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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1998-07-01, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 1, 1998 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don $lnith Production Manager: Deb Lord tgrertisine. Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy' (News; Kate Monk, Craig Bradford, Katherine Harding, Scott Nixon, Ross Haugh • • Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson. Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner transportation: Al Hodgert • Front Office & Accounting; See Rollings, Carol Windsor Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald..Cassie Dalrymple, • Ruth Slaght, CCM &{• ..The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers - providing news, advertising and information leadership —"Ri4 EI)iT()RIAI1S 4 Publications Mail Registration Number 07511 SIMICRir►TloN RAMC One year rate for Canada subscribers - $35.00 + QST Two year rate for Canada subscribers - $63.00 + OST OTHER RATS Outside Canada - $102.00 8.,itre �c a•r.s+ Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by 1.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-5192355-1331 • Fax: 519235-0766 amax:taSaady.com O.S.T. #R10521,0835 New_Municipal Act._ will allow municipal • councils to -conduct business beyond- public view T. he Ontario Community News- papers Association (OCNA) represents • - 263.vommunitynewspapersfrom all re- gions of the province which reach close to 3.1,million Ontario residents -each week. . These newspapers .are an integral part of the ;;omniunities theyserve, and thus they.work closely withiheir local mu= nicipalities. They•have a deep and abid- ing interest in municipal affairs, and a very special interest in the provincial - government's proposed new Municipal Act- . . -. OCNA members are committed -to the principles of a.free and open.democra- cy, where government is always ac- countable to the people. Every week, community newspapers play a vital role in preserving these fundamental princi -pals. In the public interest, the commu- nity newspapers are duty bound to. keep their communities abreast of matters pertaining to their local government. . OCNA members are deeply con-. cerned about proposed.chauges to the Ontario Municipal _Act, including in particular, Section 248 (7 and 8). -- Closed Closed Meetings. The proposed new act, in section 248, subsection 7, ena- bles -municipalities through their pro- cedural bylaw, to authorize a closed. meeting if it deals with a subject matter set out in the bylaw. With the addition of the proposed stipulation, 'g', munici- palities can hold such meetings for any - subject matter that they authorize under subsection 8: Again, municipalities , • could set their own ground rules. .The Ontario Community Newspapers - Association feels strongly that stipula - tion. `g' should be.stricken.fromAhe new act. It provides. no standards or -guidance tolmunicipalities in an area • that is fundamental to open govern- ment, at a.time, when citizens expect greater transparency and .accountability,. not ccountability,- not. less. "Essentially, the new law for - many sanctions Ontario municipalities— to unicipalities-to do what they want about conducting • any form of business -beyond public view. This practice leads citizens to. speculate -about what is going on be- hind closed doors in an era when we need to build greater confidence and trust between citizens And -their govern- ment. It sends the wrong message to mu- nicipalities and to the voting public.' The news media.generally feels.the current act is already too permissive. Municipal councils often push the limits and bend the rules. Some -seek to go behind closed doors because an issue is "sensitive" but not necessarily a property -or personnel matter. • Motions from an in -camera session dictate the actions to be taken: Often, - motions are vaguely worded and in some instances, a motion is not even made.:The public and the press can't find out what was discussed or the outcome. • 1n -camera sessions are generally Left to the end of a council meeting. ;Reporters generally, leave at this time and get the motions from staff later. All'too often the press finds out through the meeting minutes or the grapevine other issues were discussed without the benefit of the press or- public in attendance. The greatest insult to the public is. the "informal gathering" --whereby council says it is not holding a meeting --- they - are just"getting together". Whenever councils .meet, it is considered to be a meeting under the -current Municipal Act, whether it is in the council - chambers or in a• livingroom , OCNA members feel the provincial government needs to move_in the . - opposite direction in the new act and require 'municipalities to inform the public:- - (a) about the class of an item that will be discussed in the closedmeeting, e:g., land acquisition, personnel matter, legal matter; and (b) about the•topic that will be discussed, where that subject is a legal, matter already on the public record through documents filed in court: For example; the municipal council" would inform that the closed meeting will deal with an outstanding legal •matter, and name the case: . From the Ontario Community Newspaper Association We welcome your opinion. All letters to the editor must be signed and are subject to editing. Deliver to 424 Main Street, or mail to P.O. box 850, Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6 r A View from Queen's Park By Eric Dowd }how I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION'S Li Li And another -thing.... By Scott Nixon Why is moving so stressful? .Of all the annoyances. a person has endure in life, few are as - stressful as moving. • - I had the' pleasure a couple of . weeks ago of packing up -my. stuff -in Palmerston and.. moving. to Exeter for my'new job at the -T -A. Whilel was looking forward to -the new job.,l'd forgotten how horrible. it -can be to move... . ' First, there's -the packing, at which i have my own distinct style.. Most people, when they pack, try to pack similar items together, even labelling the. boxes so they'll he able to find what they're looking for when they -begin unpacking. • Not me. When I'm packing there wenn rules: books go with plates, CDs go with old magazines, clothes. ' go With VCR tapes...you get the picture. • • ' ,. I also threw a tot of things 5-h the • garbage while packing because I, simply . didn't feel like packing them. I actually contemplated turfing -all my dishes simply because wrapping them all up in Inewspaper was too time consuming and too...well; boring. But common sense prevailed and the . dishes survived. • • • And when -preparing'.. for this move i decided not to go to all the trouble. 