Annotated Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Carswell 1995-2000 and Contributing Writer and Reviewer of Ferguson’s Ontario Courtroom Procedure, Lexis Nexis,2007. He has lectured extensively at seminars and conferences organized by the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Crown Trial Advocacy Program, Seneca College and the University of Ottawa. He was a principal planner and developer of a national program for newly-appointed judges and presented at that program for more than 10 years since its inception.
Mary Ellen Bench served as City Solicitor for the City of Mississauga for the past 18 years, before retiring in May, 2019. Over the course of her career at Mississauga, she provided advice to City Council and senior staff on the full range of municipal matters, including the City’s relationship with its electrical utility, Enersource, with the other shareholder in Enersource Borealis, and with regard to the merger and acquisitions of several hydro electric utilities to form Alectra; as well as other corporate relationships.
At the City of Mississauga, Mary Ellen drafted the City’s first Council Code of Conduct and was engaged in hiring all of its Integrity Commissioners. She also provided advice on staff conflict matters and participated in drafting the City’s first staff-Council relationship policy.
Previous to joining Mississauga, Mary Ellen was Director, Municipal Law at the City of Toronto and served in a similar role before amalgamation. She joined the City of Toronto’s legal department in 1991. At Toronto, Mary Ellen’s duties included providing legal support to the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO), the Toronto Parking Authority, and supporting Toronto’s 2008 Olympic bid. Mary Ellen was called to the Bar in 1986 and is a Law Society Certified Specialist in Municipal Law since 2006. She has also received the designation of Certified In-House Counsel from the Rotman School of Management.
Wendy Walberg has been the City Solicitor for the City of Toronto since 2017.
She has both an LLB and an LLM (Administrative Law), from Osgoode Hall Law School and is Certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Municipal Law (Local Government). During her career, Wendy has provided legal advice for Toronto's City of Toronto Act Review, the establishment of its accountability offices and numerous matters involving board governance.
Marian Macdonald was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Supply Chain Ontario for 10 years from 1998 to 2018.
During her tenure, Marian led a team of more than 180 procurement professionals overseeing $6 billion in annual spending and was responsible for developing and implementing procurement policies and processes in the Ontario Public Service and Broader Public Sector. She provided strategic advice to Management Board of Cabinet on large scale complex procurements and was an expert advisor for various trade negotiations including the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, the Canada European Union Comprehensive Trade Agreement, and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between Ontario and Quebec.
Marian championed early efforts to modernize public sector procurement practices including the promotion of bulk purchasing efforts across sectors, innovation procurement, vendor training and engagement, and introduced Canada’s first public sector electronic tendering system, the Ontario Tenders Portal.
After a successful 34-year career, Marian retired from the Ontario Public Service in 2018 and lives just outside of Collingwood, Ontario.
Michael Pacholok became the Chief Purchasing Officer for the City of Toronto in 2012, with oversight of close to $2 billion spent on goods and services per year. In the role of Chief Purchasing Officer, Michael leads a professional staff of approximately 140 and has been instrumental in leading large scale procurement transformations within the City. These transformations include the implementation of Category Management and Strategic Sourcing, the use of SAP Ariba as an end to end procurement tool, implementing the first municipal Social Procurement Program that focuses on supply chain diversity and workforce development and introducing changes to the Purchasing By-law to be compliant with the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Prior to his current position, Michael was a municipal lawyer with the City's Legal Services department providing legal advice on the public procurement process to the Purchasing and Materials Management Division and legal advice on environmental matters, contracts and other municipal matters to the City’s Solid Waste Management Services.
Michael graduated from University of Toronto with a Juris Doctor in 2005 and from Queen’s University with a B.A.H. in Computer Science and Economics.
Suzanne Craig has an extensive educational background. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and attended the American University of Rome, Italy, where she received a post-graduate degree. Ms. Craig also completed the Doctor of Law program at the University of Rome, Italy, and the master of law program at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.
With more than 20 years of legal, management and policy experience in the public and private sectors, Suzanne Craig has an in-depth understanding of the procedures, rules and investigative processes of provincial and municipal agencies, boards and commissions. Ms. Craig has been an independent administrative tribunal agent, arbitrator and mediator across Ontario, in the areas of labour relations, human rights, workplace safety, insurance and tenant protection. She was also a lawyer in Italy and a forensic investigator in the European banking sector.
In 2005, Suzanne Craig was appointed Director of Corporate Access and Privacy for the City of Toronto, where she was responsible for improving the City’s MFIPPA and privacy compliance from its lowest historical level to one of the highest compliance levels in Ontario. In 2009, Suzanne Craig was appointed as Integrity Commissioner for the City of Vaughan and has since been appointed as Integrity Commissioner to over 20 Ontario municipalities, Lobbyist Registrar for the City of Vaughan, Accountability Officer to Waterfront Revitalization Corporation and Closed Meeting Investigator to several municipal organizations. In 2016, appointed as the first Integrity Commissioner to the Toronto District School Board, Suzanne Craig has been a frequent speaker at Canadian information and privacy conferences, guest speaker at the Ryerson Ethics and Law in Journalism and municipal governance conference across Canada. A chapter contributor to “The Unfulfilled Promise of Press Freedom in Canada”, University of Toronto Press, Suzanne Craig is committed to developing a culture of openness and accountability in government decision-making.
Linda is a retired lawyer with a background in administrative law and adjudication. From 2008 to 2016, she served as Lobbyist Registrar for the City of Toronto. She is an adjudicator currently serving as a part-time Vice-Chair with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT). She served as a full-time Vice-Chair of WSIAT from 1998-2008 and as Tribunal Counsel and Associate Counsel to the Tribunal Chair from 1985 to 1998. Linda has played a longstanding role in professional development in administrative law and adjudication. She is a faculty member of the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators (SOAR) and Osgoode Professional Development Adjudicator Training and Effective Decisions courses. She mentors law students at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where she received her law degree. She is a recipient of the SOAR Medal and the Law Society Medal for her contributions to administrative justice and the public service.
Robert Marleau is a recognized expert in parliamentary practice and procedure as result of his 32 years of parliamentary service. He was the Clerk of the House of Commons for 13 years and served in a number of other positions including the Deputy Secretary General for Interparliamentary Relations, and Special Advisor to the Speaker of the House. Mr. Marleau left a rich legacy of achievement, including the authoritative procedural manual House of Commons Procedure and Practice, now in use in most Canadian legislatures.
Mr. Marleau received a number of appointments throughout his career and into his retirement most notably Information Commissioner of Canada and Interim Privacy Commissioner of Canada by the Governor in Council with a mandate to restore credibility and sound management practices to the Privacy Office.
Robert Marleau has been the Integrity Commissioner, Lobbyist Registrar and Meetings Investigator at the City of Ottawa since 2014 and was most recently awarded the Order of Canada in 2017.
