A unanimous vote by council could result in the firing of a politician if an integrity commissioner finds serious misconduct occurred.

Bill 9, the Municipal Accountability Act, passed 110 to 1 on May 26, 2026.

Bill 68 amended the Municipal Act 2001 in 2017 to mandate municipalities create codes of conduct by March 1, 2019 and hire integrity commissioners.

The legislation prescribed codes were to include rules about gifts, respectful conduct, confidential information and use of municipal property.

Councils were to decide the remaining content of the code of conduct.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs introduced Bill 9, Municipal Accountability Act, 2025 in May 2025.

The Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy held public hearings to obtain feedback on Bill 9 in July 2025.

The bill, ordered for Third Reading on October 25, 2025, was expected to become law prior to the October 26, 2026 municipal election.

Now that it passed final reading, it needs Royal Assent to become law.

The new bill proposes standardized codes of conduct, training, and integrity commissioner processes.

An integrity commissioner may make a recommendation to the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario that a politician’s seat be declared vacant if the commissioner concludes all of the following criteria are met:

1. The member has contravened the code of conduct. 
2. The contravention is of a serious nature.
3. The member’s conduct that is the subject of the inquiry has resulted in harm to the health, safety or well-being of any person.
4. The penalties set out I subsection 160 (5) are insufficient to address the contravention or to ensure that the contravention is not repeated.

The commissioner may consider, among other matters, whether the contravention is a repeated contravention.

A new function of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario will be to advise municipalities, on request, about the independence of a person being considered for appointment as a Commissioner, including whether the person has a conflict of interest.

Twenty one years ago, the Honourable Madam Justice Denise E. Bellamy’s Report 2005 recommended the City of Toronto hire a full time integrity commissioner.

The Bellamy inquiry followed allegations of conflict of interest, bribery and misappropriation of funds around computer leasing contracts at the City of Toronto in 1998.