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Municipal Matters

Welcome to the MUNICIPAL MATTERS section of the Ombudsman’s website, your source for information on all things municipal related to the Ombudsman.

As of New Year's Day, 2008, the Municipal Act requires all meetings of municipal councils, boards and committees to be held in public, with a few exceptions. You may lodge a formal complaint if a meeting was held behind closed doors after Jan. 1. The Ombudsman will handle complaints in all municipalities except those that have appointed their own investigators.

sunshine_thumbA new era of local government transparency dawned in Ontario on January 1, 2008.

The province’s new “sunshine law” – in the form of amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 – ushered in a public complaints system to enforce the requirement that all municipal meetings be held in public.

Download the Sunshine Law Handbook (PDF 500KB)

What's New

  • October 16, 2009  Ombudsman Releases New Edition of Guide to Province's Sunshine Law

    Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin yesterday officially presented the new edition of his office's guide to open municipal meetings in Ontario – The Sunshine Law Handbook – to Mayor Mike Bradley of Sarnia. The Ombudsman's Office will distribute the guide free of charge to every mayor and municipal councillor across the province. Learn More

  • April 29, 2009  Ombudsman finds closed Oshawa meeting illegally involved lobbying, not just ‘education’

    Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has found a city of Oshawa committee met inappropriately behind closed doors with a private business in a “lobbying” session that was supposed to be for “education and training” purposes only. “This is the very type of conduct that municipalities should scrupulously avoid occurring in a closed committee meeting,” he says in his report, The ABCs of Education and Training. Learn More



Closed Meetings

Closed Meetings

As of January 1, 2008 the Municipal Act requires all meetings of municipal councils, boards and committees to be held in public, with a few exceptions.

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More Information

“Transparency vs. puffery” - Ombudsman discussion paper
Ombudsman remarks to Fort Erie Town Council
Ombudsman speech: “Careful What You Wish For: The New law on Municipal Meetings”
News stories from your community

File A Complaint

Any person or corporation may ask for an investigation relating to a closed meeting.

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Find Your Municipality

Use our list to find out who the closed meeting investigator is in your municipality.

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