"WOOLWICH" MECAC BEYOND REPAIR

Yesterday's posting was in regards to the different outcomes between Woolwich Township and the City of Ottawa in regards to candidates contravening the Municipal Elections Act. In Ottawa they are both smart enough and honest enough to follow the letter and spirit of the Elctions Act. Not so here in Woolwich. Here our "family compact" Council combined with the same attitudes amongst some Staff and MECAC believe that they, not the law should determine legal outcomes.


Following is the rationale/excuse by the Ottawa Councillor's lawyer regarding the "clerical error" on his client's forms. "Taylor's lawyer, Joel Dubois, told the committee updated forms for both 2010 and 2014- with the corrected amounts- were filed in July and are now available on the city's website. There is "no public interest" in persuing the matter further, he told the committee.". Wow sounds exactly like our candidates here, our Council and our MECAC. The Ottawa MECAC however had different ideas. "But committee members ruled otherwise and will let a court decide on the matter. It's not our job to find Mr. Taylor guilty (or innocent) of anything" Kingsley said. Taylor of course is the Councillor and Kingsley the Chair of the Ottawa MECAC.

Following is where Woolwich's MECAC abandoned their duties and responsibilities. "Questions about Taylor's and El-Chantry's campaign finances surfaced in July when the city's election compliance audit committee ordered audits of both men to determine whether either broke the rules during the 2014 campaign." Once again although not for the last time the criteria to order an audit is extremely low and merely has to be a reasonable belief that a single contravention has occurred. Mayor Shantz admitted initially to three contraventions: Undervaluing her Contributions (donations) by over two thousand dollars, failing to file an audit and accepting an overdonation from two associated corporations. Since then she has also admitted (extremely grudgingly) to having undervalued her expenses as well.

Woolwich Council, Clerk and MECAC scammed Woolwich citizens and the Elections Act. We will soon see whether or not our judicial system takes this seriously or not.