Thompson city council moves to restore comments at meetings after public outcry

Dozens of people showed up Monday at a Thompson city council meeting to defend what they call a vital part of democracy.

They were there to support a motion aimed at saving a bylaw that allows an open public comment period before the start of meetings. 

Council in the northern Manitoba city had voted to remove the bylaw in April, but on Monday, after pushback from the public, they reversed course. Not everyone agreed, though: the vote was 4-2.

Mayor Colleen Smook, who cast one of those dissenting votes, said she stands by her decision.

"I may be in the minority but I definitely believe that trying new things is a good thing for council," she said, noting people were still able to address council if they emailed the city for permission no later than the prior Wednesday.

Smook said the open comment period, which allowed people to speak without an appointment, was underutilized — council meetings had just two or three observers on a good night. And the open mic was often abused by those who did take advantage, she said, but didn't elaborate.

Ron Matechuk, a long-time Thompson resident and former city councillor, is one of the devout observers of council meetings and has spoken up in at least 75 per cent of them, he said. 

"I guess they don't want to answer questions, is what it looks like to me," Matechuk said before Monday's meeting.

Most people in Thompson don't seem to care about what happens at council, but there are still some that do and it's a vital part of a democracy, Matechuk said.

"Openness and transparency is a very important part of [democracy]. I took a civics class back when I was a kid and they taught me a lot. It's very important, the people must be heard," he said. 

Coun. Sandra Oberdorfer was one of those who voted in April to remove the bylaw, but changed her mind and supported it on Monday. 

"Over the past three years that I've been on council, I have not seen it [the public comment period] be overly productive. We were not getting productive feedback, we weren't reaching our constituents," Oberdorfer said about why she voted against it originally.

"So I just felt that it wasn't a productive way for us to communicate with our taxpayers"

Oberdorfer said she was interested in looking toward more productive ways of engaging with the public, such as having them contact councillors via email or phone. 

"It was clear that our taxpayers, based on the audience that we had in the room, were not happy with our decision to remove the community comments and feedback," she said. 

"And at the end of the day, our taxpayers are the ones who voted for us to represent them."

Coun. Duncan Wong, who was fiercely opposed to removing the bylaw in the first place, was at the forefront of the fight to bring it back.

He said Monday's win might be temporary as the vote still has to go through a second and third reading at coming council meetings. And he's worried about the alternatives, which include a proposed quarterly town hall.

"How could you address a winter issue in the summertime? I mean, it's a bit too late for three months to wait," he said. 

Matechuk said it's less about the public turnout for council sessions and more about having the opportunity to make comments. 

"At least they had the opportunity. If you have something to say, you can go there and publicly ask it and hopefully publicly get an answer," he said.