POSSIBLY TRULY CLEVER MUNICIPAL CORRUPTION?

Keep in mind the dictionary definition of corruption. It doesn't have to be brown paper bags full of money changing hands as in the Karl Heinz Screiber / Brian Mulroney style. "Riddled with errors" is also a definition of corruption. I would add that deceit, deception and manipulation of the public for self-serving purposes are examples of political corruption.

A concerned Cambridge citizen has been corresponding with the Municipal Clerk of Cambridge Ontario regarding a very recent Rogers Cable TV broadcast of a public meeting of Cambridge Council.

Before I go any further let me add a clarification here. My plans for this Blog were 100% to be regarding environmental issues. I have strayed somewhat regarding local political issues up here in Woolwich Township as it has become clear to me that everything environmental eventually boils down to the relevant political situation. Whether corruption within the provincial Ministry of the Environment or one form or another of corruption at the local, municipal level; this is what determines environmental outcomes, not the science or the facts of the situation. For example apparently mandatory Records of Site Condition (environmental) aren't so mandatory in Cambridge as Cambridge Council seem to exempt them at will for some property sales.

The concerned Cambridge citizen has sent several very clear and cogent e-mails to the Cambridge Clerk advising him of serious discreancies between a December 13/16 public Cambridge Council meeting and the later Rogers Cable TV broadcast of same. This later broadcast appears to have removed/edited a number of Delegations to Council as well as certain exchanges between Council members and or the Chairman. This concerned citizen has also approached Rogers Cable TV with a request for clarification as to the reasons for the alleged disappearance of specific matters that he personally saw and heard at the December 13/16 Council meeting.

From the responses received by this citizen to date I would agree that he is being stonewalled. Three fairly straightforward questions were specifically asked of the Municipal Clerk on two separate occasions and again it appears as if the Clerk is stickhandling around them.

Most of us can not or will not spare the time to attend regular Council meetings in person. I would like to think that a significant number of us however avail ourselves of the opportunity from the comfort of our own homes to watch televised Council meetings on Rogers Cable TV. If as is being stated by this citizen, editing, shortening or actually any revisions are somehow being made to these televised Council meetings then it is absolutely incumbent upon both Rogers Cable and the municipal Council involved to state this clearly and publicly not just once but every single time it occurs. This is a serious matter regarding both political transparency and political accountability. Even more important if there is any tacit or explicit "arrangement" between Rogers Cable TV and our local Councils to edit particular portions at the request of the municipality this must be exposed and stopped.

Citizens including myself have a difficult enough time in trusting any politicians. Any breech of the integrity and completeness of these televised municipal/regional Council meetings in Waterloo Region must be clarified with specifics each and every time. In other words there must be a reasonable rationale for so doing and the criteria for and personnel making these decisions must also be made public.