5/29/2023 0 Comments Government watchdogs canadaThree individuals involved in that scandal were then hired by the City of Brampton under Mayor Patrick Brown, who had direct political ties to two of them.įorgery and fraud under former mayor Joe Fontana in London. In Niagara Region, the Ontario Ombudsman labelled a hiring scandal an “Inside Job” as employees colluded to get their preferred candidate the Region’s top job. The municipality also handed $1.2 million in contracts to a marketing firm that had run the last three campaigns for the City’s mayor. It was reported by CTV that “no evidence” could be found of him ever doing any work for the City in that role. The City of North Bay paid more than $400,000 over two years to a former CAO who then worked as a “corporate advisor”. The scene inside City of Oshawa council chambers in September 2013 following a contentious auditor general’s report and the efforts by a bloc of councillors to suppress the findings. Protesting residents were tackled inside the council chambers by plain-clothed police officers, sending chairs and expletives flying. Council eventually blocked the report from being made public and went forward with the purchase, which led to what would be more at home on an episode of Jerry Springer than in the city hall of one of the GTA’s major cities. In Oshawa, the City’s auditor general attempted to warn council they were about to overpay for a multi-million dollar piece of land to house a new works depot-while the auditor was being harassed by the city manager to bury the information. In Collingwood, the sale of a power utility saw the mayor’s brother and chief political adviser earn over $1 million in contracts and “success fees”, leading to a two-year judicial inquiry and OPP investigation. In Ontario, the clown car of scandals would be comical if the sheer amount of waste these controversies accumulated was not consistently harming the quality of life for people in municipalities across the province. Systems designed to prevent corruption, mitigate conflicts of interest and ensure politicians are not abusing the tax dollars of the residents who elected them are falling far short. Canadian municipalities have an accountability problem.
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