Josee Trepanier is withdrawing her name as a potential Verner Ward 7 candidate, blaming what she describes as “derogatory” social media posts by West Nipissing Coun. Chris Fisher.
“My decision has come after numerous personal attacks and insults via social media from Councillor Christopher Fisher and his wife along with two other individuals,” Trepanier stated in a media release Sunday, adding it “became unbearable once I created a poll to seek the community's opinion on their thoughts about a by-election or appointing an individual to fill the position.”
Note: this story was published at 3 p.m. and updated with Coun. Fisher's statement emailed to BayToday at 6 p.m. His response was added to the bottom at 8:15 p.m.
West Nipissing council is split down the middle on how to fill the Ward 7 seat, which was vacated by Jeremy Seguin this summer, who also cited council dysfunction and toxicity. Fisher and councillors Roland Larabie, Dan Roveda and Leo Malette want it filled by appointment while Mayor Joanne Savage and councillors Lise Senecal, Denis Senecal and Yvon Duhaime want there to be a byelection.
At the most recent council meeting Dec. 1, several motions were defeated by tied 4-4 votes, including one asking staff to look at the logistics and cost of conducting a Ward Boundary Review. Staff stated the process would have to start early in 2021 to include a full public consultation process to receive Ministry of Municipal Affairs approval to take affect before the 2022 election.
Coun. Lise Senecal brought the motion forward with the primary objective of joining Wards 1 through 4 in Sturgeon Falls to make them all “at-large.” Discussion included the boundaries of other wards that sometimes split residents on the same street or include people with addresses naming other communities.
Larabie, Fisher, Malette and Roveda voted against, stating that the issue of filling the Ward 7 seat needs to be decided so Verner is represented in such discussions.
More than a month ago, Trepanier and supporters had talked about getting a petition going to ask the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to get involved but it didn’t result in action. She says council is obviously not going to get things done without someone to break the tie votes.
Related story: Municipal Affairs urged to intervene in West Nipissing
“Their constant finger pointing and attacks on live broadcasts make it evident that until they agree to representation for Ward 7, they will never make progress as it's always the same four against four bickering back and forth, forgetting what they were elected to do,” Trepanier stated.
In reaction to the meeting, Trepanier (who goes by JoseeMarc Ducharme on Facebook) posted a poll to the Verner Let’s Talk Facebook group page asking members to select their preference for filling the Ward 7 seat.
So far, 88 members of the 1,400-member group, voted for a byelection and 15 want there to be an appointment. Richard Malette added a poll choice for those who want no election, which received eight votes. Two people voted for another added poll choice that stated they “couldn’t care less.”
There was debate on the cost of holding a byelection, which some refer to as $1 per household while others say it adds up to $8,000 or possibly more.
Coun. Fisher, however, questioned the poll itself, citing Trepanier’s comment a couple months ago when a similar poll was posted to get feedback. In that poll, 103 people did not want to spend municipal money on a byelection while 28 preferred paying for a vote (instead of an appointment).
Christopher Paul Fisher posted: “There are levels of stupid. For example your comment on the original poll ‘Question: Who gave anyone on here the authority to create this pole? Was this something the Mayor and conseil asked for in order to make a decision?’ This one is different how? Also, sight not site.”
JoseeMarc Ducharme replied: “Levels of stupid! Might want to re-watch the live meetings. Also, council not conseil.”
Added directly after by JoseeMarc Ducharme: “When your French is as good as mine then you can correct me on my English as I am an English learner. As for levels of stupid so you’re calling me, coming from someone who was voted in and who should be acting as a professional with a certain level of integrity, you sir definitely lack this! You should be ashamed of yourself writing this on a public page, especially the part about correcting spelling.”
(Editorial Note: the original JoseeMarc Ducharme question about the poll in the summer referenced ‘conseil’).
There have been several posts accusing Trepanier of being Mayor Savage’s “puppet,” drawing the mayor into the fray this weekend asking the administrator of the page to monitor disrespectful commentary.
Mayor Savage has also been called a “megalomaniac” and referred to as the “Queen” by various posters while those supporting Fisher say it’s them who are disrespected for trying to do the right thing.
Trepanier said she will be bringing a complaint against Fisher to the municipality’s Integrity Commissioner, who has been busy the last year dealing with numerous complaints about council antics.
“Until yesterday, I managed to not allow councillor Fisher's attacks get the best of me and I focused on the positive, however to be called stupid on a public forum was my last straw,” she said in the media release.
“Not only did this councillor attempt to humiliate me publicly he also corrected my grammar before posting his thoughts on this poll. Coming from a French person who is an English learner, this was very offensive to read, especially that he is the only non French speaking person on Council.”
Coun. Chris Fisher in response after the article was published:
"She is entitled to her opinion. Disagreeing with someone and not being afraid to call them out is the foundation of democracy. If she wants to call that bullying, fine. It’s a bit of the pot calling the kettle black."
"As for the Integrity Commissioner, she can get in line, and waste more tax payer money. IC complaints are a popular and expensive pastime among some Mayors and Councillors these days. Calling someone’s comment “stupid” on Facebook may be tasteless, but I didn’t lose my right to free speech when I was elected. Am I supposed to apologize for an opinion?"
"A ‘Press Release’ about not running in a non existent by-election is a tad dramatic."
Julie Bertram, wife of Coun. Fisher, commented on the BayToday Facebook post for this article. She refutes Trepanier's allegation of social media attacks.
"Not once did I attack or insult this woman, let alone numerous times," Beltram wrote, describing Coun. Fisher's comment as a singular occurrence and quoting Trepanier's comment to the group page administrator questioning the first poll.
Dave Dale is a Local Journalism Reporter with BayToday.ca. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
