Club members heard about the provincial government’s deal in 2017, the failed plans for Guelph Eramosa Township in 2018, and Stratford’s wooing of the Glass Factory in late 2018. The Mayor and Council had quietly planned the annexation of class A farmland into Stratford, and kept it secret for over two years. When the public finally found out in late 2020, the reaction of shock and concern about the water usage, the greenhouse gas emissions and the plans for a dormitory to house the workers on site caused Council to pause final approval. Eventually the factory owners decided to abandon Stratford, and ultimately the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing withdrew the zoning.

Mike also recounted our attempts to uncover the documents and decisions by Council which were made in secret, through Freedom of Information Requests (FOI) and Closed Meeting Investigations. Some FOI’s come with a steep price tag. The city asked for $8800 to look for documents related to the dealings with the Glass Plant. We narrowed the scope to just the agreements reached, and after a 3 year refusal by the city, the Provincial Commissioner ordered them revealed. We discovered that the planner involved was working for both the city and the glass factory on the same matter, in violation of the rules of the Ontario Professional Planner’s Institute. Acting on our complaint, he was disciplined by the Institute.

Through Closed Meeting Investigations we learned that council had met illegally on dozens of occasions, and had voted in secret 135 times out of 416 votes. We have asked to see the minutes of meetings which were illegally secret, and have received some, but are adjudicating the denials, and the cost ($700) to see what should be publicly available minutes. We asked to see a copy of the contract with the planner, but it is mysteriously missing. His invoices show the city paid him about $25,000 and we have asked to see the details of the work he did for the city. Again a $750 bill before they will do the search.

When Mike appeared before council to speak on the illegal secret meetings and voting, he was banned from all city property for 3 months. That action is under appeal to the Ombudsman of Ontario. In Ontario there is no penalty for councils who break the closed meeting laws. In some jurisdictions in the US, councillors can face jail time.

Rotary Club members were apparently moved by the discussion, and several offered donations to the cause, for which we are very grateful. One member, Robert Ritz, has paid us the deposit requested for one of the FOI’s. Thank you, Robert!

We hope that some good will come of all this. The City, after the fourth investigation, has come up with clear internal rules about what things can be done in secret, and how those things get onto the ‘in camera meeting’ agendas. The fourth investigation, covering about a year from the end of the third one, has yet to be released.

An unintended consequence of the actions is that departments seem to be refusing to release documents that used to be publicly available, without a Freedom of Information request. We hope this is just a blip and not a trend towards more secrecy.