Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal has contravened city council’s code of conduct by intimidating one city councillor and bullying another with respect to the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment, but did not contravene the code of conduct by influencing general committee’s decision on the redevelopment for private advantage.
Those are the findings in a 55-page inquiry report from the City of Peterborough’s integrity commissioner Guy Giorno. The report, dated May 26, will be considered by city council at its general committee meeting on Monday (June 2).
Giorno, who is one of the city’s two integrity commissioners and is responsible for investigating complaints, concluded that Mayor Jeff Leal contravened council’s code of conduct in his interactions with councillors Alex Bierk and Joy Lachica in connection to the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment, but that the mayor’s decision-making on the development did not involve a “private advantage” for him or for his wife.
Giorno completed a joint inquiry in response to complaints received under section 31 of council’s code of conduct by-law 19-028, which states “A person who believes that a Member has contravened any provision of this Code of Conduct may give to the Integrity Commissioner the person’s complaint which must be in writing and must set out the particulars of the alleged contravention.”
According to Giorno’s report, 13 Peterborough residents filed separate but related complaints about Mayor Leal for making a threat against councillor Alex Bierk during council’s general committee meeting on April 2, 2024 on the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment, and/or by participating in decision-making on the Bonnerworth Park Redevelopment when he was not impartial.
The collective complaints were filed by Diane Therrien-Hale, Zachary Hatton, Laurie Breese, Jill Staveley, Sarah Byer, Martha Jansenberger, James Anderson, Allison Potts, Ryan Perks, Rob Hailman, Courtney Seddon, John Gerelus, and Robert Gibson.
Some of the complaints involved comments directed to councillor Bierk by Mayor Leal during council’s general committee meeting on April 2, 2024 on the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment, when the mayor was reported to have said “You’re going to regret you ever said that” and “I’ll carve you like a Thanksgiving turkey” after Bierk mentioned the mayor’s wife by name during the meeting.
Eight of the 13 complaints were filed in the days following the April 2 meeting, and another five complaints were filed after the mayor made a public apology for the comments at the city council meeting on April 8.
In addition to those complaints, Giorno investigated a separate complaint filed by councillor Joy Lachica, who alleged Mayor Leal bullied and intimidated her out of the public’s view following the April 2 general committee meeting.
While Giorno separately processed and investigated both the collective complaints and Lachica’s complaint, he submitted a joint report to council as the complaints share common background.
In his report, Giorno concludes that Mayor Leal did not contravene section 29 of the council code of conduct, which states that no member of council may “use her or his office or position to influence or attempt to influence the decision of any other person, for the Member’s private advantage or that of the Member’s parent, child, spouse, staff member, friend or associate, business or otherwise.”
“Even under a broad interpretation of private advantage, one not limited to pecuniary matters, I find that the Mayor was not acting for the private advantage of himself or his wife,” Giorno states in the report.
“The Mayor’s occasional volunteer service to the PPA (Peterborough Pickleball Association) did not give rise to a financial or non-financial interest in the PPA or a financial or a non-financial benefit from the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment. Simply put, decision making on Bonnerworth did not involve his private advantage.”
“Decision making on Bonnerworth also did not involve a private advantage (for) the Mayor’s wife. She would be affected no differently than any other resident, and the PPA would be affected no differently than any other community group. The new pickleball courts would be accessible to the entire community, regardless of membership or lack of membership in the PPA. If the PPA ever booked exclusive use of a particular court, then it would do so on the same basis as anyone else, and it would pay.”
Giorno adds that the argument that the mayor should not have participated in a decision about the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment because he or his wife plays pickleball “is as flawed as an argument that swimmers cannot participate in decisions on pools and hockey players cannot vote on ice pads.”
However, Giorno concludes that Mayor Leal’s threats against councillor Bierk were intimidation and contravene section 10 of the council code of conduct, which states that each member of council has “the duty and responsibility to treat members of the public, each other Member and staff appropriately and without abuse, bullying or intimidation.”
As the code of conduct doesn’t define intimidation, Giorno used the dictionary definition to make his ruling. While acknowledging that the mayor’s “carve you up like a turkey” comment was “a figurative expression that was not meant or reasonably interpreted as a threat of violence or physical harm,” he added that “intimidation is not confined to physical threats.”
“The ‘regret’ and ‘turkey’ comments, taken together, were reasonably understood to threaten consequences for having angered the Mayor by mentioning the Mayor’s wife,” Giorno writes. “Certainly, Councillor Bierk took the comments that way, and he was intimidated.”
According to Giorno, in Mayor Leal’s response to Giorno’s draft report, the mayor stated his belief that councillor Bierk was not intimidated by the comments.
“In a physical sense, that observation is correct, but intimidation is not necessarily physical,” Giorno writes. “I appreciate that the Mayor did not then, and does not now, feel that his conduct was intimidating, but the evidence indicates that it was.”
Giorno acknowledges the Mayor Leal “felt great stress” during the meeting that contributed to his “overreaction” to councillor Bierk’s comments, “but (Bierk) did not invite, nor was he deserving of, being (intimidated) and threatened,” noting that Bierk had already been called to order during the meeting by chair Andrew Beamer for mentioning the mayor’s wife by name as being against protocol.
“I note that the first threat was made after Councillor Bierk had already apologized three times,” Giorno adds, with reference to Bierk’s reaction after being called to order by the chair.
As for councillor Lachica’s allegation, Giorno concludes she was bullied by Mayor Leal.
