Walking the Transparency Tightrope
How the demand for increased transparency affects municipal governance
By Robert Remington
Readers of the Municipal Monitor are well aware of the regulatory and reporting burdens facing municipalities in Ontario . These include expensive and time-consuming mandatory reports to the province which AMCTO detailed earlier this year Jeff Abrams in its study Bearing the Burden : An Overview of Municipal Reporting to the Province . Case in point : the City of Toronto was required to file 270 reports to 11 Ontario ministries in 2012 . That ’ s an average of more than one every working day .
As well , the looming implementation of Bill 68 to update the Municipal Act will require mandatory codes of conduct and integrity commissioners for all municipalities . While AMCTO views this as laudable , it means municipalities must add another layer of accountability officers , of which there may be five — an auditor general , an ombudsman , a closed meeting investigator , a lobbyist registrar and an integrity commissioner — with the costs borne by the municipality and , ultimately , the taxpayer .
Accountability and transparency , of course , are the bedrocks of democracy . With Canadians ’ trust in government and other civic institutions at its lowest in nearly 20 years , according to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer , a retrenchment to less transparency would hardly seem palatable to the public .
In Canada , where municipalities are creatures of the provinces , the transparency requirements are imposed by those in upper levels of government , where a cabinet system often shields officials from the very openness they demand of municipalities . With ever-increasing levels of red tape and scrutiny , the Municipal Monitor asked municipal executives , retired and active , whether the legislative environment and increased pressure for transparency from the government , media and the public make it impossible for municipalities to govern effectively .
Although there were exceptions , in general the answer was : impossible , no ; difficult , yes .
“ The province insists on a level of openness in decision-making in local government that it would never consider imposing on itself ,” says Michael Fenn , who has extensive experience at the provincial and municipal levels . A former Ontario deputy minister under three premiers , a former chief administrator for Hamilton and Burlington , and the founding CEO of the Toronto- Hamilton regional transportation
10 Q2 2017 www . amcto . com