New Elliot Lake mayor sworn in amidst uncertainty over 3-year-old conflict of interest allegations

The new mayor of Elliot Lake has been sworn in, but Chris Patrie still has some unfinished business from his last term on city council.  

He was one of many councillors in the small northern Ontario city to be investigated by the integrity commissioner over the last four years.

Patrie was accused in 2019 of conflict of interest for lobbying that a planned recreation complex should be built on a site near to a store he owns in a commercial plaza owned by a corporation where he is a director.

It was also alleged he tried to convince his fellow councillors against another possible site for the project, the empty lot in downtown Elliot Lake left behind after the Algo Centre mall was demolished.

Patrie has always maintained that he did nothing wrong. 

Integrity commissioner firm E4M ruled that Patrie did violate the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and referred the case to the Ontario Superior Court, which does have the power to remove him from office.

But three years later, Patrie and the Elliot Lake are still awaiting a decision.

He didn't mention the case in his brief inaugural address Monday night, but did discuss the court delay during a council meeting on Oct. 11, about two weeks before election day.

"It's very sad that any of this even transpired," Patrie said. 

"It's in the past. Yes, I don't have a ruling. My lawyers have explained to me that the reason I don't have a ruling is that we have asked some very hard precedent-setting questions."

Elliot Lake citizen Steve Calverley is so concerned about the "question mark" hanging over the new mayor and council that he wrote to the Superior Court to find out why a decision is taking so long. 

"It puts us into quite a confused situation," said the 67-year-old, who has lived in Elliot Lake for five years. 

"It just doesn't seem as though this is supporting our local government adequately." 

Andrew Sancton, a retired political science professor at Western University, says he doesn't think it was ever anticipated that an election would be held after an integrity allegation was made but before there was a final decision. 

But he doesn't think that means the voters can overrule the court. 

"I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think it's really concern of the judge whether somebody got elected or not," he said.

"I don't understand as a lay person why it would take so long for the judgment to come out."

Sancton also points out that "normally a candidate who has become known for doing something wrong doesn't get elected," however Patrie's main opponent, now former mayor Dan Marchisella, was also investigated by the integrity commissioner in recent years.

"It is a sort of serious commentary on Elliot Lake and the integrity commissioner system, because the integrity commissioner was supposed to simplify things, not make everything so complex and expensive," he said.

The Ontario government announced a review of the municipal integrity rules last year, but no word yet on when results could be released.