No reprimand for Michael Janz after Edmonton city councillor's offensive retweet

Edmonton city councillor Michael Janz avoided formal sanctions Wednesday as his colleagues accepted an apology as sufficient remorse for a retweet in late May that contained derogatory language.

The city's integrity commissioner, Jamie Pytel, found that Janz, who represents Ward papastew, violated council's code of conduct when he retweeted a post that contained the word "pig" in reference to police.

Pytel investigated seven complaints she received about the social media post.

Janz removed the retweet, said he hadn't noticed the word and in a subsequent tweet in June, apologized.

Pytel didn't recommend further reprimand because she said Janz's actions showed he had taken responsibility.

A councillor found in violation of the council code of conduct could receive a letter of reprimand, be required to take specified training or could have their pay reduced or suspended.

At a sanction hearing Wednesday, council voted unanimously to follow the integrity commissioner's lead.

Coun. Ashley Salvador said Janz had made it clear he believed the post was inappropriate.

"It was a mistake and when we make mistakes, we need to acknowledge them," Salvador said.

"Council takes our responsibility seriously to conduct ourselves in a professional manner and to not misuse the platform that we've been given by Edmontonians."

Coun. Erin Rutherford said all councillors could learn from the complaint process.

"I hope it's a lesson for all of us at this table about social media," Rutherford said.

Rutherford said the incident serves as a caution to council members posting on their own accounts but also when sharing posts from other social media users.

"What I care more about is the going forward and if there's that repeated pattern," Rutherford said.

Code adopted in 2018

The council code of conduct is a set of rules and advice governing the behaviour of elected officials. Edmonton city council adopted its code of conduct in 2018 as required under the Municipal Government Act.

In 2020, Pytel found social media posts made by then-councillor Mike Nickel were "disrespectful" and contained "personal attacks" against other councillors.

Like Janz, Nickel escaped formal sanctions.

Pytel said Wednesday the code isn't a means to restrict freedom of expression but she noted it is an opportunity for councillors to take a leadership role.

"It's not meant to be a 'gotcha' process," Pytel told council. "If we don't keep retweets and things like that in check, it could be used as a way to harass, or participate in conduct that would be offside the code."

Pytel noted that similar conduct in-person would be troubling.

Coun. Andrew Knack said it was important to discuss the issues, even though some constituents suggested that dissecting a social media post was a waste of time.

"We shouldn't ignore the fact that this is still serious," Knack said.

After Wednesday's vote, Janz said he had nothing else to add.

In an interview with CBC earlier this month, after Pytel's report was made public, Janz questioned the use of the code of conduct to scrutinize social media posts.

"I think the code of conduct was created to deal with issues of material corruption or nepotism or issues where actually, you know, there's financial impropriety or criminal behaviour," he said at the time.

"I, for one, don't want to see a code of conduct that is being weaponized to try and silence councillors or try and restrict freedom of speech or anything like that."