Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin is shown in December, 2011.FERNANDO MORALES/The Globe and Mail
Ontario Ombudsman André Marin's report into secrecy in municipal government contains good news and bad news. The good news? Citizens across the province are increasingly upset about local governments that conduct democratic business behind closed doors, and they are complaining in growing numbers. The bad news? Many municipal governments are still flouting the province's open meeting law – without penalty.
In 2008, Ontario's Municipal Act was amended, to give the ombudsman power to investigate complaints of unnecessary and undemocratic secrecy on the part of the province's municipal governments. The new rules on openness are known as the Sunshine Law. This past year, Mr. Marin's team investigated 96 council meetings, finding that 19 of them were illegal. That figure likely underestimates the problem, since municipalities can pick a body other than the ombudsman to oversee their Sunshine Law obligations – a practice known as oversight shopping. Mr. Marin also found some meetings that appeared to violate the spirit of the law, such as the time city councillors in London, Ont., met in private at a local restaurant just before a budget vote. Sixty citizens complained.
Mr. Marin recommends that the province take four steps to ensure that the sun really does shine in. First, end oversight shopping. This year, Sudbury council voted to fire the ombudsman after he was critical of their behaviour. Fewer than half of the province's municipalities have chosen to be overseen by the ombudsman. Since when do we allow an accused to fire the judge?
Mr. Marin also recommends that lawbreakers be punished – the law currently contains no sanctions – that all meetings be recorded, and that any meeting found to have been conducted illegally have its proceedings invalidated. All excellent ideas. And we can't imagine why any of the three parties at Queen's Park wouldn't agree. Pass these reforms, pronto.