How Dumb Does Randall Denley Really Think We Are

Randall Denley would have us all believe that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) is an impartial body designed to protect citizen's interests from the actions of big bad government and that it is the only recourse citizens have to appeal municipal government decisions.

He states, in the Ottawa Citizen:

the candidate this week released a proposal to abolish the Ontario Municipal Board. He would like to extend the iron fist to council in general, so that council decisions would not be appealable to any other body.

An attempt to extinguish an individual's right to appeal a council decision is legally dubious at best. The individual's right to challenge a government decision is fundamental to our system. Doucet's idea would hurt communities, not just developers.

As a citizen, I have been involved with appeals to the OMB, as well as applications for judicial review, the process by which decisions by governments, including municipal governments, and governmental administrative bodies can be reviewed by the courts.

Randal Denley would have us believe that he is unaware of judicial review in Ontario. Does anyone really believe that an experienced journalist covering provincial and municipal affairs is not aware of judicial review.

No other province has the equivalent of the OMB. Abolishing the OMB will simply mean that appeals of municipal government decisions will be heard by real courts with real judges not by a developers kangaroo court presided over by corporate lackeys.

There is a word for statements that are made knowing them to be untrue.