Howard Levitt, a lawyer with Levitt LLP in Toronto and a specialist in employment and labour law, said elected officials are called to act in a way that “promotes public confidence and will bear close public scrutiny.”
And while that’s different from a conventional employment situation — with politicians elected, not hired as employees — there are parellels with the corporate world.
And as public officials holding the public trust, they’re responsible to disclose when a relationship might put them into a conflict of interest, Levitt said.
He said he believes both Brown and Cassidy should resign, but if they choose not to they’ll have to know they lack the same credibility in public office than they did when elected.
“In light of the normal things that happen in city politics, probably nothing is going to erase the memory, so they are effectively doomed.”