Earlier this year our Democracy was dealt a crippling blow by North Huron council when they removed Public/Press comments from council meetings. There is no sign of this Right being restored. Neil Vincent claims town staff are too busy cut-and-paste “Public/Press Gallery Questions and Comments” back into their agenda, after all it would take several seconds to do, and a minute to vote on during a meeting. Apparently our Rights aren’t worth those few seconds of effort.
We all know that excuse is bullshit. In a recent conversation with Reeve Vincent he admitted the real reason Public/Press questions were removed was council believed the Public was using this opportunity to personally attack council and staff. This too is pure bs.
The real reason council removed our Right to question them was they fear change and scrutiny.
So, why is it so important to restore Public/Press questions at council meetings? This allows the Public/Press to introduce topics for debate, and if the question is worded right and you are persistent, it could trigger positive change.
If you are thinking “one question can’t change anything”, you would be wrong. A single question is almost always the first step toward progress and change. Below are only three examples of where a question has made a positive difference.
Trailer Park
The battle to save the Wingham Trailer Park started with one question. That simple question exposed accounting flaws and triggered a summer-long battle involving dozens of people and hundreds of volunteer hours to save the Trailer Park. NOTE: This could not have been done without further questions at council meetings to force them to honor their commitment to allow “Options other than selling” in the RFP to open the door for Legion deal.
There is no doubt that the Wingham Trailer Park would be gone if it were not for the Public’s ability to question council at meetings.
Ombudsman
Earlier this year North Huron switched to the free service of the Ontario Ombudsman for our “closed meeting investigator” after being put on the hot-seat during the Public/Press portion of a council meeting. We no longer pay to keep the Ombudsman away.
Closed Meetings Recorded
Earlier this year only 17 out of 440+ municipalities in Ontario recorded closed sessions of council. North Huron became the 18th after a member of the Public asked council “If the Ombudsman recommends recording closed sessions of council, will you do it?” The question had to be asked 6 times that evening until there was a substantive response, but it did trigger positive change.