City of Fredericton criticized for closed council meetings

In 2023, one third of Fredericton City Council meetings were closed. One politics professor and former town councillor in Sackville says closed meetings can restrict residents ability to participate in the democratic process. The whole idea of open municipal government is that the citizens should actually be able to see their counselors in action and they should actually be able to see debate happen. One Fredericton resident says she's concerned about a lack of transparency from the city. One of the fundamental principles for governance at any level. Is the public has the right to know what their government is doing, it's the only way that they can hold their government accountable. The mayor says they only use closed meetings for what is legislated legally. That could be for confidentiality, to protect the sensitive nature of business negotiations or even for police matters. Ultimately, most of the discussions that are held in private then come to our open meetings, to our open public meetings. So we would only have something enclosed if it's required. But Martin says the Provincial Municipalities Act doesn't legislate public debate. Meaning municipalities can privately debate something, then publicly make a decision. If you see a council operate with which has a diversity of people, and these are kind of boring because there's not a whole lot of debate, that's a sign that a lot of the decisions are really being made in secret. The mayor says it would be bad governance to reveal sensitive information and that the council provides as much public information as it can. A lot of the discussion that would happen in closed then helps to inform. The decisions that are made in in open session, often the comments are reiterated again in open. Martin encourages residents who are concerned with transparency to find a city councillor who prioritizes it. In my experience, 1 Voice can make a lot of difference on the council. Anna Mandan, Global News, Frederick, 10.