A Durham regional and city councillor has asked “why are there no police checks on poll candidates?” with municipal election coming up and a rise in hate speech and crime.
Recently, there was a debate on whether rival opinion should be banned from a candidate’s social media platforms (see below).
Hate speech and crime has been rising across Durham and there have been several calls by politicians to curb such incidents. in fact, the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) has set up a Hate Crime and Extremism Unit (see below).
The regional municipality on June 25 held a meeting of the Durham Region Anti-Racism Taskforce where Sargent Byron Bacon of the DRPS Hate Crime Unit, presented an overview of the unit.
“My question during that debate at the meeting was since the motion is going to get the DRPS involved, why are there no police checks required for nominees running for council?” asked John Neal, Oshawa Ward 1 and Regional Councillor.
Hate Mongers
“If this is a serious motion, and there are people actively creating posts aimed at hate, these same people could even seek a seat on municipal council because there are no police checks required in the nomination process,” he pointed out.
“That to me, and everybody else should be wondering why that is?” the councillor said.
“With nominations now taking place, now is the time to require police checks. As all other boards seem to now require it, so should regional and municipal councils and school boards,” he said.
OMERS Pension
“If no police checks are taking place for mayoralty and councill nominees, those nominees that end up being elected to some Durham Regional local council can collect an OMERS [Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System] pension after their council term, in most instances, and again, with no criminal checks taken place. No protections for the taxpayers,” said Neal.
“If this regional council is serious about curtailing the hate that the council wants to end, then it needs to guarantee that no one convicted of hate is elected to city and regional council, or school boards,” the councillor added.