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Privacy inquiry hearing regarding Maple Pool lawsuit voting record moves forward

Info won't be available prior to election

Courtenay resident and longtime Friends of Maple Pool advocate Dick Clancy is pleased to announce that a date for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commission Inquiry has been confirmed. At issue is the release of the much-awaited voting record of Courtenay’s mayor and six councillors on how they individually voted at in camera meetings with regard to the Maple Pool lawsuit.

The OIPC requires that all the “in camera” material must be submitted before Nov. 12. Submissions from Clancy’s legal counsel as well as the City of Courtenay are due no later than Nov. 19. The final hearing will be conducted on Dec. 5.

Clancy further notes that the responsibility to withhold the information from becoming public, also referred to as “the burden of proof”, rests solely with the city. He states that task may be very difficult to achieve.

Evidence will be provided to the Privacy Commissioner that several Courtenay councillors have pierced the veil of secrecy by discussing the matter outside the confines of the in camera meetings and therefore the city’s argument to further withhold the information is without foundation.

Clancy maintains that some elected officials actually campaigned for election in 2011 stating that they would terminate the lawsuit but have then gone behind closed doors and voted to pursue this unpopular action.

“I believe that this shakes the very core of our democratic system,” said Clancy. “I am not seeking the substance of the in camera deliberations but simply the voting records of the individual elected officials. It is regrettable that we will not get the information we are seeking prior to the pending civic election but once we obtain the records we will make that information available to the public on the Friends of Maple Pool website and through the local media.”