I’m noting an interesting decision out of Simcoe County involving a public school board trustee, because the Superior Court has ruled that if a local government body permits its members to attend meetings via video-conferencing, and does not state where the member must be located, it could be legally permissible for a local politician to work in another province and retain their elected position.
It confirms the City of Hamilton would be powerless if one of our councillors decided to, say become a snowbird each winter, or just decided to not show up after deciding to not seek reelection. Both are real situations, more details in a bit.
First, a short summary of the Simoce County matter. A Simcoe County public school board trustee took a one-year secondment position in Nova Scotia. They attended school board meetings by video conference. Eventually, other trustees decided this was no longer acceptable and changed rules to require in-person attendance.
They wanted to vacate the trustee seat, and the Superior Court was asked to rule on the interpretation of the Education Act and the Board’s policies.
The judge determined that since the trustee maintained an Ontario address for all government services, returned to Ontario for health-care appointments, and was always planning to come back after her temporary job ended, she remained ordinarily resident in Ontario. The fact that she was physically working in another province didn’t matter—not legally, anyway.
What does this mean for municipal councils such as Hamilton, which permit online attendance?
The Education Act and the Municipal Act are closely related, and many provisions regarding local democracy and elected officials are mirrored between the acts.
The ruling confirms, as Hamilton’s bylaws are presently writing, Hamilton would be powerless to stop a municipal councillor from neglecting their duties, so long as their log into a meeting by video conference at least once every 90 days.
I remember 2010, when then-Ward 15 Councillor Margaret McCarthy decided not to seek re-election and essentially checked out. She attended only a handful of council meetings in the months before the October election. Today, she wouldn’t even need to show up to City Hall. She could go find a beach somewhere, open a City-issued laptop for a few hours, and call it three months work.
There’s already at least one Ontario municipal councillors taking advantage of video conferencing to skip town for the winter. Greater Sudbury Councillor Bill Leduc spends his winters in Florida, and attends meetings by video conference. To add insult to injury, he uses mobile data roaming and bills that to the municipality.
Note: The Education Act was recently amended to require school board trustees to be physically present during at least one meeting once every four months. The Municipal Act does not including an in-person requirement.
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Published: November 28, 2025
Last updated: November 28, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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