Rules need teeth

Well, the verdict is finally out.

After months of waiting for the report to be complete, and then two more months of waiting for the Region of Durham to make it public, there is finally an answer on whether meetings held in December and January regarding the incinerator were properly closed to the public.

And the answer is becoming one all too familiar for those around these parts.

Amberely Gavel, the closed meeting investigator retained to conduct the probe, found that significant chunks of the two meetings did not need to be held in closed session.

This all comes not long after the City of Oshawa was hit with a similar decision from the province’s ombudsman, who found that a meeting with Oshawa PUC that was closed to the public should have been open.

And while this news is good for those that expect and demand transparency from the governments that represent them, where is there to go from here?

In all honesty, this is really the end of the road. For Durham, the report and any response from the region will be heard in council chambers for the Sept. 14 meeting of regional council. But in all likelihood, this is the last of it.

Same thing over at city hall – there was a meeting to discuss the report before it was tucked away.

While the intention of such investigations is to teach municipalities a lesson and change the way they govern so that it is best for the residents they represent, there really is no incentive to do so. At the end of the day, all these reports add up to little more than a little egg on the face for those responsible before being forgotten by most before the next meeting.

What is truly needed is a set of repercussions for those that break the rules. If governments truly want to be held accountable by those they serve, then this needs to be the next step.

Back in 2014, Andre Marin, then the province’s ombudsman, stated in his office’s annual report that there needs to be repercussions for those that break the rules. And this makes sense – what’s the incentive for doing things by the book if the worst that can happen in most cases is just short-term embarrassment?

Ontario should follow the lead of other jurisdictions that have imposed penalties for those found responsible for shutting the door when it should be left wide open. Only then can residents know that the politicians we expect to be held to a high standard can actually be held accountable when they break the public’s trust.