Beddows blasts delay of Gananoque OMERS decision

Gananoque Mayor John Beddows is accusing council of delaying a decision on OMERS pension benefits for elected officials to avoid making the issue an election matter. 

The criticism comes after council voted last week to defer a decision on whether members of council should receive Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System OMERS benefits until the second meeting of the new council following the Oct. 26 municipal election. 

Beddows was the only member of council to vote against the deferral. 

The OMERS issue was first brought forward by Coun. David Osmond on June 3, with Coun. Colin Brown seconding the motion. Beddows said he supported bringing the matter forward at the time because he wanted council to obtain information about the potential cost, but said he intended to oppose extending the pension benefit to council. 

That information was presented to council last week by the town’s municipal treasurer, who outlined the potential cost to taxpayers and identified other municipalities where elected officials participate in OMERS. 

At last week’s meeting, council was told that individual members would not be able to opt out of the program. Instead, participation would be an “all in or all out” decision. 

Following the presentation, Osmond moved to defer the matter until the second meeting of the new council. Coun. Anne-Marie Koiner seconded the motion. 

All six councillors voted in favour of the deferral, leaving Beddows as the lone dissenting vote. 

Reflecting on the matter in a statement following the meeting, Beddows said the decision was motivated by the upcoming election. 

“The deferral of the OMERS question is 100 per cent about the election,” he said. 

Five of the six sitting councillors are running in the election, including Osmond, who initially brought the matter forward. 

Beddows argued that deferring the decision means voters will not be able to consider councillors’ positions on the issue when deciding how to vote. 

Deputy Mayor Vicki Leakey rejected that characterization, saying the decision was not about avoiding accountability. 

In an interview, Leakey pointed to the makeup of the current council, noting that two members are over the age of 70. She also said individual councillors may have access to pensions or benefits through other circumstances, including Beddows’s former military service, which could affect how the issue is viewed. 

She said the decision should ultimately be left to the new council because its members could have “very different reasoning” when considering the issue. 

Leakey also cited the municipality’s current financial pressures as a reason for taking a cautious approach to additional costs. 

“As well during these very challenging times being cautious on costs is not a bad thing,” she said. 

According to Leakey, the decision was also about the timing of the matter and whether the current council should be making a decision that would affect a future budget. 

“This was truly about most members of council understanding when to stand down on a decision rather than make direction for a 2027 budget decision,” she said. 

Beddows also pointed to his own decision to reduce his salary by 15 per cent and freeze it for four years, a commitment he made during the last municipal campaign. 

He said the decision was driven by the municipality’s need for additional funding for capital projects and concerns about increases in council compensation during the previous term. 

The motion to reduce and freeze Beddows’s compensation passed 4-3, with Osmond among the councillors who voted against it. 

Beddows said that history is relevant to the current debate over council compensation and benefits. 

“I oppose OMERS benefits for council,” Beddows said. “If re-elected I will work against this and, as I promised I would do on June 3rd, I will vote against it.” 

The decision on OMERS will now fall to the council elected in October. 

Keith Dempsey is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Brockville Recorder and Times. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.