North Huron to fly Pride flag; Reeve isolated as lone vote against
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
More flag-based controversy cropped up at Monday night’s North Huron Council meeting, as Reeve Paul Heffer appeared to speak out against a bylaw that council had voted in favour of two years ago and recently upheld.
This bylaw is related to a municipal issue at the top of some people’s minds these days - the flying of more than just the traditional three flags (federal, provincial and municipal) outside of municipally-owned buildings. Heffer spoke out against having any more than three flags at the meeting, despite the fact that the issue being discussed was the request to raise the Pride flag in June, as well as declaring June to be officially designated as Pride month. The request was put forth by Huron County Pride. The three-flag issue has already been laid to rest - the bylaw allows for any worthy flag to be requested by citizens to be considered. “I just want to make the comment that I cannot support this motion,” said Reeve Heffer. “ I believe our municipality is best represented by our civic flags - federal, provincial and municipal. I believe these flags represent all of us.”
Heffer wanted to make it clear that he was going on record to vote “no” on the issue, though he himself seemed rather unclear about what the issue was. Deputy-Reeve Kevin Falconer sought clarity, asking if Heffer was speaking out against council’s own bylaw. “Isn’t council, once a bylaw is enacted, supposed to support that bylaw?” queried Falconer. “We voted on this two years ago…. I am just asking if you are not in compliance with our own bylaw - are you rejecting our bylaw as Reeve?” he continued. “Is that not a violation of our code of conduct?”
Heffer countered this by stating that he “knew how he voted,” a comment that was immediately rebuffed by Falconer, who said, “It doesn’t matter how anyone voted, it was passed by council. I’m just asking if the head of our municipal council is declaring a conflict with our own code of conduct. I’m just looking for clarification.”
Heffer came back with, “I know what our thing is, but we still have to vote on it.”
This back and forth went back and forth a few more times, ending with Heffer admitting in the end he had “read that wrong” and that he was “ voting on what we’re voting for tonight” before going on to be the lone “no” vote in regards to Pride and its flag.
Councillor Chris Palmer, who has been opposed to the flying of the Pride flag, was absent from the meeting.