Dear editor:

This letter is much shorter than my Aug. 8 letter in The Lake Report about the lord mayor’s “changing of the channel” and calling upon him to foster “transparency, accountability, and most importantly, restoring trust” (“Letter of the Week: Criticism of protest a cynical attempt to ‘change channel’“).

In that prior letter, I noted (among many things) that after the false accusations of violent protest (which Coun. Erwin Wiens coincidentally echoed — more below), the councillors went behind closed drapes to hold a secret meeting.

I now read this week that council, again, went behind closed doors to hold a secret meeting to not appoint the traditional next vote-getting candidate in the last council election, not choose to hold a byelection and not give any explanation whatsoever as to their choice for council vs. at least one known alternate candidate who was, in fact, the next vote-getting candidate in the last election.

Since this was done behind closed doors, there may have been other candidates, but we will never know.

This is not about the credentials of the chosen councillor.

As noted in the Aug. 8 letter, the lord mayor only has a “few more chances to change his … tone that many believe stems from perceived, if not real, conflicts of interest within council.”

The lord mayor just missed a golden opportunity to change the tone and build trust.

Councillor Wiens’ subsequent comments about how legal the process was suggest they have already “lawyered up” to lecture citizens and further push down any thoughts about how good leadership might change the tone.

It is what it is. They are who they are.

Paul Kirkconnell
NOTL