Dear Editor and Fellow Residents of Cornwall,Cornwall city government and admistration are leading the community without a moral compass.
For all the talk of modernity and progress, Cornwall’s governance and administration are embarrassing relics of a time when secrecy, backroom deals, and favouritism for family and friends were the rule.
The first practical step for the City of Cornwall is to establish and adopt a written code of ethics, and a clearly defined policy on openness and accountability — documents framed by the community at large.
Cornwall needs to lay a foundation for trust between the community and government — a clearly written document that sets out the community’s expectations of government and administration, and the rules and prohibitions within which those bodies must work.
It is not a new or untried tool — it does not need to be reinvented — many organizations, corporate, public and private make such binding guides and regulations an integral part of their operation.
(Take a lesson from other communities; the community of Kitchener, Ontario for instance: http://www.kitchener.ca/en/insidecityhall/CodeOfConduct.asp )
It’s certain that any cost we incur will be less than the millions of dollars that the City of Cornwall now lays out in settlements and legal fees because of our current sorry state.
Jim Marshall
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Nice try Jim, unfortunately it would seem that there is no one at City Hall that has any ethics!
That’s not true CC. I know many of the people working at City Hall have an immense sense of ethics. That’s the problem here. When the guilty are protected by the silent the group gets painted with the same wide brush.
This would be a great improvement! Enforcement would be the biggest issue!
its definately time for accountability in the area of upper management but who will lead the cleanup ,many have tried and been singled out ,mark macdonald ,korey kennedy and as we talk even andre rivette recently , dirty dirty at the top time to clean house
People can make a change. Email the city and council – show up at council – write letters to the editor – we all can make a change if we really want it.
I thought Cornwall was in Ontario, not Quebec, the most corrupted province in the country. Perhaps, Cornwall is the most corrupted city in Ontario.
Is it really possible that a Cornwall City Council with its incompetents, petty criminals, even a paper lawyer — a group that can’t even wield bylaws without smearing children and good parents. Could this porridge of a council be entrusted with drafting a code of ethics/conduct that isn’t self serving hogwash?
Doubt it very strongly.