OPINION
editionap.ca
Cornwall police Service are investigating a Break & Enter that occurred Friday, at a Tollgate Road East rear residential shed. The suspects gained entry and removed a large amount of tools, including a digital vernier caliper, and socket and wrench sets. Variety of tools stolen in Tollgate Road break and enter
City’s executive branch has usurped council’s power
STATE: Continued from Page 4
pal Act that municipalities give the most information possible about in camera ses- sions – including the names of those in at- tendance -- without divulging the private information. It is evident when the city released the terms of its settlement of former human resource manager Robert Menagh, but to this day still refuses to release information pertaining to the settlement granted for- mer Glen-Stor-Dun Lodge administrator Donna Derouchie, despite a recent order from adjudicator Diane Smith of the Infor- mation and Privacy Commissioner of On- tario’s office to do so. So where is the accountability, where is
What we have in Cornwall – and I have witnessed it first-hand and through a vari- ety of inside sources over the few years –is an executive branch that has seized power from the democratically elected body to use it as it wishes, not unlike the unprece- dented powers seized by the White House during the two presidencies of George W. Bush. It is one thing for council to make bad decisions on information it receives from administration, lawyers or outside consul- tants. It is quite another thing for council to be left in the dark, forced into making decisions during closed sessions not knowing whether they are getting the full story. One thing is quite his vice-president Dick Cheney – do not feel that the laws of the land are applicable to Cornwall, and more specifically to Corn- wall city council and its top bureaucrats. They treat the law with disdain, like an unappealing suggestion which they may ignore if it does not suit their needs. It was evident when protesters signs were maligned and a reporter was evicted for a rather inoffensive T-shirt on Feb. 25. It was evident when until recently, coun- cil ignored a requirement in the Ontario Municipal Act that all meetings begin in open session, even those held specifically for in-camera discussion. It was evident when on two occasions mail sent to individual councillors citing concerns about the operation of Glen- Stor-Dun Lodge was intercepted by the executive branch and never arrived in the hands of city councillors It is evident when the city clerk refuses to reveal who even was in attendance during an in camera meeting of council, despite a requirement under the Ontario Munici- clear, this adminis- tration, and some members of council – much like Bush and
the transparency cit- ed so often by those sitting around the council table, includ- ing Mayor Kilger? Are council mem- bers engaged in double-speak? Are they simply speak- ing out of both sides
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of their mouths? Are the terms account- ability and transparency meaningless eu- phemisms for business as usual? Much of what happens in front of the television cameras is a well-rehearsed charade to keep the eyes of the media and the public off the ball. It is, what they call in politics, “optics”, or “messaging” – a concerted campaign to keep the public focused on what the powerbrokers want them to know, not what the public really needs to know. Power can have different shades and dif- ferent meanings depending upon who is using it and the context in which it is used. Power is often equated with money. It is also equated with political influence. Of- ten the two sources of power – money and political station – combine in a way that benefits both sides of the equation, but often at the expense of the average citizen who has access to neither. It is time that the power is turned back to the citizens of this great city and their duly elected council.
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