Pickering Coun. Lisa Robinson gets most severe pay penalty [Video]

A councillor in a southern Ontario city has been issued a 90-day pay suspension – the most severe penalty possible under current rules – after the municipality’s integrity commissioner found she has been demonstrating a continued pattern of “unacceptable behavior” that risks hurting marginalized members of society.

It’s the latest in a series of penalties leveled against Coun. Lisa Robinson of Pickering, Ont., and a situation that the mayor has said underscores the need for changes to the province’s Municipal Act to allow stricter sanctions, up to the removal of a councillor from office.

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Robinson, for her part, denied the integrity commissioner’s findings, called his report “full of lies” and accused the council of conducting a “witch hunt” against her.

The situation in Pickering, a city east of Toronto , is one that has been developing since last year.

The city’s mayor said he isn’t optimistic Robinson’s latest pay suspension …