Transparency- Final chapter; Social Media Influences.

For a few days we have discussed the various ways our current Council has rapidly and deliberately eroded several important mechanisms that have built a transparent environment at Town Hall. But why do this and how have they gotten away with so much damage?

First, the why is obvious. Our elected officials value their self importance more than the value the public’s right to know what is happening. To be blunt, they simply want to hide the direction of their decisions until it is too late for tax payers to do anything about it. Brian Smith said he was going to do that and he has. They also know that to do what they want, they may have to bend the rules. So, they have eliminated the ability to be easily investigated by eliminating a clear tool that has been used in the past to find their wonder boy guilty of breaching the code of conduct. No recording? No evidence! No wrong-doing?

It is important to recognize that transparency and the policies that ensure it are not accidental. There have been many Council members of the past who had the resolve to actually dedicate efforts to ensuring open and transparent governance remained a priority.

https://www.wasagabeach.com/…/Accountability-and…

I suggest that practices in the last two years are in contravention of the above policy.

But how has this Council dismantled building blocks of open democracy without attracting massive public outcry. It’s simple really, all of this has happened at a time when actual media interest has all but disappeared from Wasaga Beach. The only publication our residents are forced to consider as their local news, is controlled by a pro-Brian editor who appears to also be tied to a Major Developer in Wasaga Beach that influenced the election process.

The local publication has attacked previous Council members who ensured transparency AND accountability. They have not printed a single story critical of the steps the current Council has taken to erode transparency.

Despite true media absence, in our current lifestyles the daily use of Social Media has filled the void. However, Brian Smith and Joe Belanger have an active, organized group of supporters in Social Media that bully and intimidate anyone who speaks out. It is an effective and useful tool to silence those who are not willing to suffer the consequences of speaking out.

Add to this that true media in Canada are prohibited from posting on Facebook and you have the perfect storm.

It has been evident that some of the most active members of the Cabal actually support their online debates with insider information. In one case, an out of town real estate agent who claims to have no ties to Council assured everyone that he knew that cheque registers that the public had expressed disappointment in not having access to, would be public by Monday. Sure enough, wherever he got his information from, Monday yielded the release he said was imminent. This particular insider is rude to those opposing Council activities and launches personal insults at those who dare question him.

In order to ensure Councils unobstructed actions, this perceived online support team has embarked on a campaign of controlling the messaging out there on Social Media. Many of them couldn’t help themselves and bragged about their conduct shortly after the election. The reality is that the average person does not have the time to combat or even tolerate these organized groups. It is easier (and safer for some) to not speak up.

For those who operate businesses, it is compounded. I have emails and messages from business owners thanking me for my continued “discussions”, stating that they appreciate reading my posts but they cannot say so publicly or they would lose the much needed support of their customers who they recognize as Council supporters. How sad that business people who have a pretty good comprehension of what’s really happening are fearful of speaking out. I won’t be intimidated. I never have been and never will be. Sure, that means paying a cost that is immeasurable at times. But more and more people are deciding that silence is not an answer.

Recently, a very negative critical review about customer service was posted about my family’s business. The review was posted by “anonymous” and it was quickly proven to have been fabricated. The public response was primarily disgust that anyone would do this. The administrator of the group implemented a policy of no “anonymous” posting for critical posts. The interesting part was that he tagged a specific Facebook user in that post. That specific user name is one of the most active participants in the online Brian Smith Council support group.

The monitoring of the use of insider information and the allegiances to each other these people seem to have are also concealed behind the use of false or fake names.

I thought there was a specific written policy that controlled social media comments of committee members, but cannot find it at this time. But there are Town Committee members with access to inside information who regularly bash anyone who speaks out.

I do know that Community Members who have served our community by sitting on committees are held to an expected standard. In the past, members of committees have been asked to curtail certain conduct on Social Media postings or they would be (and have been) removed from the committee.

It seems however that as long as the committee member is criticizing any critics of Council, their conduct is ignored. Of course in order to have deniability, it would be handy if the committee member were to use one name on Facebook and another as the Committee member. This would make it easier for the Brian Smiths of the world to claim they had no knowledge of their appointed committee member attacking anyone who didn’t support him.

I actually trust the public to continue to question the truth, to start demanding true access to information, improved processes and the return to open and transparent governance. Right now… that is simply a facade they want you to think is important to them. It is expressed in their words, but certainly not in their actions.

I suspect that planned discussions will be bumped for a few days as we pull items from today’s meeting to unravel.

As I type this, I wait eagerly for Council to come out of closed session where they are secretly discussing Beach One plans and a list of other land matters.