Full and open public airing of Burgoyne Bridge expected

Good for Niagara Falls regional Coun. Bob Gale. We, along with much of the public no doubt, share his frustration with the Burgoyne Bridge audit process.

At a committee meeting Monday, regional councillors were given the opportunity to have a look, behind closed doors, at a preliminary version of the $450,000 forensic audit by Deloitte into the Burgoyne Bridge project.

The audit was called for last May 19, after an anonymous tip led to concerns about the project, whose costs have ballooned from an original estimate of $45 million to $93 million.

But to get a look at the draft version of the audit, councillors were expected to read the report in a committee room one hour before the meeting began, were to sign for the document and weren’t authorized to take the document with them.

This didn’t sit well with several councillors, including Gale, who told The Standard’s Bill Sawchuk he had taken his copy of the report and did not sign any forms promising to return them.

“I have a problem with the secrecy of these reports,” said Gale “I understand the confidentiality of it, but we as councillors have to make informed decisions.”

Other councillors also voiced dissatisfaction, including Welland’s George Marshall and St. Catharines’ Andy Petrowski, who wondered when the public will learn of the audit’s findings.

The decision made in Monday’s in-camera meeting — a non-informative direction for staff to proceed as directed — is expected to come up again Thursday at the regular meeting of council, but that discussion will also be held in-camera. The final version of the audit is likely to be given to council in March, said Coun. Tony Quirk of Grimsby, the Region’s bridge audit task force vice-chair.

We do understand the need to keep the contents of the preliminary report from public view. The report could change and premature disclosure of an incomplete report could cause damage.

But the cloak-and-dagger precautions taken Monday, and the length of time required to get to this point, do not fill us with confidence.

We and the rest of the public across Niagara who have paid for this bridge and the resulting audit expect a full and open airing of the contents of the final report. Even a version with names redacted would be helpful.

The sooner the better.