North Frontenac council has accepted the Integrity Commissioner’s findings against Councillor Stephanie Regent and voted to suspend her pay for seven days. The Commissioner ruled that Regent breached the township’s Code of Conduct by misleading the public in her Facebook posts about affordable housing and the Economic Development Task Force.
At the December 12 meeting where the report was received, NFNM asked council directly whether it was their view that Regent should apologize to the public. Mayor Gerry Lichty answered that an apology would be expected, even though it was not mandatory and not written into the Integrity Commissioner’s ruling. Council cannot order that step, but the Mayor put on record that a public apology is the standard he anticipates.
So far, there has been no apology.
After the meeting, a new post appeared on Regent’s political Facebook page. NFNM is blocked from that page, so the message came to us through a screenshot from a resident who still has access. Other residents report that the post appears for some users and not for others, depending on whether they have been blocked or restricted.
The post reads:
“If you have any questions about the Frontenac News please reach out. It’s an interesting time we live in.”
The message does not mention the Integrity Commissioner’s report, the Code of Conduct breach, or the seven-day pay suspension. It does not acknowledge the finding that her earlier social media posts did not match her votes and actions at the council table. The focus is shifted toward Frontenac News, with Regent presenting herself as the person residents should contact privately if they have “questions” about the coverage they are seeing.
Frontenac News has already told its readers that it tried to reach Regent for comment on the Integrity Commissioner’s report and received no response. NFNM remains blocked from her councillor-branded page and cannot view or respond to her posts directly. In practical terms, that means a member of council who has been sanctioned over misleading public communication is now speaking about local media on a platform where access is controlled by her and visibility varies from resident to resident.
The Integrity Commissioner process is meant to give residents a clear answer when a complaint is made about conduct in office and the public. In this case, the Commissioner examined the record, concluded that Regent misled the public through her social media posts, and recommended a pay suspension. Council accepted that conclusion and voted to apply the penalty. During the same meeting, the Mayor stated openly that an apology to the public is expected in council’s opinion, but is not mandatory or a requirement from the Integrity Commissioner.
Against that backdrop, the new Facebook post stands on its own record: no reference to the breach, no explanation to residents, and a renewed effort to position herself as the interpreter of what other people report about council, while controlling which members of the public and which journalists can see that message at all.
