Racial slur pushes Nova Scotia to consider municipal code of conduct

The province plans to review whether local governments need guidelinesto reprimand politicians, after a councillor in Amherst admitted to using the N-word.

George Baker, who is white,made the comments in Julywhile working a side job delivering pizzas. He said it to staff at the pizza shop, headmitted in a written statement Monday, defendinghimself by saying, "I did not use any swear words or profanity."

Baker said that he had apologized to the black community in Amherst, but some black residents told CBC News they found the comments offensive and wanted a review by council.

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Law review coming

Minister of Municipal Affairs Zach Churchill said some Nova Scotia municipalities have a code of conduct, and others do not. A code of conduct is not required under provincial legislation.

"But that is something, in light of this situation, that we're contemplating as we review the municipal government act, and bring changes forward in 2017," Churchill told reporters at the legislature Thursday.

Amherst town council decided on the advice of its lawyer not to reprimand Baker. The council said it had no authority to deal with racist comments made outside of official duties.

Code of conduct to be considered

Churchill said the code of conduct would be included in the 2017 review specifically because of the Amherst incident.

"Amherst council indicated that they did not feel from a legal perspective they had an ability to act in a way that they felt was appropriate, related to the actions of this councillor," Churchillsaid.

"So we're taking that situation very seriously, and that will help inform us as we continue to move forward to our review of this legislation."

Churchill pointed out that the province recently changed the rules to bring in a code of conduct for provincial politicians.

"That could very well be a model that we apply to municipal governments as well," he said.

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