Severn Court (October-August)
Councillors Joy Lachica, Alex Bierk, Matt Crowley and Don Vassiliadis listening to delegations on Council's recommendation to not penalize Mayor Jeff Leal for Code of Conduct violations. Photo by Louanne Morin

Peterborough City Council Will Not Penalize Mayor Jeff Leal for Threats and Bullying

Written by
Louanne Morin
and
and
June 10, 2025
Peterborough City Council Will Not Penalize Mayor Jeff Leal for Threats and Bullying
Councillors Joy Lachica, Alex Bierk, Matt Crowley and Don Vassiliadis listening to delegations on Council's recommendation to not penalize Mayor Jeff Leal for Code of Conduct violations. Photo by Louanne Morin

The June 9th, 2025 meeting of Peterborough City Council saw councillors pass a motion not to penalize Mayor Jeff Leal for breaching section 10 of the Council Code of Conduct on two separate occasions.

Leal’s infractions, detailed in a comprehensive Integrity Commissioner’s (IC) report by Guy Giorno, relate to the mayor’s behaviour in and after an April 2nd, 2024 general committee meeting where Arthur reported that the Mayor had threatened to “carve” Town Ward Councillor Alex Bierk “like a Thanksgiving turkey.” 

Later that day, Giorno’s report revealed, he berated fellow Town Ward Councillor Joy Lachica outside council chambers, blaming her for the actions of a disruptive member of the public at the meeting.

During this altercation, the report found that the mayor raised his voice and concludes that he bullied Lachica.

Members of the public held a rally outside City Hall before Monday night’s meeting to protest the recommendation from the June 2nd general committee meeting that Leal should not face disciplinary action. The protest saw appearacnes from Lachica, Bierk, and Ashburnham Ward Councillor Keith Riel, the three councillors who voted against the recommendation at last week’s meeting.

From left to right in black: Couns. Joy Lachica, Alex Bierk and Keith Riel outside Peterborough City Hall on Monday June 9th. Below in pink: Danielle Turpin, who delegated to Council during the meeting. Photo: Joelle Kovach via Bluesky.

All ten spots for public delegations were taken by community members wishing to speak to Ashburnham Ward Councillor Gary Baldwin’s motion not to penalize the Mayor. 

“The report is clear that the mayor was found to have bullied, intimidated, threatened other members of this council,” Danielle Turpin told council. 

“Whether you feel that the mayor is a good guy is not in question tonight [...] The mayor intimidated and threatened city councillors because he didn’t like what they stood for and he didn’t like what they said, period. That shouldn't be okay.”

Turpin condemned the councillors who had voted against punishing Leal, with a particular focus on the mover.

“[Coun. Baldwin] openly acknowledged that tons of emails came in from constituents calling for a full 90-day paid suspension,” Turpin said. 

“And yet, instead of acting on what the public asked for, what his constituents asked for, Councillor Baldwin made a motion to do nothing.”

Turpin concluded her delegation by saying “I think a lot of us here have the same question: are the people we elected even listening to us, or are they just shielding power?”

Jennifer Lacey took a different approach to the issue, recounting a conversation with her teenage son about council’s recommendation following the June 2nd meeting.

“If I did what the mayor did at school, I would be suspended, and I would probably have to speak to the police,” Lacey’s son told her.

She explained that for Council not to penalize Leal for his infractions of the Code of Conduct would send a worrying message to Peterborough’s youth.

“Councillors spoke about how the mayor was publicly shamed and that that is punishment enough,” she said. “These comments reminded me of the statement ‘boys will be boys,’ meaning that this behavior should not cause surprise, and we essentially need to move on.”

The next three speakers focused on Leal’s character rather than the findings of the report. 

Robert Campbell spoke about his past relationship with Leal as Chair of Hospice Peterborough’s Finance Committee, prompting several points of order from Lachica and Bierk, who felt that his delegation was irrelevant to the findings of Giorno’s report.

“Jeff was extremely helpful in many ways, navigating through the Provincial system, communicating information, clearing the way for funding. Any dealings with Jeff were professional, polite, and helpful,” Campbell said.

Section 7.3 of our procedural By-law says we’re supposed to focus on the issues, not the personalities,” Bierk said in a point of order. 

Northcrest Ward Councillor Andrew Beamer, who chaired the meeting, allowed Campbell to continue, telling Bierk that the procedural by-law applied to Councillors, not delegates.

“We want to hear your perspective, but maybe just a little closer to the report,” Beamer told Campbell.

“I have not read the report,” Campbell replied.

“Did you read the criteria for making a delegation?” Lachica asked Campbell during the delegation’s question period.

“It actually says that [...] the delegation must be made based on the specific report and the content within that report.”

“Not aware of that,” replied Campbell.

“Were you asked by the Mayor to delegate today on his behalf?” Lachica pressed.

“I was asked by the Mayor to consider it,” Campbell admitted.

The next delegate took the stage amidst sounds of disbelief from the gallery.

“I’m not quite sure how I could proceed, given the tenor of the conversation,” said Dennis Carter-Edwards, whose speech was another endorsement of Leal’s “ongoing commitment to the wellbeing of our community.”

