Mayor Miller's Promise Of Full Disclosure Is A Joke

Either the mayor really is not in the loop or he is lying. He promised full disclosure but.........

Secrecy still taints landfill purchase TheStar.com - opinion - Secrecy still taints landfill purchase

Toronto Star

Mayor David Miller endured much criticism – some of it unfair – when Toronto City Council voted hastily in September to buy a sprawling St. Thomas landfill site to be used to dump Toronto garbage starting in 2010.

Miller came under attack in part because details of the purchase were kept hidden from the public. In fact, secrecy was necessary to protect the owners of the Green Lane Landfill site, the McCaig family of St. Thomas, while the city's lawyers, accountants and environmental experts poked through the company's confidential files, scanning for possible problems that could negate the yet-unsigned deal.

At the time, Miller repeatedly said details would be made available once this 90-day "due diligence" process was done, and assuming the deal didn't fall through. He was specifically quoted in the Star declaring: "All of the information will be made public once the due diligence is completed."

A deal was finally signed earlier this week, at the very end of the 90-day period set aside for due diligence. And it has now been revealed that the landfill site will cost Toronto $220 million.

However, contrary to Miller's earlier assurances, all the information on this massive purchase has still not been made public. In particular, city officials are refusing to disclose how much money Toronto might earn by allowing other communities to dump their garbage at the Green Lane site. Miller has been intentionally vague. "It is possible we will make money," he recently said, "and it is unlikely we will lose money."

That's a far cry from the full disclosure Miller had earlier promised.

What remains secret is not a trivial matter. The city will be forced to borrow money to finance this megadeal. At the same time, it is difficult to judge the full merits of the purchase without any real accounting of how much money Toronto is likely to earn, or if there is any financial gain to be had at all. Critics are right to seek such information.

Details, details, details........