• A third-party flyer from Integrity Stouffville highlighting Councillor Rick Upton’s harassment findings has landed in Ward 4 mailboxes.
  • Last December, Upton apologized “without reservations” for repeated sexual and workplace harassment of Town Staff, pledging to rebuild trust.
  • At her door, resident Anne Thornley-Brown says Upton downplayed the findings and claimed Mayor Iain Lovatt was trying to push him out of office.
  • Lovatt has rejected the suggestion, noting he filed the complaint with the victims’ consent.
  • Integrity Stouffville spokesperson Ben Smith, who previously worked on Lovatt’s campaign, says the flyer has no connection to any candidate.
  • Two other residents say Upton referred to his conduct as a misunderstanding and “so-called harassment,” claiming the women involved “loved him.”
  • Upton told Bullet Point News he spoke to only one person at their door about the Integrity Commissioner.

 

Days before Stouffville’s Oct. 26 municipal election, a flyer delivered directly to Ward 4 mailboxes has placed Councillor Rick Upton’s workplace harassment findings at the centre of the campaign.

It arrives as multiple Ward 4 residents say Upton has described the Integrity Commissioner (IC) findings differently at their doors than he did in a public apology before Council last December. One says he cast the process as an effort by Mayor Iain Lovatt to push him out of office.

After repeated requests for comment on two of those accounts, Upton responded in a single text message to Bullet Point News on Oct. 22: “That’s interesting, as I only talked to one person at the door about the IC. Be careful.”

He did not address the specific allegations or comment on the flyer. That evening, a third resident shared a similar account with Bullet Point News.

Titled “What Rick Upton Doesn’t Want You to Know,” the mailer was authorized by Integrity Stouffville. The third-party advertising group is registered under Ben Smith, a former federal Conservative candidate and political operative who grew up in Stouffville.

The flyer leads with the IC report received by Council on Dec. 3, 2025, which found Upton engaged in repeated inappropriate, unwelcome, and sexualized conduct toward Town Staff. It also cites roughly $80,000 in investigation costs paid by taxpayers, and notes that Upton acknowledged the findings but has “chosen to remain in office as your Ward 4 Councillor.”

Integrity Commissioner Suzanne Craig concluded that Upton engaged in a “persistent pattern of inappropriate, unwelcome, and sexualized” behaviour toward two female Town employees. The $80,000 figure was cited during Council’s Dec. 3 meeting, where the Town was asked to explore recovering those costs from Upton.

The flyer also highlights Upton’s vote against Lovatt’s proposal to explore redeveloping the 55+ Club property at 6240 Main Street. The motion was defeated 3–4 on Oct. 15, 2025, with Upton among four Councillors opposed.

Speaking as the group’s spokesperson in a statement to Bullet Point News, Smith described Integrity Stouffville as a “grassroots, community-led organization focused on accountability, transparency, and character in local government.” He said the initiative is independently funded.

“Public office comes with a responsibility to uphold the public’s trust. Rick Upton has betrayed that trust,” the statement reads. “We believe residents are entitled to examine his record, ask questions, and draw their own conclusions.”

An Apology on the Record

Following the release of Craig’s report in November 2025, Upton took responsibility for most of the allegations and apologized publicly during Council’s Dec. 3 meeting.

“I acknowledge, without reservations, that my actions fell far short of the standard of behaviour expected of an elected official,” Upton said at the time. “Such conduct was both inappropriate and completely unacceptable.”

“To Witness 1 and 2, I sincerely and truly apologize for undue strain and discomfort my conduct has caused,” he added. “My intention was never to cause you anxiety or stress, but I should have recognized that my words and actions would have that impact.”

Council imposed the maximum 90-day pay suspension, mandatory remedial training at Upton’s own expense, a formal reprimand, and restrictions requiring him to interact with Town Staff and attend meetings virtually. He was also stripped of his deputy mayor title, with Lovatt calling the conduct “reprehensible” and requesting Upton’s resignation.

Upton declined to step down, instead committing to rebuild trust through his future behaviour.

“I also recognize that words alone are insufficient to restore the trust that has been seriously damaged. What is most important is my future behaviour,” he said. “Building confidence will require constant effort, transparency, and accountability.”

How Upton is working to rebuild that trust has since become a point of concern among some of his constituents, who raised the Integrity Commissioner findings with him when he was canvassing at their doors.

