Dear Editor,
I keep thinking about the recent article in this newspaper regarding the Ford government’s about-face on turning over parts of the Greenbelt to developers, and the reference to our MPP as “local hero Steve Clark”.
Local Hero? They say that political memory is short, but that short? Did the writer not remember Mr. MZO, the guy who ran roughshod over municipal plans with his Minister’s Zoning Orders? That was Steve Clark, the same guy who seemed to take delight in being Doug Ford’s hatchet man.
Of more recent vintage is the ongoing battle by members of the public regarding the jail that the Ford government wants to build here in Kemptville. We have been trying to get information from this government regarding its plans, and Steve Clark has fought this community every inch of the way for more than two years now. We have got absolutely nothing from him but prevarication.
He promised us a fair and open process. He has yet to deliver either. This community has gone to considerable personal expense to try and get this information, in part because our local municipal council has ducked every request for help in getting this information, information that should be our right. I was involved in this work by submitting a Freedom of Information request regarding one aspect of documentation, that being a topographical map. I was denied it on the grounds that another government department had a financial interest in this not being disclosed. I am still trying to figure out how a map that shows only contours of the ground could possibly cause anyone some financial harm.
This is the sort of nonsense that we have been dealing with. How any of the foregoing makes Steve Clark a “local hero” beggars belief.
Colin Creasey, Kemptville
