Oakville Mayor Rob Burton resigns as Halton police board chair after approving US travel plans for police chief
Published January 11, 2021 at 5:49 pm
A trip to Florida by Halton’s Police Chief has cost Oakville Mayor Rob Burton’s role as chair of the Police Services Board.
Today Burton resigned his seat on the Halton Police Services Board after it was revealed he gave the go-ahead to Police Chief Steve Tanner to travel to Florida over the winter holidays.
“I regret sincerely that I focused at the time on the ways the chief’s trip qualified as essential travel,” Burton said in a statement released this afternoon. “I should have recommended against it because it could generate public concern about me not setting a higher example than the rules and guidelines actually called for.”
Burton’s resignation from the police board does not affect his position as mayor of Oakville.
Last week it was discovered that Tanner had left the country to attend to some business matters in the US. The revelation came at the time when top ranking government officials across Canada were being criticized for leaving the country during the pandemic while ordinary Canadians were told to stay home.
Tanner has since apologized for his trip down south admitting that it was a “poor decision” but adding that Burton knew about his travel plans in advance.
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While Burton has now resigned his role on the police board, Tanner’s role as top cop in Halton has been called into question. His future could be decided in the next few weeks as the remaining board members seek legal advice at a closed-door session scheduled for later this week before a regular board meeting on January 28.
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