A member of council may appoint another member of council as a proxy to act in their place when they are absent subject to the following rules: (Municipal Act, s.243)
- A member of a local council appointed as an alternate member of the upper-tier council under section 267 of the Municipal Act may appoint a member of the upper-tier council as a proxy to act in their place when they are absent from the upper-tier council.
- A member who is unable to attend a meeting of the upper-tier council and for whom an alternate member is appointed under section 267 shall not appoint a proxy.
- A member appointed as an alternate member of the upper-tier council under Section 268 shall not appoint a proxy.
- A member who is unable to attend a meeting of the upper-tier council and for whom an alternate member is appointed shall not appoint a proxy if the appointed member is acting on their behalf at the meeting.
The following rules apply with respect to the appointment of another member of council to act as a proxy:
- a member shall not appoint a proxy unless the proxyholder is a member of the same council as the appointing member.
- A member shall not act as a proxy for more than one member of council at any one time.
- The member appointing the proxy shall notify the Clerk of the appointment in accordance with the process established by the clerk.
- For the purpose of determining whether or not a quorum of members is present at any point in time, a proxyholder shall be counted as one member and shall not be counted as both the appointing member and the proxyholder.
- A proxy shall be revoked if the appointing member or the proxyholder requests that the proxy be revoked and complies with the proxy revocation process established by the Clerk.
- Where a recorded vote is to be taken, the clerk shall record the name of each proxyholder, the name of the member of council for whom the proxyholder is voting and the vote cast on behalf of that member.
- A member who appoints a proxy for a meeting shall be considered absent from the meeting for the purposes of determining whether the office of the member is vacant under section 259(1) (c) of the Municipal Act.
- Where the Regional Chair is an elected Regional Councillor, the Regional Chair and the Regional Vice-Chairs will be permitted to appoint another member of Council as a proxy to act in their place when they are absent, subject to the rules set out in this Appendix. In such circumstances, the proxyholder may vote on behalf of the absent Councillor but the proxyholder may not exercise any of the duties or powers of the Regional Chair as Head of Council, unless the proxyholder has also been appointed as Acting Chair in the Chair's absence, in accordance with the provisions set out in section 2.3 of this By-law.
A member who has a pecuniary interest described in subsection 5 (1) of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act in a matter to be considered at a meeting shall not, if the interest is known to the member, appoint a proxy in respect of the matter.
If, after appointing a proxy, a member discovers that they have a pecuniary interest described in subsection 5 (1) of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act in a matter to be considered at a meeting that is to be attended by the proxyholder, the member shall, as soon as possible,
- notify the proxyholder of the interest in the matter and indicate that the proxy will be revoked in respect of the matter; and
- request that the clerk revoke the proxy with respect to the matter in accordance with the proxy revocation process established by the clerk.
For greater certainty, if, after appointing a proxy, a member discovers that they have a pecuniary interest described in subsection 5 (1) of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act in a matter that was considered at a meeting attended by the proxyholder, the appointing member shall comply with subsection 5 (3) of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act with respect to the interest at the next meeting attended by the appointing member after they discover the interest.
For greater certainty, nothing in this section authorizes a proxyholder who is disabled from participating in a meeting under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act from participating in the meeting in the place of an appointing member.
4.1A Regional Councillor shall simultaneously notify (in writing) the City Clerk, Regional Clerk, proxyholder and Regional Chair of their absence as soon as possible before the scheduled commencement of a Region of Peel Council meeting.
4.2The City Clerk shall notify (in writing) all local municipal Councillors of the designation of the proxy member for the Regional Council meeting.
4.3If the Regional Councillor who was to be absent, and after notification has been provided in writing wishes to revoke the proxy, notice (in writing) of the revocation shall be given, prior to the commencement of the meeting, to the City Clerk, Regional Clerk, proxyholder and Regional Chair.