Although the code of conduct also does not provide a definition of either intimidation or bullying, Giorno states “In my view, bullying better describes what occurred,” referring to a definition approved by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2012 that has been used in subsequent court cases and refers to “behaviour that is intended to cause, or should be known to cause, fear,
intimidation, humiliation, distress or other forms of harm to another person’s body, feelings, self-esteem, reputation or property.”
Following the April 2 general committee meeting — when Lachica had put forth a motion to defer the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment plan for discussion of alternative solutions for pickleball courts — Mayor Leal “exchanged words” with Lachica in an internal corridor leading to the parking lot, with the incident observed by three witnesses.
According to the report, the mayor believed Lachica was responsible for the presence of people in the gallery during the general committee meeting, including a person who disrupted the meeting.
“Mayor Leal began yelling at her about the individual who had earlier been removed from the meeting, claiming that Councillor Lachica should have stopped the individual and that she was responsible because the person was a Town Ward constituent,” Giorno writes. “Councillor Lachica says the Mayor kept yelling at her, even after she explained that maintaining decorum was the responsibility of the Chair.”
“Councillor Lachica says that Mayor’s conduct continued during a closed session on April 8. She told Councillors what had occurred in the corridor on April 2, that she had had ‘enough’ of the Mayor’s condescension and shouting, and that she should not have been directed to take responsibility for decorum in the gallery.”
“I find that Mayor Leal’s angry, raised-voice confrontation with Councillor Lachica following the General Committee (meeting) constituted bullying according to this definition. What happened should have been known to cause fear, humiliation and distress to Councillor Lachica. The confrontation should have been expected to leave the Councillor shaken and upset. In fact, the Mayor’s confrontation had these effects.”
“The incident in the corridor occurred in the context of a power imbalance that is a hallmark of bullying. The Mayor is more powerful than a Councillor. In a strictly legal sense, this has been the case since October 31, 2023, when Ontario Regulation 331/23 added Peterborough to the list of municipalities subject to ‘strong mayor powers.’ The Mayor’s powers include the direct appointment of the chairs and vice-chairs of committees.”
“Compounding the corridor incident was the Mayor’s upholding of the same position six days later. If the Mayor was unaware of the impact of the April 2 incident on Councillor Lachica, then she made him aware on April 8. By doubling down on his earlier comments, he reinforced the bullying.”
According to the report, Lachica waited 25 days before filing a complaint “because she feared reprisal,” and that she has told the commissioner “the anger and bullying continue.”
“She cites recent examples that she says constitute disrespect, sidelining, and withholding information necessary to her job,” Giorno notes.
kawarthaNOW reached out to councillor Lachica for comment on the integrity commissioner’s report, and she provided a brief email statement.
“There was not a satisfactory resolve to complaint 24-02-CC, this it has come forward,” she writes. “I am appreciative of IC Gioro’s Joint Report. The content and outcome speaks for itself.”
PDF: Joint Inquiry Report – May 26, 2025
Joint Inquiry Report - May 26, 2025
As for recommendations to city council in response to his report, the integrity commission notes it is the role of council to determine a penalty, if any, for a member of council who contravenes the code of conduct.
“In the event of a contravention, the Council may choose to do nothing, or it may impose one of two penalties (but not both): reprimand, or pay suspension (up to 90 days),” Giorno writes. “In addition to imposing a penalty, the Council may also adopt one or more remedial measures.”
Non-punitive and remedial action can include requesting an apology.
Giorno suggests one remedial measure might be to ask John Ewart, his fellow integrity commission assigned to advice-giving and educational functions, “to provide focused training related to harassment, abuse, bullying and intimidation and other issues arising from this report.”
He also suggests that council could consider amending the code of conduct to add a definition of bullying and to reconcile the code of conduct with the procedure by-law “by formally distinguishing what meeting conduct is the responsibility of a Chair and what meeting conduct is the responsibility of the Integrity Commissioner.”
Giorno notes that the code of conduct uses at least seven different terms related to conflict of interest, including “private advantage,” “private interest,” “private gain or benefit,” “future advantage,” “personal benefit,” “personal or private gain or benefit,” and “personal financial gain.”
“The adjectives private and personal appear to be used sometimes interchangeably and sometimes to mean different concepts. Inconsistent use of different terms with similar meanings can result in ambiguity and potential gaps. I suggest that the Code use fewer terms consistently and more precisely.”
After the integrity commissioner’s report was released to the public on Thursday (May 29), Mayor Leal issued a public statement.
“I acknowledge that the Integrity Commissioner has completed his report, and I will accept Council’s decision on this matter,” the mayor said. “I appreciate that his report fully exonerates me of the most egregious and false conflict-of-interest allegations that my family and I have been subjected to over the last year.”
“I acknowledge his findings related to my interactions with Councillors Bierk and Lachica on the nights of April 2 and April 8, 2024. My comments were made in the heat of the moment, during the most hostile meeting environments I have experienced in all my years of public service. I regret my comments, and I apologized to both Councillors last year.”
Mayor Leal added that he will recuse himself during the general committee meeting when councillors discuss the integrity commissioner’s report, “and will accept their recommendations.”
“I have been working in partnership with all members of Peterborough City Council, and will continue to do so for the benefit of our community.”
This story has been updated with a statement from Mayor Jeff Leal in response to the release of the integrity commissioner’s report, along with revised comment from councillor Joy Lachica.
