The Ombudsman found that the Municipality of West Elgin did not provide meaningful notice of its council meetings on September 22, September 28, and October 16, 2023, as the meetings were advertised as hybrid or electronic only, but no link was provided for the public to access the livestream of the meetings. This resulted in the meetings being effectively closed to the public contrary to the open meeting rules in the Municipal Act, 2001.
The Ombudsman found that the Corporate and Finance Services Committee of the City of Oshawa did not contravene the Municipal Act, 2001 during its meeting on March 4, 2024 when audio issues impeded the public’s ability to observe the webcast.
The Ombudsman found that a council meeting was improperly closed when members of the public could not access the live broadcast after council returned to open session from a closed session. Members of the public could attend the meeting both in person and electronically, though only individuals attending the meeting in person were able to observe the second open portion of the meeting.