On July 12, 2010 I requested a copy of the Letter of Intent the Municipality of Central Elgin provided to the Elgin Military Museum respecting Project Ojibwa and on July 15th received notification my request was denied.

Now at the Central Elgin Council meeting of June 28, 2010 this letter was supposedly only to be an agreement in principle to consider entering into negotiations with the Elgin Military Museum, not the actual start of those negotiations.

However, by email July 15, 2010 sent at 2:32 p.m., Don Leitch informed me "The letter of intent provided to the Elgin Military Museum cannot be disclosed at this time as the Municipality is currently in negotiations [emphasis mine] with the Military Museum regarding the terms set out in the letter of intent for a lease for the proposed submarine museum in Port Stanley."

He goes on to state that "Subsection 11(e) of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act states:
11. A head may refuse to disclose a record that contains,
(e) positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of an institution."

After all the screaming and wailing about the non-disclosure agreement with Transport Canada regarding harbour divestiture, here we have yet another non-disclosure agreement being negotiated by the Municipality about the harbour lands and we don't even own them yet. If it's such a good deal for Central Elgin that is being negotiated, then why the need for secrecy? What are they trying to hide?

Thank you very much Mayor Tom Marks for your openness and honesty with the people of Central Elgin regarding what is and is not going to be done with Port Stanley harbour. This type of secrecy certainly doesn't earn you my vote, and somehow I don't think many other people are going to like it either.