Members of city council are unanimous in their opinion of where and when they can disagree. In chambers during debate? Yes. In public after a decision? No.
One of council's newly identified values is unity, which is described in the council priority literature as to "move forward as one body on decisions."
This means councillors can disagree wholeheartedly during debate, but once a vote's been rendered, all seven are expected to support the decision and help move it forward.
"It's a subset of democracy. Majority rules and that's the kind of unity you must have," said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
He pointed out that this concept is outlined in the Municipal Government Act, so it's not a new thing for council. However, the notion wasn't spelled out in council values before.
There's no need, said the mayor and councillors, for this value to generate fears that council will become a closed caucus, where staying on message supercedes the expression of personal opinion.
"I don't think that's going to stop freedom of speech," Crouse said.
Fine line
People vote for councillors based on their ideas and opinions, so councillors must continue to express their thoughts after being elected, said Coun. Wes Brodhead. However, it's possible for a councillor to explain his personal position or reasons for voting a certain way, while also saying that council decided to go a different way and supporting that, he said.
"It takes a skill, I think, to be able to express your opinion and still support the final decision of council, but I think it's something that we all need to learn because otherwise it's never decided," Brodhead said.
Being a strong unit is the only way council can move initiatives forward, agreed Coun. Cathy Heron.
"There's always a segment of society that doesn't agree with you. If they get wind that one of the councillors [is wavering] then they'll keep pushing the issue even though the issue has already been voted on," she said.
This doesn't mean councillors shouldn't debate wholeheartedly while making decisions.
"Council is not a political party. We all have our individual voice," Heron said. "You absolutely have to say what you personally value but you have to back each other up."
"I think people have been doing that for as long as I've been on council," said veteran councillor Len Bracko.
Councillors have to be able to deal with the fact that majority rules, no matter how strongly you feel about an issue, said Coun. Malcolm Parker.
"You can't keep pushing back on it," he said. "You have that opportunity later on to bring forward a motion to have another discussion."
Without unity the mayor and council would lose the respect of the citizens, organizations and administration, said Coun. Roger Lemieux said.
"If a vote is 4-3, should the three that lose the vote get on board and help achieve the goals of the intent of the motion? My answer is yes," he said, but added, "It's not always possible. We'd be robots if we did that."
Case study
Sometimes a councillor is put in a position of defending a decision that he or she didn't support during debate. For Lemieux, one of those decisions is the adoption of organic waste collection. He voted against it but is now having to explain it to people.
This has him bringing up suggestions for improving the program and learning as much as he can about it.
"I'm not going to … balk [against] it because it's been approved by council. I respect that. It doesn't mean that I have to be totally in favour and rave about it," he said. "I think I did the right thing to make myself more informed and see whether or not it can work and from what I see it can work."
Organics collection is an issue that illustrates how Coun. Cam MacKay skates the fine line between supporting a council decision and expressing his personal opinion. From his repeated questioning in council, it's no secret that MacKay is not a fan of the program. But his probing is an attempt to improve the program, not scuttle it, he said.
"I'm certainly not going to do anything to derail a decision of council but you do have an obligation to represent people," MacKay said. "If you just shut up and say nothing, that the decision's been made, I don't think that's entirely doing your job. Your job is to represent people."
