Transparency is a principle that is supposed to be at the core of all policies and actions of government. Unfortunately, in actuality these core principles of democracy are not always an action, only hollow words.
Hidden letters, correspondence, closed meetings, denial of freedom of information requests, are all examples of government denying the public access to information, all of which is public information, with the keyword being “public”.
Every government, including municipal governments, operates under statements, codes of conduct and documents that are littered with phrases such as transparency and accountability.
When the public is denied access to public documents or materials that may be damaging to the image of the government and information is intentionally hidden, this creates distrust in public institutions, government and those members who are elected to represent all people.
The Township of Lake of Bays, and its mayor, appears to be on the wrong side of its own policies on government transparency. With the ongoing saga of the unnecessary Road License Agreement (RLA) policy, taxpayers have continued to attempt to voice their objections to the policy. Of great concern is the response to individuals that have publicly documented calls to completely repeal RLA’s; however, the Township has taken a path of censorship and hiding correspondence on the subject. The last council meeting, December 10, 2024, should have included four (4) open letters from affected constituents against RLA’s, but these were summarily removed from the meeting agenda and hidden in “Item 7 Communication Items, Council Information File”. This seems a deliberate act to obfuscate; as many members of the public would not know what this heading is for.
Additional letters were sent to the Township to protest what seems deliberate attempts to hide these letters that meet Township requirements for publishing, but these protestations were also further buried deeper.
These are not the actions of a Township and mayor committed to open, transparent, government, based in democracy. While the mayor may not agree with those rallying against RLA’s, it is not a fair, open and honest practice to pick and choose what is published openly and what is hidden from sight.
To remedy the situation, correcting the failings of the Township, we are stepping in and making public those letters excluded from the agenda by the Township. The letters may be found here:
https://lakeofbays.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/102078/ https://lakeofbays.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/102233/
The public has a right to all information, and it is not for the government to block, hide or decide what information may be disseminated. This government can right this wrong, adhering to their own transparency and accountability statements, alleviating taxpayers concerns by truly making local government transparent.
A copy of one of the hidden letters, titled “Repeal of Road License Agreement” written by Linda Housser is given below:
November 30, 2024
Dear Mayor and Council
It is with great disappointment that further requests to Mayor and Council is still needed to restate the request that the Road License Agreement policy be removed.
What is still currently in place, should be removed immediately.
Unanimous comments have been provided by a multitude of concerned individuals within the Township and experts such as former mayors and lawyers, all in agreement that Road License Agreement policy needs to be removed immediately. The continued preservation of the widely denounced policy is causing much anger and consternation, with the burden of the policy still around the necks of taxpayers.
Beyond immediate removal of the policy, it has been frustrating in the lack of communication or action on the contentious issue from the Mayor and Council.
Comments of a policy review, carried out in secrecy from the public is a continued concern, with no updates or communication.
The complete inaction and reluctance to alter the by-laws indicates that removal of RLA’s or significant modifications will not be forthcoming. It has been verified that the policy was enacted without any factual information or evidence of an issue with these roads, with the RLA policy being pushed forward regardless of a glaring lack of information.
It should be restated that there has never been a problem with these roads, there still are no problems, and based on this alone without the deluge of facts detracting the ill-conceived policy, RLA’s need to be removed.
Please demonstrate to the taxpayers in the Township of an open, transparent, good governance policy for all.
Remove RLA’s and move on to working for the taxpayers on issues that actually need to be addressed.
Sincerely
Permanent taxpayer and lifelong resident.
Linda Housser
Mansell Road
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I will add to this topic today to reiterate that to my knowledge, there has never been a demonstrated problem or need with regard to these Road Allowances.
The Township did not create these allowances, they were created in the original survey of Ontario and with the purpose of allowing access to the land without need to cross another person’s land.
Like Lake shore Road Allowances, these parcels of land seem to have been usurped by the local municipalities and are being used as a cash cow when this was never the original intention of their creation.
We all, especially so our local governments, seem to have fallen under the spell of lawyers who, seeing a set of deep pockets, will somewhat sleazily attempt to tap into these funds for their clients benefit, no matter the logic, history or morality (if that still exists in government) of the situation.
This is a sad state of affairs as I am sure there are many, much more necessary and beneficial items that could occupy our leaders time and effort. So far as I can see, things like this RLA effort do nothing to solve any real problem, merely confusing the situation with a lot of verbiage and costing a lot of tax dollars to support what is essentially a non-necessary, non issue for a reason not fully understood.
This has been an ongoing issue with this mayor and council. I’ve sent letters in regards to other matters before council and at most they may get an honourable mention on the back pages of some report if lucky enough to even be knowledge let alone addressed