Councillors want to know NPCA’s legal costs
St. Catharines city councillors want to know how much Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority spent on suing a retired Air Force major.
Council unanimously passed a motion by St. Andrew’s Coun. Joe Kushner Monday to request the NPCA board disclose the total amount spent on lawsuits against St. Catharines resident Ed Smith.
“The authority continues to be problematic,” Kushner said.
“For a public body to sue a citizen is reprehensible and also an inappropriate use of tax dollars.”
Judge James Ramsay dismissed NPCA’s defamation suit against Smith on Nov. 23, saying NPCA had no right as a government agency to sue a citizen for criticizing it.
That included a $100,000 suit against Smith filed by NPCA and a $100,000 suit jointly filed by its former CAO, Carmen D’Angelo.
NPCA said it would not disclose its legal costs in the Smith case when asked by The Standard after the judgment came out.
In an emailed statement, NPCA said at the time court costs are protected by attorney-client privilege and freedom of information safeguards.
But Kushner asked the city’s solicitor at the Nov. 27 council meeting what the city’s position would be under similar circumstances. Council was told the details of legal invoices, accounts, dates and specific work performed is subject to solicitor-client privilege, but total cost is not.
“What we’re asking as the major contributor is that there be accountability and transparency,” Kushner said Monday. “We’re asking them to do exactly the same thing that we would do.”
Council’s request is based on the fact St. Catharines residents contribute about $1.7 million annually to NPCA, making the city the largest contributor of public funds to NPCA via Niagara Region.
Port Dalhousie Coun. Carlos Garcia asked that the motion be sure to include the suit by the then-CAO. As well, that the Region, MPPs, Niagara municipalities, Hamilton and Haldimand County be notified of council’s request, as well as the premier and the province’s minister of natural resources and forestry, auditor general and ombudsman.
On Oct. 25, Ontario’s auditor general was directed to conduct a comprehensive audit of the conservation authority when the allparty provincial public accounts committee passed a motion by Welland NDP MPP Cindy Forster.
Mayor Walter Sendzik told city council the auditor general of Ontario will commence its audit of NPCA today. kwalter@postmedia.com twitter.com/ karena_standard