Local mayor rips trip-taking council colleague, demands probe

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Woodstock Mayor Trevor Birtch is pushing for an investigation into the conduct of a city council colleague who travelled abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mayor issued a blunt statement about Coun. Sandra Talbot’s trip. “Councillor Talbot may not have broken the letter of the law but she sure stomped on the spirit of it.”

Birtch also suggested the investigation should examine whether Talbot needs to be removed from the board overseeing Southwestern Public Health, the health unit for Oxford and Elgin counties.

“She sat in on meetings where the decision was made to advise people to avoid any unnecessary travel, but she decided the rules do not apply to her,” he said.

“Why should people follow the advice of the (health unit) when it comes to trying to control this pandemic when a board member won’t? . . . She has lost all credibility and her continued presence on the board will serve to undermine any further actions it may take.”

Talbot told The Woodstock Sentinel-Review that she was self-isolating after travelling out of the country. But she declined to answer questions about where she travelled, when she left Canada and how long she was away.

“Canada has not banned travel. The travel restrictions in place when entering Canada require me to self-isolate for 14 days and I have been following all requirements to take my temperature and call in daily,” Talbot said in a written statement.

“When I come out of quarantine, it will be into the new provincial requirements to stay at home, and I will continue to do so.”

But Birtch said he couldn’t “fathom the reasoning” used by Talbot to think it was OK to leave the country during this time.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has asked Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel. Ontario also entered a second pandemic-induced lockdown on Boxing Day and a stay-at-home order went into effect last Thursday as a way to help slow the spread of the virus.

Birtch acknowledged Talbot’s travels do not violate the Ontario Municipal Act, and that Talbot didn’t need approval from council or anyone at Woodstock city hall for her trip.

“Myself and the rest of city council agree that elected officials should be held to a higher standard, leading by example which means adhering to the principles of public health and senior levels of government,” he said.

Talbot is far from the only public official facing scrutiny over international travel during the pandemic.

MPP Rod Phillips resigned as the province’s finance minister Dec. 31 after he cut short his trip to the Caribbean and returned home amid blowback. London Health Sciences Centre fired its chief executive, Paul Woods, Jan. 11 following a backlash from unions and the public when the hospital disclosed Woods had travelled five times to the United States since March, the last trip around Christmas.

A hospital chief of staff in Simcoe also travelled in December.

Birtch said he will bring forward his request for an investigation at the next Oxford County council meeting.

With files from Woodstock Sentinel-Review reporter Kathleen Saylors