Ontario ombudsman ready to probe MUSH sector

By Janis Ramsay Barrie Adance

After a record 3,400 complaints about municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals (MUSH), Ombudsman Andre Marin wants to shine a light on the sector.

“They (municipalities) have been operating forever in secret,” said Marin, referring to a “municipal culture of secrecy” that hasn’t best served the interests of democracy.

Addressing senior editors of Metroland’s community newspapers in Toronto recently, Marin said there are Ontario municipal councils “addicted” to secrecy.

For nine years, he’s fought to modernize his office’s mandate to include the MUSH sector. Combined, the group receives $50 billion annually in government funding, he said.

“(They) have a significant impact on the lives of Ontario’s citizens, literally from birth to death,” he said. “Yet they are not subject to the same robust scrutiny that applies to provincial bodies within my jurisdiction.”

The Ombudsman’s office is able to investigate complaints about correctional facilities, daycares, police, developmental disabilities and Hydro One.

It also investigated 159 complaints about closed municipal meetings during its 2013/14 fiscal year.

Last December, the Ombudsman’s office found 19 of 96 meetings investigated by his office to be illegal because they violated the Municipal Act guidelines.

“(We) can’t rely on individual ethical standards of councillors,” said Marin.

Of the 444 municipalities in the province represented by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), only 191 have agreed to ombudsman oversight.

Marin told the Metroland editorial board that many municipalities try their best to keep the public misinformed. He says the proliferation of “in-camera” sessions at council (private meetings) is a prime example and this “permissiveness” has to stop.

He is hopeful Bill 8, the province’s Accountability Act, will soon be approved.

Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman said, for now, there are still ways for residents to complain about council’s actions.

“Barrie, of course, already has an integrity commissioner and has had one since 2010, to provide oversight and a complaint mechanism,” Lehman said. “The proposed ombudsman’s role would be somewhat different — they would investigate failures or problems with municipal services rather than council actions.”

However, in his role as chairperson of the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) and member of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), Lehman would only say studies are still being done on the proposed legislation.

Those groups will likely comment when it comes for second reading later this fall, he said.

— With files from Brampton Guardian and Torstar Network