There are a couple of resolutions to be debated at this month's annual convention of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities that result from what happened in the RM of Ritchot, in Southeastern Manitoba, this spring.

Ritchot Mayor Jackie Hunt and two councillors resigned due to name-calling and belligerent behaviour at the council table. This led to council being dissolved due to lack of quorum and the election of a new council.

The Town of Morris has put forward a resolution that asks the province to bring in a stronger disciplinary mechanism for such behaviour. Mayor Gavin van der Linde explains they want rules that have some teeth.

"If there's bad conduct in the council chambers that's disrespectful in any way, there's no real mechanism for dealing with that. For the most part it isn't a problem. But, when there is somebody who is harassing or getting to the point of bullying or moving outside of the council mandate and just being a really negative person, there's no way to deal with it. Part of the resolution is just asking the province to tighten up on the rules and how that can be dealt with in an appropriate way."

He notes currently, the only recourse is to censure a councillor which amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

"And, if someone continues that negative behaviour, it can affect the rest of council. So we would like to find a way, I don't think we have the exact answer yet, but we would like to work with the province in finding a way where this can be dealt with appropriately. We don't want to remove that healthy dialogue. A little bit of conflict is very healthy on issues. But when it becomes personal and it becomes inappropriate, there needs to be another step where somebody from the outside can come in and look at it and agree that it's outside of the council mandate for healthy discussion and then find a way to deal with that."

van der Linde notes there are some poor examples of disrespectful politics at the federal level in the U.S. and Canada these days which complicates matters.

"Unfortunately, we have some bad examples and, often times, people feel that the loudest voice or person can be the most pushy or can work behind the scenes, even if it's in inappropriate ways, and they can get something done. When it crosses the line of being inappropriate and affects the personal lives of other people, we have some bad examples of that and it makes it a little more complicated to deal with that at a municipal level."

A second similar resolution will also be brought forward at the AMM convention, co-sponsored by the RM's of Springfield, West St. Paul, Swan Valley West and Oakland-Wawanesa.

The convention takes place November 27-29 in Brandon.