OTTAWA 1, DOGPATCH 0

Somewhere during the course of the local MECAC (Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee) hearings a citizen suggested that Woolwich was not Dogpatch. The inference was that just because Woolwich Township consists of Elmira, Breslau, St. Jacobs and many more small villages and very rural areas that they should not behave like backwoods hicks. This plea fell on deaf ears as both Woolwich Council and the handpicked & appointed MECAC did exactly that. They ignored both the Municipal Elections Act (MEA), the Ontario Bar Association Report and case law in order to avoid ordering a Compliance Audit for mayor Shantz and in order to avoid sending Councillor Scot Hahn on to the courts for prosecution.

MECAC decided that their job was indeed to do exactly what all the authorities advised is not their job. MECAC usurped the authority of the MEA and the courts and essentially advised all and sundry that the two Woolwich politicians were innocent of wrongdoing. That is not their job. They are appointed to determine if there are any reasonable grounds to believe there has been a contravention of the Act and if so to order a Compliance Audit otherwise known as a Forensic Audit. Those two Audits compared to a private audit are the difference between a tornado and a gust of wind. The three private audits that mayor Shantz has obtained have been essentially useless or less and that is not the fault of her auditor. He is restricted to simply reporting on the data and numbers given to him by his client. He is not authorized to interview witnesses or examine third party's books relating to receipts and invoices pertaining to the mayor's election expenses.

Then after receiving and studying the Compliance Audit MECAC were to have determined if that Audit indicated any contraventions of the MEA. If so and with very little latitude they were to pass on the evidence to a prosecuter for him to determine whether the contraventions warranted prosecution.

The City of Ottawa got it right both last July and yesterday. Their MECAC had ordered two Compliance Audits as per the law and yesterday decided that Councillor Mark Taylor would be sent on for prosecution. It appears, according to the Ottawa Citizen, that he made one significant contravention regarding a non-existent $4,000 Deficit from his 2010 election campaign that he brought forward into his 2014 Financial Statements. Not good! That said, in my opinion, his contravention pales compared to both our Councillor Scott Hahn and mayor Sandy Shantz's multiple serious contraventions. My opinion is that our local MECAC are simply cheerleaders for Woolwich politicians and need to be removed immediately. Here is the link to the Ottawa citizen story.