TRACKING LRT ISSUES

Chiarelli says oversight of $2.1B project not possible without seeing full reports

Secrecy hinders oversight

At least one returning councillor will keep hounding city hall next term to release more information to the public — or at least to politicians — on the $2.1-billion Confederation Line LRT. “It has severe financial implications and it also has safety implications,” Coun. Rick Chiarelli said, arguing that council has a duty to protect the public. “Whenever you have a lack of oversight, you risk significant shenanigans.” Ken Rubin, a local researcher whose expertise is finding information in public institutions, has been trying to pull more documents out of the city government related to the LRT project, the largest infrastructure endeavour in the city’s history. In an opinion piece published Thursday, Rubin says the city has identified thousands of records produced by the transportation department detailing observations about the underconstruction project. However, getting those records could cost big money, take a long time and potentially have parts redacted under provisions of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Rubin has an important LRT-related decision from the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario under his belt. When he fought to receive “non-conformance” reports on the construction, an adjudicator underscored the public interest of the project and ordered most records released. Chiarelli, who won re-election, said the city should be releasing more LRT records to the public. “In municipal government, everything is public unless it falls into one of the exceptions. Some of it might, but most of it doesn’t fall into any of the exceptions,” Chiarelli said. “I’ll tell you what’s worse than that: If information is to be kept secret, it’s still supposed to be shown to council. Conducting oversight is one of the primary responsibilities of councillors.” One of the reasons a municipality can refuse the release of information is the threat of hurting its economic or financial interests. Chiarelli hasn’t been able to get his hands on city-held information on land purchases associated with the first phase of LRT. He failed through motions at council. Council, including Chiarelli, voted in March 2012 to see LRT real estate deals only after all the properties have been secured. While the first phase is almost done, LRT construction will last several more years as the city extends the tracks. Now, awkwardly, Chiarelli is in a battle with the corporation he helps to oversee over the release of the information. Chiarelli has to go to mediation with the City of Ottawa through the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario over his access to information request for land transaction details. He expects the mediation to happen within two weeks. The city has been flooded with LRT-related information requests in recent years, which shouldn’t be surprising for the largest project in its history. People have asked for briefing notes to municipal officials, records of LRT-branded merchandise, correspondence about health and safety in the tunnel, inspection reports on the construction, the soil conditions around Rideau Station in the wake of 2016 sinkhole, and much more. There has been a public hunger to understand the quality, financial health and progress of the project. More information could be released at a finance and economic development committee meeting on Nov. 6.