The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is once again twisting words around to make it seem like it is acting in the interest of the people, but in fact, is doing just the opposite.

In a town statement released Wednesday, the town seems to be doing its best to gaslight residents who are rightfully concerned about an ongoing push toward concealing information from the public.

This includes censoring voices of committee members and staff, locking documents away from the public under the guise of them being readily available to view at town hall, where town staff can make sure you don’t write anything down, take photos or actually have any meaningful access to the document.

They can stand there and make you feel uncomfortable while they sip a coffee — and make sure you don’t share it with anyone.

The statement says, “Once projects progress to the site plan approval stage, the Planning Act delegates this highly technical part of the process to authorized staff with input from various town departments, agencies and other professionals with technical expertise, and it does not require public input/engagement.”

They slide the most important part of what they want to say in there so innocently, don’t they?

Translation: We don’t care about your opinion and aren’t going to listen even if you offer it.

It continues: “While the documents from this stage are not posted online, they are readily available for review in person at town hall (1593 Four Mile Creek Rd., Virgil). Residents and stakeholders are welcome to schedule an appointment to review these documents, meet with staff and share any specific comments or concerns to be considered as part of the staff’s review process.”

So, in other words, they’re offering restricted access to a document that, by all rights, is public.

A freedom of information request would force the town’s hand in releasing said document. Because it’s public and withholding it simply isn’t allowed.

So why go to the extreme effort of keeping it under lock and key instead of being open, transparent and releasing the documents to the public?

The statement comes on the heels of backroom discussions between staff and councillors to implement policies that prevent committee members from speaking with media without going through the town’s communications department (a move that is not only against our Charter rights, but is in such incredible bad taste it could literally only be done under this council).

The town also wants to prevent committee members from writing letters to the editor of this paper — a suspicious action that doesn’t exactly espouse trust. In fact, it does quite the opposite.

Here’s a bit of inside baseball, but often the town won’t even provide information to the media, tarnishing a relationship of information sharing that’s happened in good faith for ages in cities and towns across the world.

It’s nothing new. In fact, in 2021, the town sent a memo to all staff essentially threatening their employment if they speak to the media. Again, a direct violation of their Charter rights.

Knowing all that, the real kicker is the last line in the town statement, though: “Staff remain committed to ensuring openness and accountability in all aspects of our planning processes.”

Yeah, it’s super clear that staff is all about transparency and openness (try saying that with a straight face).

It’s a sad state of affairs when our town lets this kind of thing slide by — when only one or two politicians stand up against withholding information and fight for what’s right.

Kudos to Coun. Andrew Niven, who addressed the elephant in the room at council on Tuesday: If there is nothing to hide, why not share it with the public?

And he’s exactly right. But unfortunately, the goal certainly is to limit public access or this kind of situation simply wouldn’t occur.

Some of our councillors will likely tell you it’s because it’s what is allowed in the Planning Act.

That would be another attempt to mislead you. The truth is the town absolutely can share public documents. It just chooses not to.

There is absolutely nothing in the Planning Act that says the town can’t share public information with the public. In other words, just because public engagement isn’t required, doesn’t mean it’s not or allowed.

When the public and the media have to continuously battle to receive public information, something is very wrong.

A freedom of information request should not be required to obtain a site plan.

It’s a symptom of a disease within our governments and public offices.

It’s something you should write to your councillors about.

It’s something that prevents you, the voters and taxpayers, from having open access to important documents.

It’s the town’s way of keeping the people uninformed and the media quiet.

But, dear councillors and town staff members: This just ignites our fires. It is fodder for editorials such as this. And one day, it will lead to your replacement by a council that actually cares about the people it represents.

editor@niagaranow.com