OPINION: The state of democracy in Cornwall OPINION editionap.ca
Quilters to meet The Cornwall Quilters Guild will hold their monthly meeting on Monday, March 18, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in St. Matthews Lu- theran Church Hall located at 1509 Sec- ond Street West, Cornwall. Nomination meeting Brian Lynch, president of the Stormont- Dundas-South Glengarry Provincial NDP riding association, has announced that the local provincial NDP riding association will be holding their nomination meet- ing on Wednesday March 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Navy Veterans Association, 30 Sixth St., E., Cornwall. Everyone is welcome to attend the NDP nomination meeting and AGMs on March 27. Smoking issue The Ontario Coalition for Smoke Free Movies, the Youth Ambassadors of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit and Cana- dian Cancer Society volunteer youth will be hosting a free movie event Thursday, (March 14) for teens between the ages of 13 and 18 to raise awareness of the ef- fects of smoking in movies. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Galaxy Cinemas in Cornwall. In Transition 2.0 The public is invited to join Transition Cornwall+ at the Cornwall Public Library on March 24, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for the first public screening of the film“In Transi- tion 2.0” by the originators of the Transi- tion movement in Totnes. It will give ex- amples of how people from around the world, are responding to uncertain times with creativity, solutions and engaged op- timism, this film is a story of resilience and hope in extraordinary times. Also shown will be an inspiring short clip called “Start Something Together”. Student fundraiser A fundraiser will be held April 6 for Up- per Canada District School Board Student Brody Froats. The 17-year-old was born with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), a debil- itating disease that causes obesity, severe muscle atrophy, and heart and respira- tory problems. The fundraiser will be held at the Matilda Community Hall in Dixons Corners. Admission is by donation only. Call 613-543-3841 or 613-543-3983 or email myrnaanderson@xplornet.com to make reservation. Email your coming events to lyse.emond@ eap.on.ca. // Envoyez vos événements à lyse. emond@eap.on.ca. communautaire Le lien community link The
GREG KIELEC greg.kielec@eap.on.ca
There has been ample reason of late to worry about the state of our democracy in Cornwall. I question if democracy, in the true sense of the notion, as so aptly laid out in our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, even exists to its fullest extent, the way those who crafted Canada’s cher- ished document had intended. The conduct of some – not all – at city hall, and their often selective interpretation of the law at all levels, came to a fore at the Feb. 25 when a reporter was evicted from council for wearing a T-shirt that Mayor Bob Kilger found offensive. Then, protesters saw signs they had respectfully left outside the council chambers disappear after manhan- dled by city Councillor Syd Gardiner only to show up a week later bent and creased at police headquarters. Both events were disturbing in that they were basic attacks on two major and cher- ished tenets of our charter or rights: the freedom of the press and freedom of ex- pression, that includes the right to peaceful protest, even in the city of Cornwall’s hal- lowed halls. But while the events of Feb. 25 may have been shocking to some, they are no surprise to those who have been following the tri- als and tribulations of those at city hall over the past few years. The protesters may have been the unfortunate canaries in the coal mine, but the noxious odour of a democ- racy gone bad has been slowly smothering
Special photo
Above is a photo of one of the damaged protest signs posted on Facebook by Chris- topher Cameron from the Feb. 25 protest at Cornwall city hall. No charges were laid against the councillor accused of damaging them.
pattern that has consistently emerged from city hall since the Diane Shay whistleblower case, and perhaps even before. One only needs to look back 11 months ago, to last April, when a damning report from closed meeting investigator Stephen Fournier sanctioned the mayor and city council for an ambush of Councillor Andre Rivette that was allowed to take place dur- ing a closed section of council, in clear viola- tion of the Ontario Municipal Act. Fournier also laid out a detailed road map on how council should adopt best practices used by other municipalities to bring its ac- tions within the law and ensure the utmost transparency and accountability for Corn- wall ratepayers. But what really has changed? The Journal has learned there are now two more closed meeting complaints filed against the city that are being investigated by Fournier, who readily admits that while he can make recommendations to council, he has no power to enforce them. Since late 2011, the city has been convict- ed of retaliating against a whistle-blower, has been criticized for improperly treating an employee by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, has been slammed by an inves- tigator for improper conduct during an in- camera session and has lost a sitting coun- cillor who resigned over frustration with the lack of information given councillors during decision-making processes. Please see “CITY’S”: Page 5
360 Pitt Street long before their democratic rights were trampled upon before their very own eyes. One does not have to peer far back into history to see the warning signs of power gone amok long before protesters’ signs were confiscated and police were sent rac- ing in full panic mode to city hall to deal with not an armed gunman or a violent coup, but simply a reporter asserting his right to remain in the council chambers in spite of the mayor’s disdain for his attire. Councillor Gardiner’s Sign-gate and a city hall brimming with police officers was ee- rily evocative of the tense and sometimes violent Occupy protests in the United States last year, but it was not out of step with a
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