'of labelling the boxes. - 'Anybody can do that, I thought. . I'm, going to be unique. - • You see, l thought if 1 didn't label my boxes, it would make for a fun . kind of game when i moved into my new apartment; each time rd open a box 1 gct.a surprise. Well, the game didn't turn outto be that fuh and the: only surprise was "After the moving and unpacking -is close to be- .ing done, one question remains.:: what do you do: now?" •• thatf couldn't find anything. It actually took me three days to find the- remote controls for my stereo .and VCR. And after the moving - and unpacking is close to being done; one question remains — O.K., you've just moved to a new town, What do you do now'! - Well, TV is out because 1 haven't gotten around to getting cable yet. Itseems thecable company wants . mc to be home while they send out some service guy to come'and hook me up.. Do they realize that it's: difficult to sit around the house waiting "for a serviceman when you're supposed to be at work? So I've gone without cable for a couple of, weeks now and it's kind of nice. Sometimes, if weather conditions -are perfect, ..I can actually get .one channel on my television,- but the viewing choices - _aren't . exactly spectacular (that episode of The New Love Boat last week just didn't do it for me). As a result, instead of wasting away the hours and killing my brain cells while sitting in front of• the TV watching- the latest Ed's - Night Party I've been doing things rather unheard of these days — reading and . (gasp!) thinking. Imagine that? But I'll have to break down and get cable one of these days; there are only so many Kurt Vonnegut novels a guy can read before he - starts to question his sanity. For now, I still have unpacking to do and next time I move I'M getting professionalsto do all the work. -i just can't face it anymore. TORONTO - Premier Mike Harris has learned a few lessons that will make him an even tougher competitor in an election. One is that the Progressive Conservative pre- mier needs to look more humane after such harsh acts as cutting many servicesand initially 11 rebuffing the three surviving Dionne quin- tuplets with a paltry offer of compensation. He took a step toward appearing kinder and gentler by saying Ontario will compensate resi- dents who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood donations before 1986, white the federal government refused. Harris also earlier refused and some will sus- pect his reversal was to escape the fury at the federal Liberals and grab a dramatic opportuni- ty to look humane, but most probably will merely see him as generous. In the legislature session just adjourned, the Liberals complained that children with special needs would lose financial help to go to sum- mer camp and Hams replied unhesitatingly that • he will guarantee personally that such children will go.. The old. Harris would have allowed the issue to fester for days. Harris won praise for 1 lending a requirement that disabled people be given medical examina- tions 11regularly to determine whether they still qualify for benefits. Instead, they will be re- examined only where their condition is expected to improve. Harris also was praised for joining Ottawa to increase funds for children of the working poor, and his government did not dither after a study urged quicker intervention in child abuse and said it will change the law. Harris also has shown himself a bit more flexi- ble and less dogmatic. When it once seemed that he might privatize Ontario Hydro, to which the public has some attachment because of its long service, he has contented himself so far with leg- islation that will allow others to 1 1produce pow- er and transmit it over Hydro lines. Even opposi- tion parties I !generally welcomed this competition, provided it does not wind up with Harms achieving his aim the Tories rewarding their many business friends. • - Harris also postponed a deadline for closing schools and allocated more money for special education. None of these are dramatic changes and some are mere cosmetics and the premier is unrelenting inhounding unions, who -he has fig- ured do not vote for him anyway. But the changes have gathered enough head- lines to• imply that behind his hawkish exterior is a more sensitive Harris, which is his aim. No stirring speaker, Harris has even managed to find somewhere the odd inspiring phrase; such as asserting, when his was the only gov- ernment ready to expand the blood compensa- tion, "we are not alone -- Canadians ate with us." Harris has also concluded that he is better off. restricting severely the opportunities where he can get into arguments and blurt out some in- nermost thought that offends people. Some of his past gaffes include saying many live on the streets by choice and his government had to cut off an extra food allowance given pregnant welfare recipients because they might spend it on beer, for which he apologized. Harris was at little more than one-third of the daily question periods -in the nine -week legisla- ture session, a _ poor attendance record com- • pared to earlier premiers. It could not even be said that he was out cam- paigning. He had few other public engagements and was not abroad seeking trade. At least once he was playing in 'a golf tournament raising funds for his party. If the legislature was doing its job properly, it would have asked him •to bring sick notes.. Harris was not in his seat to bear the brunt of opposition questions about issues including his award of a contract to operate a casino to do- nors to his party, environmental groups charg- ing he is soft on' polluters and his new law which allows parties to spend huge • sums in elections which only the Tories can raise.11 Harris's strategy worked in helping him avoid embattdsging 1 tquestions, but voters should be concerned when a premier is so afraid he may say the wrong thing he goes into hiding. 4 r