Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin released a report Tuesday calling for harsher consequences for municipal councils who ignore laws governing public meetings.
One of the first examples he cited was that of Waterloo, where he said councillors had found a “novel way to meet secretly” by holding budget talks with only a handful of councillors present.
“I’ve rarely seen something so contemptuous of the rule of law,” Marin said of Waterloo’s budget sessions.
“It was really an incredible disclosure … that they thought they could get away with it.”
Mayor Dave Jaworsky said he implemented the private sessions as a way to help councillors get more information about the budget.
After a public outcry, Waterloo moved to do away with the private sessions and instead hold all budget talks in public.
“We’re going to focus on transparency, not so much (on) expediency,” Jaworsky told CTV News.
“Our citizens really care about (the) budget. If we can make it easier for them to learn more about it, then that’s the right thing to do.”
The ombudsman does not have oversight power over Waterloo, which instead receives a similar service through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Marin said that could be part of the reason why Waterloo moved toward closed meetings, as those investigators only looks into cases where a quorum of councillors are present.
“They have nothing to fear from their own hand-picked investigator,” he said.
Out of Ontario’s 444 municipalities, 196 use Marin to investigate complaints about closed meetings, while 134 hired officers through AMO.
Also taken to task by Marin was the Bruce County council, which held secret meetings for eight years to discuss burying nuclear waste near Kincardine.
"I can't think of a case where there would be a greater case to meet publicly," he said.
There is no situation where municipal councils in Ontario are forced to discuss issues in secret, Martin said, although they are allowed to in certain circumstances.
With files from The Canadian Press
