(Quebec) The Legault government has tabled a bill to “protect elected officials” and “promote the unhindered exercise of their functions”. If adopted, deputies, mayors and municipal councilors will be able to obtain an injunction against citizens who harass them, with fines of up to $1,500.
“This law provides for the possibility for a municipal elected official or a deputy of the National Assembly who, because he is an elected official, is the subject of comments or gestures which unduly hinder the exercise of his functions or undermine to his right to privacy, to ask the Superior Court to issue an injunction to put an end to this situation,” Minister of Municipal Affairs Andrée Laforest explained in chambers.
This bill is presented in a context where nearly 10% of municipal elected officials have left their positions since the 2021 election. Quebec had launched an awareness campaign, but now believes that it is necessary to crack down.
The remedies provided for by law can be taken, depending on the case, “by the elected official concerned, by a municipal body or by the director general of elections”.
An elected official who considers that he is the subject of “comments or gestures which unduly hinder the exercise of his functions or infringe his right to private life” may ask the Superior Court to issue an injunction to put an end to to this situation.
The court may order a person:
- Not to be in the MP’s constituency office
- Not to be in the offices of the ministerial office of a member of the Executive Council
- Not to appear at the meetings of any council of a municipal body on which the municipal elected official sits
- To stop communicating with the chosen one
- To stop broadcasting comments about him in the public space
“Anyone who obstructs the exercise of the functions of an elected official by threatening, intimidating or harassing him in such a way as to cause him to reasonably fear for his integrity or his safety is liable to a fine of at least $500 and of not more than $1,500,” the law specifies.
A citizen who causes a disturbance in a municipal council may also be fined. “Anyone who, during a meeting of any council of a municipal body, causes disorder in such a way as to disrupt the proceedings of the meeting is liable to a fine of at least $50 and not more than $500,” specifies the law.