CALEB NICKERSON
L’ÎLE DU GRAND CALUMET Jan. 20, 2021
The mayor of L’Île du Grand Calumet will be contesting complaints levelled at him through the Commission Municipale du Quebec (CMQ).
The CMQ is a body that deals with violations of the municipal code of ethics and the code of conduct for elected officials. The citation alleges that Newberry acted inappropriately towards both members of his council and municipal staff. There are six separate . . .
incidences detailed in the report, which was released on Dec. 21.
Two incidents have already been made public in local media. Back in April of 2020, councillors Réjean Meilleur and Alice Meilleur-Pieschke accused Newberry of coming to their homes unannounced and making disrespectful remarks about a decision made at council. At the time, Meilleur also accused Newberry of pushing him to the ground during the argument, but the accusations only reference Newberry making inappropriate remarks.
The other accusations date back as far as 2017, when Newberry allegedly made “gestures, or made vexatious, degrading or humiliating remarks” to the director general at the time. He is also accused of doing the same to a different director general between February and April 2020, and also acting disrespectfully towards a municipal employee in June 2020.
Following a meeting either on Sept. 30, 2019, or Nov. 6, 2019, Newberry is accused of making “disrespectful comments of a sexual nature by speculating on the intentions of a councillor towards a citizen.”
None of these claims have been proven before an arbitrator, and in an interview with THE EQUITY on Jan. 18, Newberry said that he would fight to clear his name.
“I was debating for the longest time whether I should fight it or not, because there’s a cost to the municipality, but I think it’s worth … clearing my reputation … so I’m going to fight it,” he said.
He said that he was contacted by the CMQ in early December and would have opted to avoid arbitration if the accusations hadn’t been so numerous and egregious.
“I don’t think it’s right because I don’t think I was ever maliciously disrespectful, you know what I mean?” he said. “If I was disrespectful it was only because of the stress or the situation … Because there’s six complaints, that’s why I’m doing it, if there was only two there, I wouldn’t, but because there’s six, I’m going to defend myself, because it shows a character that I don’t think represents me.”
He noted that the municipality is obligated to foot the bill for the arbitration, but he could end up responsible if he is found guilty and council moves to reclaim some expenses.
“There’s a possibility that the municipality could try to recover it,” he said.
This is not the municipality’s first dispute over municipal ethics. The island saw four different mayors over the course of the term prior to Newberry’s and also have had more than five different directors general since 2015.
Back in 2019, a similar case was brought against councillor Meilleur, where he was accused and found guilty of acting disrespectfully towards the director general at the time.
He was given a 10-day suspension without pay, served in January 2020.
The council also tried to recover some of the expenses from the arbitration, passing a resolution on Jan. 13, 2020 for Meilleur to pay $15,000. A municipal employee spoke to The Equity anonymously at the time and said that the overall investigation cost the municipality around $26,000.
