Mayor Linnsie Clark filed for a judicial review of the sanctions placed on her by council on March 21, 2024. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

Code of Conduct Sanctions

Medicine Hat’s ‘dirty laundry’ aired in ‘schoolyard dispute’ hearing, observers say

Aug 15, 2024 | 9:05 AM

A hearing for a judicial review of the sanctions placed by Medicine Hat’s council on Mayor Linnsie Clark was described by a political expert as a “schoolyard dispute” and a former politician as an airing of “dirty laundry” amid reaction on Wednesday.

READ: Decision in judicial review case to arrive by Sept. 30

Jim Groom, a longtime political consultant in Medicine Hat, said the hearing dived into the realm of being unprofessional.

“The terminology used by the lawyers on both sides have been rather derogatory and cutting in their approach,” Groom told CHAT News on Wednesday.

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“It didn’t seem to be all that professional, it seemed almost like a schoolyard dispute that was going on.”

The conflict between council and the mayor should have never reached the point where the City needed to go to court, Groom argued.

READ: Judge hears Medicine Hat mayor was ‘inappropriate’

Instead, the Alberta government’s municipal affairs ministry should have stepped in, he said.

Former Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes, who has followed the ongoing sanctions saga at city hall, said the onus was also on the mayor for not trying to find consensus.

“It’s incumbent on Mayor Clark to go to her councillors, close the door and have a heart-to-heart conversation with them,” he said.

Instead, some residents of Medicine Hat are looking on disappointed as council’s sanctions on Clark are put to the test at the Court of King’s Bench.

“They’re dismayed that here we are airing our dirty laundry, so to speak in a courtroom for all of Alberta, for all of Canada, to see how dysfunctional this council has been,” Barnes said.

Longtime political consultant Jim Groom says the province should examine Medicine Hat’s experience after the court ruling. File Photo/CHAT News

Groom said that, after the ruling is released, the municipal affairs ministry should examine and review the code of conduct complaint, the consequences and how it was tested in court.

Paul Salvatore, CEO of Municipal Experts Inc., said Medicine Hat’s experience should be under consideration as officials look for ways to update Alberta’s Municipal Government Act.

“The question would be, ‘did the requirement for a code of conduct reduce this situation or did it help mitigate some of the problem that was being encountered by the City of Medicine Hat?'” Salvatore said.

“It could occur again; is it detrimental to municipalities across Alberta? That would be one of the questions that the province would want to consider if they were to make those adjustments.”

Justice Rosemary Nation’s ruling, due by the end of September, will be a precedent-setting decision that will shape not only Medicine Hat’s government but reverberate at municipalities across Alberta, legal and municipal policy experts say.

Drew Barnes, former MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, says Mayor Linnsie Clark should have tried to find a collaborative way forward with her council colleagues. Dave Cournoyer/Flickr

The level of conflict and tension at city hall revealed through the unredacted Kingsgate Legal report, at public council meetings and, most recently, in the courtroom, points to a municipal government that won’t function at its best, according to those that spoke to CHAT News.

“”We see this very disturbing kind of exchange that’s going on and it’s obvious that it’s become very personable and very divisive,” Groom said.

He added that it “certainly doesn’t speak well for the remainder of their term.”

No member of council has given comment on the issue since the judicial review on Tuesday.

A spokesperson said Wednesday the City of Medicine Hat would not be providing any comment on the judicial review at this time.

Mayor Clark will give her first statement to media in an appearance on CHAT News during its noon show on Thursday.

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