Secrecy at Hamilton city hall: will voters remember Sewergate or the Red Hill scandals on election day?

Sorry, voters: the final word on who is to blame for two of Hamilton's most maddening city hall scandals will not be public before the looming Oct. 24 election.

But it's safe to say rage at city hall secrecy has already influenced how would-be politicians try to win your vote.

Back in 2019, citizen anger boiled over at the revelation that a troubling safety report on the Red Hill Valley Parkway was for years buried from public view. The discovery spurred lawsuits and a rare judicial inquiry.

A few months later, The Spec revealed council kept secret the details of a four-year, 24-billion-litre sewage spill. The mess spurred a provincial probe, charges - and an unprecedented outpouring of reader outrage.

Please publish the names of all the folks who were on council when they learned of Sewergate and kept it quiet," wrote Ancaster's Ed Chong to The Spec. Better yet make it a weekly column until the next election."

David Borsellino called it a blatant betrayal of the public trust" that should be front and centre in the 2022 vote.

I would like to take that list on voting day to ensure no mistake is made on the ballot," added Shona Dunsire in what she added was the first letter to the editor the Hamilton resident had ever felt compelled to write.

It may be hard to believe, but three years later there is still no public outcome for investigations into either scandal.

That means by voting day, residents still won't know the findings of a judge probing the Red Hill mystery or the resolution of sewage spill charges against the city.

Do you still care?

Three years is a long time in politics - but there is plenty of evidence to suggest the impact of that visceral voter anger is being felt in the 2022 election.

One example: IELECT Hamilton, a grassroots voter group, formed last year with the specific goal of electing new leadership on council, pointing in part to coverups" of the parkway and sewage spill scandals.

We believe there is a citywide appetite for change given the number of scandals, poor decisions, lacklustre results, and a resistance for real change by our leaders," reads the group's pitch to residents.

There is also a near-daily reminder of the Red Hill scandal on YouTube, where hearings and witness testimony in the parkway public inquiry are being broadcast. The lack of trust engendered by Sewergate, meanwhile, is being cited by a Six Nations group that recently set up a tent at the planned site of Chedoke Creek dredging and insisted on a say in how the spill cleanup proceeds.

The Haudenosaunee will continue to monitor the site to ensure that ... treaty rights are respected, and to ensure a real cleanup begins," said Aaron Detlor of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute.

Incumbent councillors angling for re-election also repeatedly faced questions about Sewergate and the parkway at televised Cable 14 debates co-hosted by the Spectator last month. At the same time, a record number of open council seats - seven, including the mayor's chair - are up for grabs.

Some veteran politicians who might otherwise have earned the ire of voters over past scandals retired before voters could kick them out," suggested longtime local political scientist Henry Jacek early in the campaign.

But Jacek also argued angry" voters specifically looking to turf particular politicians are in the minority. I think, perhaps optimistically, that there is a real desire for positive change," he said, pointing to evolving views on road safety, homelessness and urban sprawl.

Regardless, many candidates have latched on to the idea of a change election" - and voter anger at a city hall perceived to keep secrets from its citizens. Words like transparency,' openness' and accountability' feature prominently in the campaign promises of many candidates.

But are those just campaign buzz words, or evidence of a commitment to a more open city hall culture?

Major scandals like Sewergate or the hidden Red Hill report can sometimes act like a shock to the system" of a council or bureaucracy and lead to a renewed emphasis on open government, said Zachary Spicer, a public policy and municipal governance expert at York University who lives in Hamilton.

But he added rookie councillors are often surprised by how often council must consider information in confidence.

Being a councillor in Ontario comes with a lot of handcuffs. There is a lot of legislation and internal rules that bind you," said Spicer. So if you're thinking, oh, I'm never going into a closed meeting,' well, guess what? You're going to have to."

Ontario's Municipal Act lays out the scenarios under which councils can or should meet in private. There are legitimate reasons to meet behind closed doors to discuss potential firings, property sales, advice on lawsuits or labour negotiations, for example.

