By Doug Draper
The Niagara Parks Commission – a steward, for well over a century now, of what remains of the precious natural lands along the Canadian side of the Niagara River corridor– is one of the pioneering public bodies of its kind on this continent.
The NPC's Oak Hall headquarters in Niagara Falls, Ontario. File photo by Doug Draper
Niagara At Large has praised this body many times before for its important conservation work and has made it clear that the commission’s executive director, Fay Booker, and its interim chair, Janice Thomson, have been moving the NPC back to its original mandate as a protector of these world-renown lands. But there are some ghosts in the closet – from the not so distant past – and they need to be exorcized now.
According to a July 30 article in The Globe and Mail – a paper that has been doing a much better job than the local media of exposing alleged abuses of public funding the NPC – a recent audit the paper got its hands on shows that “staff at the Niagara Parks Commission broke the rules for meals, travel and hospitality expenses, and engendered contracts were handed out without proper justification”
The article goes on to report, just as example, that “one senior employee received a $3,970 discount from a commission venue that was applied food and alcohol at a wedding banquet for the employee’s relative.”
What the Globe story doesn’t do, perhaps because the NPC audit doesn’t name names, is tell us who was involved in these alleged offences. And we, as a public paying good money to support the work of this body, are entitled to know who has possibly misused or abused that money.
Not only should we know the names of the possible perpetrators this audit is referring to, but the Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mountain Police should launch an investigation and lay charges against any and all those who have used a privileged position to violate the trust that the taxpayers of Niagara and the rest of Ontario have placed in them. Certainly if it was anyone of the rest of us out here, working in the private sector, we’d be fired, charged and on our way to court.
Booker, Thomson and company have done a good job of opening up the doors and restoring the public’s respect for the NPC in the short time they have been at the helm. Yet there is no way public confidence in this great body will be fully restored until those that sullied its reputation are smoked out and brought fully to account.
By the way, the province’s minister of tourism and culture, Michael Chan, told the Globe; “I’m really disturbed” about the information in the audit. Being really disturbed isn’t good enough. Make public the names of the perpetrators and do your best to make sure they get the appropriate punishment.
(We encourage you to share your views on this story in the comment boxes below and to encourage your friends and associates to join the growing number of readers regularly visiting Niagara At Large as an independent source of news and commentary in our greater Niagara region.)
Niagara At Large 
Doug, your answer is in your own words: According to a July 30 article in The Globe and Mail – a paper that has been doing a much better job than the local media of exposing alleged abuses of public funding the NPC
There is no true investigative reporting being done on a local level in Niagara, so that such abuses and corruption will remain until someone from outside Niagara reports on them.
There is a “cone of silence” around the entire region, kept in place by those who have been abusing the public trust for years.
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The misappropriation of public funds by public servants in the public service, as in the private sector, not only shakes taxpayer confidence but also demands some form of consequence: repayment, dismissal, criminal charges, or all of the above as appropriate. In the public sector, however, more is required than this. We have a right, as indirect employers of the culprits, to know who misused our money. Certainly, Michael Chan’s, “I’m really disturbed” comment is far from satisfactory. Ah, but then, look at how the government hands the recurring issues with the Niagara Health System. If ever there was a need for political change in Ontario it is now! The provincial Liberal government not only has its head in the sand, it is outrageously arrogant, self-serving, and egregiously insensitive to the real needs of the province and wishes of its citizens.
How fortunate that we have only a couple of months until we can remove this gang from office.
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I think most of us locals know the names, having followed the story from its inception when Bob Gale rightly brought our attention to the failure to tender The Maid of the Mist stories. However, you are right in that those families and followers who reaped the benefits of the mismanagement should be aired for all, not just Niagarians, to know.
Gail B
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A “Creed of Greed” and a “Creed of Entitlement” seems to prevail among the many Government appointees to the many Commissions and Boards of this “Our Ontario” A few months ago, a local MPP tried to make changes that would involve elections but when a government has the so called mandate (control) they can pretty well do as they please and to hell with the electorate… In the NPC case and others (such as eHealth) there should be an OPP and/or Mountie investigation and where evidence shows wrong doing the person/persons should be charge …For after all a thief is a thief, and if allowed will continue on and on
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