Ontario’s Ombudsman says Haliburton County Council violated the Municipal Act by holding a closed session meeting about the Minden ER closure.
Paul Dubé issued his report on Dec. 6 about a special council meeting on April 27, where council cited “information supplied in confidence by a third party” to privately speak with Haliburton Highlands Health Services officials.
Dubé found that the subjects discussed in the closed meeting did not qualify for that exception, but a portion of the discussion fit the exception for “advice subject to solicitor-client privilege.” Under Ontario law, all council meetings must be open to the public unless certain exceptions are met.
“I appreciate that the hope of council was that they would receive confidential information during the closed session,” says Dubé’s report. “However, the County did not take steps to verify that this would be this case, and council closed the meeting on the basis of a hope or expectation that proved to be incorrect.”
Council is scheduled to discuss the Ombudsman’s findings at its meeting on Wednesday.
