IS THE MUNICIPAL ELECTION OVERSIGHT PROCESS LEGITIMATE?

To date the answer is a clear no. The oversight process through the Municipal Elections Act has been captured by our local politicians. On paper and in principle alone there are issues. Afterall relying on watchdog citizens to firstly find errors, omissions and downright falsehoods in the submitted Financial Statements of candidates is unlikely. The proof of that is in the blatantcy and outright crassness of the three cases here in Woolwich Township during the last municipal election in October 2014. That two senior, longtime politicians would pull what they did was way beyond embarassing. That the new boy on the block, Scott Hahn, would avoid claiming thousands of dollars in sign and brochure costs because he thought that as they were donated to him he didn't have to, is frankly incredible. That he then, despite ample opportunities to receive advice and assistance, failed to include them at all in his Financial Statements is beyond negligent. That the Municipal Clerk signed off on his Financial Statement frankly is mind boggling. Didn't she even ask him about sign costs?

Once we get by the necessity of vigilance amongst citizens necessary to initiate the process is the problem of who appoints the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC). My understanding is that it is the Municipal Clerks from all the cities and townships here in Waterloo Region. Keep in mind that each and every Clerk is beholden to their own municipality for their job. Then they are expected to appoint honest, aggressive and well informed individuals to determine contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act (MEA). Sure these Clerks are going to appoint people who are willing to publicly criticize and possibly remove various wayward councillors who not only can demand the local Clerk's job but also the CAO's job who is technically the Clerk's supervisor.

In our case our MECAC included former politicians such as Grace Sudden and Carl Zehr. Grace was both a municipal councillor and later a regional councillor. How likely is she to crap upon current Woolwich councillors? Apparently not very based on her decisions at MECAC. Also keep in mind based upon the sandy Shantz case, sandy was both the Woolwich mayor and a regional councillor while this regional committee (MECAC) was deciding her fate. No surprise they let her walk despite overwhelming omissions, errors and contraventions.

Then there are the mechanics, hoops and loops and time consuming court appearances necessary for citizens to pursue these cases. The judicial system is far less then citizen friendly or timely. Frankly it is a disgusting charade of justice and competentcy. In my opinion it is intentionally slow, devious, unclear and unfriendly.

Despite all this I have as yet not given up. All it takes is one good, honest and professional person in a position of authority to make a difference. We shall soon see if that person will proceed and do their duty.