Often, municipal lawyers and risk managers will make recommendations on when to stay mum.

Weighing the importance of protecting the corporation - and by extension, the taxpayer - versus the public right to know can be a bit of a balancing act," said Spicer. It can be tough as a councillor to not take legal advice from expert staff. They'll give their best advice, but it is ultimately up to council to decide."

That said, Spicer called the Red Hill and Sewergate scandals egregious" and clear transparency breaches."

Both scandals spurred investigations. We're still waiting on their respective outcomes - but here are some facts to consider when you're heading to the voting booth:

Sewergate

The provincial Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks charged the City of Hamilton at the end of 2020 over the release of 24 billion litres of sewage into Chedoke Creek - but more than 20 months later, no trial has happened and no plea deal has been reached.

The matter is not due back in court again until Nov. 24. That means if provincial investigators learned anything new about how or why a sewer gate was left open for four years, we won't hear about it until after the election.

No one was ever officially fired as a result of the spill, but the department heads of public works and water both abruptly left the city for unexplained reasons earlier this year.

Worth noting:

• Confidential reports obtained by The Spectator showed council sat on details about the magnitude of the sewage spill for more than a year. It also did not make public a provincial order that contained those details;

• Council received a consultant recommendation early on to dredge the spill-ravaged creek, but opted for a second opinion that later suggested no extra cleanup was needed. Both opinions stayed secret until a Spectator story on the spill;

• The province rejected the city's do nothing" approach and ordered a cleanup that has just begun.

Red Hill Valley Parkway

A Superior court judge has been probing an infamous hidden friction report on the collision-prone Red Hill, as well as any safety ramifications, since 2019. But pandemic delays - and legal wrangling over what information the city must release - mean the years-long judicial probe is still hearing witness testimony.

Findings from Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel will not be reported before election day - and maybe not until 2023.

Worth noting:

• Four people died and more than 200 serious collisions occurred on the Red Hill during the time that the infamous report on poor parkway friction was inexplicably hidden. Over that time, the city repeatedly insisted the parkway was safe despite concerns raised by residents, family members of collision victims and even police;

• Inquiry documents and testimony to date show a now-retired city engineer, Gary Moore, received the infamous Tradewind Scientific friction report in 2014 but did not share it with fellow staff or council. He has argued the report findings made no sense whatsoever" and did not pose a safety risk;

• After discovering the buried report, city officials and lawyers discussed whether they could avoid releasing study findings to The Spectator, which had requested parkway friction tests via access to information legislation;

• Few council members will have been questioned about the parkway mystery before election day. But if you want to hear how outgoing Mayor Fred Eisenberger answers inquiry questions, visit rhvpi.ca to watch his testimony Oct. 12.

What does your future mayor have to say?

Many city councillors said they withheld details about Sewergate based on advice from municipal lawyers. We asked mayoral candidates Keanin Loomis, Andrea Horwath and Bob Bratina what, if anything, they would have done differently.

Here's what they said:

• Keanin Loomis said as a lawyer by training he would have recognized bad legal advice" on the sewage spill - as well as the obligation to go public.

It was bad legal advice, it was really terrible political advice ... We probably need more lawyers sitting around that horseshoe in city hall so that they can sift through the advice that we're getting from the city solicitor and be able to understand what advice should be taken and what advice should be ignored."

• Bob Bratina said council should have come clean about the spill details, but called it speculative" to ask what he would have done differently.

The public will forgive you for making mistakes, but they won't forgive you for telling lies or being arrogant or putting yourself above the public interest, because it's their money, it's their city, it's their health ... Put it out there. If heads have to roll, so be it."

• Andrea Horwath said she believes residents had a right to know the spill details, but also stressed she did not hear the legal advice to council and so can't say for sure what she might have done differently.

The lawyers are always going to be the ones to say, don't do it, don't do this, don't do that' ... but the council has to take that as a piece of advice, not necessarily their marching orders and find a balance. And what I believe is that the public does have a right to know, especially when it's a matter of health and safety."

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com