Pickering’s scandal-plagued city councillor just lost her court case to recoup wages. Now, she owes an additional $30,000
Remember Lisa Robinson, the white woman who called herself a “modern-day slave”?
Pickering’s most controversial city councillor, Lisa Robinson, has been suspended and docked pay four times following rulings against her by the city’s integrity commissioner. In February of 2024, Robinson applied for a judicial review of two of those verdicts, contesting the commissioner’s findings and hoping to have her lost wages reinstated. On Friday, she finally got an answer: not only did the Ontario Divisional Court rule against her—she’s now on the hook for the city’s whopping $30,000 in legal fees.
The suspensions in question date back to the fall of 2023. The first disciplinary action against Robinson resulted from a neighbourhood spat over a giant shipping container that she wanted to keep on her lawn to store Halloween decorations.
When her application was denied, the councillor called out the community members who had opposed her by name on Facebook, a move the integrity commissioner referred to as a “bully tactic” that showed “blatant disregard for the well-being of others.” In response, Robinson wrote on Facebook: “Council voted to have me work for free for the next 30 days for a ‘sarcastic remark’ on my personal FB post. I am now a modern-day slave.”
Robinson’s second suspension related to, per the integrity commissioner, her “homophobic and transphobic” actions and attitudes, including her vehement opposition to universal change rooms at a local sports facility, the hosting of drag queen story times for kids and the flying of Pride flags on government buildings.
Robinson, who did not respond to Toronto Life‘s request for comment, said in a statement that she will be appealing the Ontario Divisional Court’s decision, “not just for myself, but for every representative who believes in accountability, fairness and the right to be heard. Democracy depends on it.”
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So the chaos continues—and maybe that’s the point. Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe has blamed Robinson for turning monthly council meetings into unproductive political theatre, so much so that he opted to move the gatherings online back in January.
Meanwhile, Ashe claims the councillor’s antics are meant to appeal to an alt-right audience that extends far beyond the borders of the Durham region. In other words, if Jordan Peterson is Canada’s anti-woke Ken, it seems Lisa Robinson is gunning to be anti-woke Barbie.
Her flirtation with extremist politics predates her time as Pickering’s Ward 1 representative. In 2021, she ran as an MP candidate with the federal Conservative party but was dropped from the campaign after she made social media posts that the party deemed Islamophobic. That same year, she gave a speech in support of the Freedom Convoy.
Her time on city council has featured a slew of headline-grabbing side shows, including an appearance on the alt-right American podcast Live With Kevin J. Johnston. In the episode featuring Robinson, the host called Pickering’s mayor a pedophile and suggested that a violent dog be unleashed on council members. Robinson later apologized for appearing on the show.
An OPP investigation into whether any of Robinson’s bad behaviour is illegal is ongoing.
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Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
