Ontario was days away from tabling a bill on councillor harassment. So why is it still not law? [Video]

In the fall of 2021, the world of Ontario municipal politics was abuzz with excitement, expecting the provincial government to finally unveil a law that would tackle the growing issue of harassment on local councils.

“I had heard it was days away from being tabled,” John Mascarin, a partner with Aird and Berlis and a municipal law specialist, told Global News.

“We had been advised that the ministry was working at this and that they were going to bring something forward in November of 2021 … it was just days away from an announcement, not even weeks.”

But, as the hype built and municipal experts looked forward to a regime that would bring serious “teeth” to local accountability, the provincial promise faded.

The law was never officially scrapped, instead failing to materialize and eventually disappearing into the vacuum of another election, the housing crisis and the Greenbelt scandal.

A trove of new documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information …