Friday 9 July 2010

Inquiries, Inquiries

The doubtlessly lame Police Services board.

The probably equally lame if way louder federal Public Safety committee.

And now the Ontario Ombudsman.
TORONTO (Friday, July 9, 2010) – Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today announced he is launching an investigation into the origin and subsequent communication of the controversial security regulation passed by the province prior to the June 26-27 G20 summit.

The investigation, to be conducted by the Special Ombudsman Response Team (SORT), will examine the involvement of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services in the origin of Regulation 233/10, made last month under the Public Works Protection Act to apply to parts of downtown Toronto near the summit meeting site – and the subsequent communication about it to stakeholders, including police, media and the public.

The Ombudsman’s office has received 22 complaints relating to the G20, including several alleging that a lack of transparency and public communication about the regulation led to an atmosphere of secrecy and confusion and contributed to violations of civil liberties. “The complaints we’ve received so far raise serious concerns about this regulation and the way it was communicated, and I think there is a very strong public interest in finding out exactly what happened and how that affected the rest of the events of the G20 weekend,” Mr. Marin said.

The investigation is expected to be completed within 90 days, Mr. Marin said. Anyone who has a complaint or relevant information is asked to call 1-800-263-1830 during business hours or complete an online complaint form at www.ombudsman.on.ca .

This is encouraging, but we still need a full public inquiry with broad powers to subpoena witnesses.

2 comments:

deBeauxOs said...

Great minds, fern hill, and all that. I wonder if McGuinty is relieved that the focus is off his own spinelessness?

Anonymous said...

I believe McGuinty may be sorry he didn't continue his smear campaign on Marin, and may rue the day he backed off. 90 days and counting.

Post a Comment