“I have not had an opportunity to read the full report,” Carter-Edwards told Council, though he said he had read articles about it in the Peterborough Examiner.

Couns. Joy Lachica and Alex Bierk conferring while a delegate speaks to Council. Photo by Louanne Morin. 

Following Carter-Edwards, a third speaker delegated in the Mayor’s defense. Granville Anderson, a city councillor from Durham, spoke about his time working with Leal in Provincial Parliament, where they served four years together.

“No one asked me to be here,” he told council.

Lachica asked Anderson if he was in attendance in 2017, when Mayor Leal, then Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, was ejected from a legislative session in Queen’s Park for an outburst against MPP Laurie Scott.

Anderson confirmed that he was there the day of Leal’s ejection, but made no further comments on the matter.

Ignoring Chair Beamer’s requests to abandon the topic, Coun. Riel asked Anderson if, were he still at Queen’s Park, whether Leal would have been expelled and mandated to apologize for the behaviour described in the report. Anderson said yes, once again without further elaboration.

Ellen Seddon compared Leal to a schoolyard bully in her delegation, while drawing attention to Baldwin’s background as a school teacher and principal.

“At the early age of four in J.K., throughout students’ entire education experience, [bullying] is not tolerated, and the consequences are serious,” she told council. 

“I found it quite disturbing, therefore, to see a former educator and principal who I greatly respected and enjoyed working with for many years put forward a motion that no action for consequences be applied to the Mayor.”

“Apparently, when you retire, the rules around bullying no longer apply,” Seddon concluded.

Margie Sumadh’s critcized Coun. Baldwin’s behaviour at the June 2nd Meeting.

“In my mind, the majority of councillors are lacking integrity,” she announced.

“Councillor Baldwin even asked the CAO [Jasbir Raina], a staff person hired by Council, to give a public character reference of the mayor. How embarrassingly unethical is that?”

After over 90 minutes of public delegations, Council finally moved on to debate around Baldwin’s motion.

“It’s my view that the moment the Integrity Commissioner’s report was released, the mayor received his reprimand,” Baldwin said in his introduction. “The mayor has apologized, and I personally accept that.”

Lachica called a point of order, calling the statement that the mayor had already apologized “inaccurate.”

“The report is a finding, and it’s to Council to determine a remedy,” she told Baldwin.

Councillor Matt Crowley listening to a concerned community member delegate to Council. Photo by Louanne Morin

Monaghan Ward Councillor Matt Crowley announced his opposition to the motion (which he had supported at last week’s general committee meeting) in a confusing speech which spurred anger from Riel.

The speech began as a mea culpa to Coun. Lachica, as Crowley announced “I never actually reached out to convey support to her for a number of reasons, which I’ve actually spoken to her about.” 

Coun. Crowley did not elaborate on these reasons.

After a lengthy digression about his own relationship to his fellow councillors, Crowley summed up his feelings on the motion.

“I think that we need to do something to show the City of Peterborough that we are in fact holding ourselves to a higher standard,” he told the horseshoe.

Coun. Bierk’s comments on the motion reiterated the points of many delegates, noting that extenuating factors were ancillary to the report itself.

“The Integrity Commissioner already considered the context for what happened. It’s baked into the report: the Mayor’s stress, his long service, the pressures of the job, and despite all these factors, the conclusion was clear,” Bierk said.

“Saying that, quote, ‘he suffered enough,’ is not a defense—it’s an emotional appeal.”

“Councillor Baldwin’s argument boils down to this: ‘I’ve known Jeff for 58 years, he’s a good person,’” Bierk said. “So I ask: would it change your mind if the person who did this wasn’t your friend? If they had a history of being difficult and if you didn’t personally like them? Because if the answer is yes, then what you're really saying is that accountability depends on relationships, not facts.”

Friends of Bonnerworth Park director John Gerelus delegating to Council on June 9th. Photo by Louanne Morin.

Against accusations that the Town Ward councillors were, in Bierk’s words, “out for blood,” Lachica summarized their conceit.

“We no longer wish to experience berating aggression, sidelining and constant needling by proxy ... this is what's happening in hallways and in these chambers,” she said. “We all deserve better than this.” 

Exchanges between herself, Bierk, Riel, and the proponents of Baldwin’s motion continued along the same lines, before the issue was put to a vote.

The motion was carried with six in favour and four opposed. The only notable change to come out of Giorno’s report will be a revision of the Council’s Code of Conduct in the hopes of remediating some blind spots identified in the report.

“I leave this meeting with a sense of resolve, in that I feel that I've been given a full opportunity to speak the truth from my heart,” Lachica told Arthur after the meeting.

“The most important thing is that the public and the city of Peterborough have the opportunity to witness what is transpiring and that together, hopefully, going forward we can do something to improve upon that through our electoral process.”

Severn Court (October-August)
Written By
Sponsored
Arthur News School of Fish

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5
Caption text

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

"Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system."
  • adfasdfa
  • asdfasdfasd
  • asfdasdf
  • asdfasdf

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5
Caption text

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

"Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system."
  • adfasdfa
  • asdfasdfasd
  • asfdasdf
  • asdfasdf