James O'Grady

Interesting letter, thanks for sharing. I know a little bit about this as it has happened in other rural municipalities in the Ottawa Valley. At the heart of the issue, which you may not realize, is the way in which integrity commissioner reports are created and then published. In the research I’ve done, I’ve found that the process is neither legitimate nor legal in my opinion. Like the strong mayors powers, it is being used to silence dissenting voices. Dissenting voices of whom? Of the city Administration. 

So, what’s happening across the region is that you have Adminstrators who are using the integrity commissioner reporting system to attack elected councillors and a mayor in one instance, who are questioning how they are doing their job. VOICE is a response to these attacks. It may seem unusual bc. It is, but so is using a really questionable integrity commissioner system to attack and discredit elected officials. Ruining their careers, causing undue financial and psychological harm. 

Keep in mind these small municipalities work very closely with local developers. Like hand-in-hand. If there’s corruption in your municipality, I’d start there…