It’s time for the rules to catch up with society, especially when it comes to the use of social media during election campaigns, believes Coun. Erin Caton.
With that in mind, she’s set to propose a motion next week that, if approved by council, will set the stage for possible revisions to the code of conduct for council and local boards, as well as the city’s policy regarding use of municipal resources during an election.
“I just want to make it easier on (council) and on residents to know what they can expect from us,” Caton explained when asked what inspired her to bring forward the motion. “As we’re increasing in the digital age, it would be great to have these things clarified.
“Knowing when someone’s crossed the line would be helpful … especially during elections.”
It’s something she’s planned to do since winning a seat on council in 2022, but hadn’t yet gotten to. Then an opportunity presented itself – on the agenda for next week’s council meeting is an integrity commissioner’s report clearing Mayor Cam Guthrie in three conduct complaints regarding his social media posts.
Also, passing a motion now would allow social media policy to be considered as part of a governance review set for next year.
“I figured that would give staff enough time to be able to work through some of those questions and bring it back to us,” said Caton.
This isn’t the first time calls for a review of social media policies have been made.
Weeks before the 2022 municipal election, Guthrie announced his re-election campaign account on Twitter, now known as X, with its 1,657 followers, would be managed by his campaign team and he would use his regular account, with 22,000 followers, as his "official campaign account."
He also changed the name of his regular account from Mayor Cam Guthrie to Mayor Candidate Cam Guthrie and replaced the profile photo to one of him standing with a re-election sign.
That account was used prior to the election switch, and again since it was turned back, to promote a variety of city initiatives and seek public feedback.
There was no violation of city policy with the change, confirmed the city clerk’s department at the time. City policies don’t specifically address the issue of using established social media accounts for re-election campaigns, providing no city resources are used, some other municipalities do.
For example, in Toronto incumbent council candidates “must not use a social media account that identifies them as ‘councillor’ or ‘mayor’ and the city’s integrity commissioner recommends people seeking re-election maintain accounts dedicated to their re-election efforts.
"Having our staff and professionals look into any type of suggestions through a Guelph lense is absolutely fine with me," said Guthrie. "I believe everyone needs to have the clarity, especially moving into an election, and I think everyone needs to play by the same rules."
Given that we’re between elections, this would be an ideal time to review the policy, believes Julie Simmons, associate professor in the political science department at the University of Guelph.
“I think now would be a good time to conduct that review and consider … if there needs to be a clearer line drawn between public ways of advertising activities that are meant to engage the citizens, and one’s own personal views,” she said. “This is an issue that has come up more than once.”
Simmons was reluctant to suggest what rules should be changed, removed or added.
Caton, too, offered no specific things she’d like to see made to the policies.
“There’s been a few times that people have complained to me about others’ posts. Initially I go through staff to try to get a resolution. Often I’m met with, ‘that was on a personal account and nothing can be done,’” the councillor explained. “When the bulk of the content on a personal account is official messages and recaps of meetings and things, it’s deep in murky waters.
“Clarity is the thing I want to get out of it – what constitutes a personal account versus a corporate account.”
Another aspect of Caton’s motion, set to be introduced on Tuesday, directs city staff to provide accessibility guidelines and training for council regarding social media use to being them in line with the city’s general communications standards.
That includes the use of alternative text on images.
“It’s something a lot of people want to do, they just don’t know how to do it,” said Caton. “I want to make it easier for us to meet the residents’ expectations.”
