To the Editor,
This Nanaimo city council and government has an affinity for Orwellian wordplay. Not only do we have a mayor whose public words and in-camera words and deeds are in stark conflict, but we have a city which likes to proffer ‘open’ and ‘special open’ meetings that are in reality closed. In the past four months I counted on the city’s website 40 council meetings, of which only 17 were actually open, and 23 were closed, although they were advertised as open. City hall will tell you that it is bound by law to advertise the meetings as open to the public, even though for perhaps less than a minute before a vote is taken to become closed.
Possibly this is how Mayor Bill McKay got into the trouble he is in? Too many closed meetings away from the accountability that real open meetings provide.
Leslie BarclayNanaimo