A Wasaga Beach Council meeting took a drastic turn on Tuesday, with OPP being called in, prompting an early adjournment.

The contention arose about a month ago when Councillor Sylvia Bray called Council ‘cowardly’ at a meeting. An apology was demanded, citing procedural rules. Bray didn’t give one and was asked to leave the meeting.

Word on Tuesday was that an apology would be asked for again. Residents filled the chambers to see what would happen.

“I really do believe that I did nothing wrong,” said Councillor Bray on Tuesday. “I have a legal opinion that I have done nothing wrong.”

But within minutes of the meeting being called to order, Councillors voiced their opposition. “Has the Councillor issued an apology?” asked Councillor Joe Belanger.

Residents also began heckling and groaning.

Shortly afterwards the mayor asked Councillor Bray to leave.
“If you are not prepared to apologize, then I am going to have to ask you to leave these chambers,” he said.

His ruling added fuel to the fire. The mayor was unable to keep order, eventually asking for the chambers to be cleared. However, the crowd refused to leave.

“For [the mayor] to arbitrarily throw everyone out of the room because he didn’t like the backlash from comments that were made, is inexcusable,” said one man in the crowd.

Eventually,  the OPP was called in to manage the meeting.

“In my time on council, which has been eleven years, we have never had to call in the OPP to clear a chamber,” said Deputy Mayor Nina Bifolchi.

Police spent their time trying to convince people to leave, so the meeting could continue. In the end, the council meeting had to be called off completely, with nothing accomplished, and positions more firmly entrenched than ever.

“I truly believe I am standing up for what I believe in. I am being asked to apologize for something that I do not think was wrong,” said Bray after the meeting.

The mayor still believes otherwise.

“There is no doubt in my mind that members of Council were offended by the comment, and quite frankly I think it would be very simple to solve if the member could simply apologize for offending somebody,” he said.

Police have offered to meet with people who were at the meeting. They want to give people a chance to voice their concerns.