Letter – re ‘working in the dark’

Ron Higgins | Jun 26, 2019

It has come time for me to defend the Township from items being reported in the media that I take issue with. In the last edition of the Frontenac News Craig Bakay stated "A planned power outage happened at the meeting right on schedule at 11:30 am. Council carried on, which was not surprising given the amount of experience they had working in the dark".

This was probably meant to be in fun but the press needs to realize that many readers will not understand the comment and take it at its face value and it presents a totally inaccurate representation of our Township, Council and Staff. In past editions articles also mention trivial comments made by Council that are meant as a sarcastic comment of an issue, an entity or a person. This apparently is juicy tidbits for the media and gets more print time (and response) than some of the great stuff that happens during a Council meeting. I have tried to address this in private with Frontenac News but now need to go Public as it still continues.

It is no wonder that politicians are now creating their own news networks such as Ontario News by the Ontario Conservative Party. These are popping up due to fake news, inaccurate news reporting, news focused on trivial items or issues that I am bringing up here.

I have been patient over my term in Council as I did not want to appear to be against free press and did not want to put a local news media in a controversial issue. To be clear I am not suggesting that FN omit what they see as fair game in reporting the news. I am only suggesting that the FN needs to be cognizant of the ramifications of what they report. The Township and the County as a whole is trying hard to be professional in our approach so as to attract new taxpayers, businesses, investors, etc. What would you think if you knew little or nothing about North Frontenac and read what Craig reported?

In the interest of promoting our community I ask Frontenac News to please refrain from this type of reporting. I can take it when there is something the News reports about my policies and decisions, as that is the way it should be reported. This type of reporting has no place in the media as it based as an opinion of the reporter versus the facts that happen in a meeting.

In response to this one item I mentioned above I want to clearly state that our Council and staff are at the top of class when it comes to making decisions. We always gather facts, data and information so that we make informed decisions. In no way does this Council work in the dark as suggested by Frontenac News.

In future I will be addressing these type of issues each week as needed and will report on items of interest or concern that are omitted from the News. I also plan to look into the possibility of recording our meetings so our residents have an opportunity to view our meetings in full to get the detailed and accurate information you all need.

Ron Higgins
Mayor North Frontenac