“There’s a Gap”

Ward 4 resident Anne Thornley-Brown was surprised to find Upton at her door on Oct. 20: “I was actually quite shocked to see him, and I was just about to say goodbye and close the door.”

Before she could, Upton asked whether she had any questions or concerns. “Well, since you asked me a direct question, okay,” Thornley-Brown recalled replying. “Yes, I’m concerned about these reports of you with sexual harassment.”

According to Thornley-Brown, he told her all that happened was that he walked by a woman at a function and told her, “Oh, you look lovely today.”

“That’s not my understanding,” she replied.

Upton then told her that Lovatt was trying to get him out of office, she said, before he suggested she “read the report for yourself and come to your own conclusions.”

So she did, and “what was reported was even worse than what I thought to begin with,” Thornley-Brown said.

Craig’s report detailed more than a passing compliment, including Upton repeatedly telling the same witness he loved her despite her requests that he stop. In Council Chambers, he told another witness he would rather sit in her lap after she offered her his chair, adding, “you know, you’re looking really good lately, and if I stand here I can look down your shirt.”

“I don’t know how we get from what’s in the report to, ‘Oh, I just walked by a woman and told her, “You look lovely today,”‘” Thornley-Brown said. “There’s a gap.”

The Complainant Responds

Lovatt filed the original complaint that prompted Craig’s investigation, doing so with the consent of the two affected employees. Presented with Upton’s reported claim, the Mayor responded:

“I am very disappointed to hear Rick Upton thinks the IC investigation was somehow related to anything other than his own admitted discreditable conduct. I stood up for the victims of his sexual harassment. There is no power of mine or Council’s at this time to kick anyone out of office, but I am very supportive of Bill 9.”

Upton did not respond when asked about Thornley-Brown’s account of his comments regarding the Mayor.

Smith also has ties to Lovatt. He worked on Lovatt’s previous mayoral campaign and had been set to work on his 2026 campaign before the Mayor was acclaimed. Asked whether Integrity Stouffville or the flyer had any connection to Lovatt or any other candidate, Smith said there was none, noting that third parties are legally barred from coordinating with campaigns.

One Candidate Speaks Out

Leading up to the flyer’s release, Courtney Taylor was the only Ward 4 candidate to publicly address Upton’s conduct, saying in a Sept. 29 social media post that he should not be seeking re-election.

Speaking with Bullet Point News, she said residents have described similar exchanges with Upton at their doors. She emphasized these were anecdotes, not interactions she personally witnessed.

“I truly believe he should have resigned, and that Town Staff deserve to be treated with respect,” Taylor said.

Not the Only Door

“I’m sure I’m not special,” Thornley-Brown told us, “and he didn’t only knock on my door.”

Two other longtime Ward 4 residents, who requested anonymity to avoid being publicly identified as speaking against Upton, described similar exchanges. Both said the findings had changed their view of the incumbent councillor.

One resident said Upton initially avoided a question about how he remained qualified to run. “Then, when I pressed him for an answer, he told me that he paid $6,000 of his own money for training, that his 12-year record on council negates any wrongdoing, and he actually quoted Jesus,” they said.

According to the resident, Upton described the matter as “so-called harassment,” said other members of Council wanted him re-elected, and claimed the women involved “loved him” and “had hugged him afterwards.” When challenged on the comments he made in Council Chambers, “he didn’t seem to like that very much.”

“They were well rehearsed, so others who heard the same BS will recognize it,” the resident said of his responses.

The second individual, a recently retired director of a Crown corporation, said Upton called the matter a misunderstanding and emphasized that he had known the witnesses for years. He framed his conduct entirely around the June 2025 event where he told an employee she looked “lovely,” she said, minimizing even that because it did not take place on Town property.

“I told him I don’t care if he thinks it was nothing, and as a woman I find it completely unacceptable that he was not taking accountability,” she said. “He made it all sound like it was no big deal.”

Similar anecdotes have surfaced in local Facebook groups, where posts have described Upton offering explanations of the findings that appear to differ from his public apology. Those statements have not been verified.

The accounts do, however, echo a portion of Craig’s report, which noted that Upton initially offered the investigator “implausible explanations” before ultimately accepting that his conduct occurred and was received differently than he intended.

Bullet Point News has not independently verified the residents’ accounts, and Upton did not respond to a follow-up asking him to clarify his claim that he spoke with only one resident about the Integrity Commissioner.