Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Ontario environmental watchdog Gord Miller says ministries hiding from public scrutiny

The Ministry of Natural Resources is flouting the public’s right to comment on government decisions that affect the environment,

That’s the assessment from Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller, who singled out the MNR as a “chronic offender” for repeatedly refusing to post proposals and decisions on the web, as required by Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights, legislation passed in 1993.

“The Ministries are hiding things,” Miller told reporters. “They don’t want public scrutiny.”

Notices posted on the Ontario Environmental Registry are open to public comment for 60 days. Any formal comment received must be taken into account when a final decision is made.

Miller, whose oversight position was created to monitor government compliance with the Environmental Bill of Rights, said the repeated violations are “deliberate and documented.”

“If you don’t post a decision, how does anyone know it’s been made?” he asked.

Natural Resources wasn’t the only offender, Miller said. The Ministries of Northern Development and Mines and Municipal Affairs and Housing have denied every application for review or investigation since the process was brought in 18 years ago.

The controversial Feed-in Tariff program, which allows people to receive inflated prices for selling renewable energy into the Ontario grid, came up for review this year. But the Ministry of Energy refused to accept public comment, Miller said.

“It astounds me to report on the degree of disregard and contempt that is shown,” Miller said.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Marco Chown Oved

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