CITY SNICKERS --Ousting the Ontario Ombudsman

MISSISSAUGA WATCH Blog: http://www.mississaugablogs.co... video pairs the Ontario Ombudsman's address at the October 31, 2007 "Right to Know" Luncheon with excerpts from the Peel Regional Council General Committee November 8, 2007 report on "closed meeting" Municipal Act Amendment issue.Some background""Transparency or Puffery?"By André MarinOmbudsman of Ontario"Right to Know" Luncheon:Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontarioand Institute of Public Administration of CanadaDominion Club, TorontoOctober 31, 2007"Just to be clear, I'm not raising this issue because I'm desperate to investigate closed meetings in all 445 municipalities across Ontario. My point is that if we really want to see a new era of accountability in municipal government, it has to be done right. Oversight of government rests on four fundamental principles: Independence, impartiality, confidentiality and a credible investigative process. I pointed this out to the government in a submission last year, and it ultimately inserted a line into the amended Municipal Act saying municipalities should "have regard" to these principles.That's great, but what does "have regard" mean? It doesn't obligate anyone to anything. You can "have regard" for these principles but still ignore them. I'm sure most cities will do their best to follow these principles, but some won't, either because they don't have the resources or the desire, or both. All we can do, as members of the public, is to keep an eye on them. That's why my office is keeping track of how all municipalities handle this, whether they plan to have their own investigator for open meetings, or refer the complaints to me. We're going to help spread the news about how many municipalities are being investigated and how their investigations turn out. So, the next time your city council or one of its committees tries to do important business behind closed doors, you'll know who to call and how to complain, and you'll have enough information to judge whether your city is delivering real transparency, or just puffery.This is a whole new area for us, but it's driven by the same thing that drives all of our investigations. It's the same principle that inspired this "Right to Know" event: The need to keep the public aware of what our officials are doing and to make sure they deliver on their promises."---Andre Marin (Ontario Ombudsman)

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: November 25, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Author: MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Length: 05:47
Rating: N/A
Views: 307

Tags: ACCOUNTABILITY  ASSOCIATION  MUNICIPALITIES  OF  OMBUDSMAN  ONTARIO  TRANSPARENCY  

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