Richmond Councillor Suspended With Pay For Violating Code of Conduct

ARICHAT - The latest episode of TELILE 24/7 begins with an examination of Richmond Municipal Council's decision to suspend District Two Councillor Michael Diggdon from council activities for the entire month of April.

Host Adam Cooke sets the table at 1:29 with the news that Diggdon was judged to have breached Richmond County's Municipal Code of Conduct with the nature of text messages and Facebook Messenger posts made to a member of the public that was seeking affordable housing options in the county. A special meeting of council held via Zoom on March 28 saw the remaining councillors vote to suspend Diggdon from all council and committee meetings, as well as budget discussions and other activities involving direct contact with other councillors of the warden, up to and including April 30. Diggdon will also have to write a letter of apology to the complainant and complete sensitivity training no later than September 30. 

An interview at 5:52 with Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette shows that council does not have the authority on its own to restrict Diggdon's councillor stipends during his suspension, nor can the municipality declare the District Two seat vacant or expel him from council. Mombourquette noted that neither the county's own code of conduct nor the Nova Scotia Municipal Government Act affords either of these options to councillors. However, she expressed hope that an examination of the Richmond code of conduct slated for later this year, as well as a working group of municipal and provincial officials currently taking a closer look at municipal codes of conduct across the province, will help fill in the gaps that exist in this legislation at both levels of government. 

Also on TELILE 24/7 this week:

17:50 - World Autism Acceptance Day flag-raising ceremonies were held an hour apart from each other on Saturday, April 2, in front of the Richmond Municipal Building in Arichat and the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre. 

22:42 - The director of the Marine Research Centre at the Petit de Grat campus of Universite-Sainte-Anne, Michelle Theriault, and associate professor Daniel Laine discuss a funding package totalling $327,000 from two levels of government to help Pictou County's Northumberland Fishing Association relocate its defunct hatchery's equipment to the Isle Madame facility.

36:03 - The support coordinator for Autism Nova Scotia's Strait Area chapter. Natalie Stevens, looks back on her first 18 months on the job - including this past weekend's World Autism Acceptance Day activities - and unveils new family programs that her group will hold over the next four months.

We wrap things up at 56:46 with the light-hearted segment "The Fast Five," featuring the director of the Marine Research Centre for the Universite-Sainte-Anne campus in Petit de Grat, Michelle Theriault.