Steven Carter was fired for unspecified reasons on February 2, receiving $ 104,166.65 in damages, according to a copy of a letter from the city of Calgary released Wednesday under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. Carter served as Godek’s campaign director during her successful election campaign in October 2021. She has previously worked for former Mayor Naheed Nenshi and former Prime Minister Alison Redford. When asked what lies behind the decision to end his employment and what Calgary taxpayers need to do to pay Carter, Mayor Gondek was quick to downplay the issue. “This is an issue I do not discuss,” Godek told CTV News. “I have been advised to remain silent about this. This is a staff issue that I am not talking about. “I find it interesting that we continue to choose tiny things that do not matter in the grand plan to get our city back on track.”
CARTER WAS HOLD IN THE DARK
Carter declined to be interviewed Wednesday, but made a statement saying he was never given a reason for his sudden dismissal. “My dismissal, in my opinion, was granted for two reasons: to ensure that I would not talk about the unfair nature of my dismissal and to avoid embarrassing litigation,” Carter wrote. He went on to say that there was no agreement on waiver of lawsuits. “If the dispersal for me and my character continues, they can push me to action in the courts,” he said. At the time of Carter’s ouster, some councilors, such as Sonya Sharp and Andre Chabot, criticized his approach to collecting city council votes, saying they had complained to the mayor’s office.
“THE UNSUCCESSFUL IS NOT ENOUGH”
Calgary’s employment lawyer Joel Fairbrother with Bow River Law says there are many reasons why one might receive such a payment, even after a short employment. “In law, whether you get fired or not. And so someone may be entitled to know if he is entitled to x, he is entitled to x, even if he was a mediocre employee, or if he was the best employee of all time.” He says the reason why the mayor’s office is not saying anything is that there is not enough evidence to prove that something happened. “It is always the case that the employer is unhappy with who they are firing otherwise they would not be fired,” Fairbrother said. “So the unhappy are not enough. If they do not have enough to reach a simple cause, it is better not to claim it, better to pay or negotiate the settlement.”
“IT’S REASONABLE”
However, Carter’s payment leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who carefully monitor government waste. “This is important for taxpayers and it really shows contempt for the money that taxpayers have earned,” Franco Terrazzano told the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation. “Carter has just arrived for lunch and is leaving with a six-digit cut as the door knocks on his back? Is that absurd?”
