The Ombudsman determined that the Committee of the Whole for council for the County of Simcoe did not contravene the Municipal Act, 2001 during its closed meeting on March 11, 2025 when a councillor made a brief statement at the beginning of the closed meeting that was unrelated to the discussion items listed in the closed session agenda. The Ombudsman encouraged all members of council to be vigilant in keeping discussions focused on the topics cited in the resolution to proceed into closed session and to ensure all matters discussed in a closed session fit within one of the open meeting exceptions set out in the Municipal Act, 2001.
The Ombudsman determined that council for the Town of Amherstburg did not hold meetings closed to the public on November 29 and 30, 2022 contrary to the Municipal Act, 2001, although he received conflicting information about whether the meetings were livestreamed. The Ombudsman shared best practices about providing information in notices regarding livestreamed meetings.
Council for the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie held a closed session to discuss a pilot project with an upper-tier municipality. The Ombudsman found that the discussion fit within the exception for information supplied in confidence by a third party. The discussion involved financial and labour relations information supplied in confidence by the upper-tier municipality to the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie. The Ombudsman found that the information had been implicitly supplied in confidence and disclosure of the information could have significantly interfered with ongoing negotiations between the upper-tier municipality and other municipalities.
The Ombudsman found that council for the Town of Amherstburg failed to keep minutes of the closed session meetings on November 8 and 16, 2021, and therefore contravened section 239(7) of the Municipal Act, 2001. The Ombudsman shared the best practice that municipalities should create video or audio recordings of meetings.
The Ombudsman did not find a contravention of the Municipal Act, 2001 when council for the Town of Amherstburg did not report back publicly after a closed session. The Ombudsman encouraged council to adopt the best practice of reporting back meaningful information, where possible, about what was discussed in a closed session.