No Reason Not To Release Colliery Dam Minutes
Unless City Hall Has Something To Hide
The only 'semi' legitimate reason for making the Colliery Dam decision behind closed doors was the desire to notify residents personally of the imminent danger of the dams collapsing.
Since that reason no longer exists the only reason for not releasing those minutes is if there is something that city hall does not want the public to know.
I have asked Mayor Ruttan when these minutes would be released and the response I got was a reply from Legislative Services telling me to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
Why in the world should the general public have to go to such lengths to see how this decision was made? Why should staff at city hall have to waste their time gathering, compiling and filing this information, when a simple motion by council could release the minutes? What are they hiding from the public?
This abuse of the 'in-camera' process is an insult to the whole notion of democracy. These secretive, hidden decisions are what you might expect in some far-off land ruled by some ruthless tyrant, but is certainly not the kind of governance the citizens of Nanaimo are entitled to from their elected officials.
I completely agree. Why are they making it difficult to have information on issues of concern to us? Day by day, everything becomes less democratic.
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