Windsor transit committee chair vows to review ad policy after Save Ojibway ad rejected
Critics say decision to block ad shows city not dedicated to democracy
The chair of Windsor's Transit Advisory Committee says an ad by advocacy group Save Ojibway should have been allowed on city buses, and has promised to review Transit Windsor's ad policy during the committee's next meeting.
The ad, which showed two children holding hands while walking through a grassland and called for the closure of Matchette Road, was rejected in March because the organization didn't "advertise political messages," executive director Pat Delmore said at the time.
But documents obtained by CBC News through a Freedom of Information request revealed Transit Windsor's advertising policy allows political ads, as long as they aren't offensive and meet national regulations — meaning the ad was blocked by a clause that gives transit staff final say over what can and cannot be posted on buses.
"From my position the ad should have proceeded," said board chair Bill Marra. "The ad really wasn't controversial or inflammatory or as some have described it … 'political.'"
Marra said the entire situation surrounding the ad was "disappointing," especially because he believes allowing it to run would not have affected the decision made by Council on Monday to not close the road that runs along the Ojibway Prairie Complex where hundreds of animals have been hit by cars and killed.
Still, the chair said the refusal to run the ad has "fuelled cynicism" in the community and a review of the advertising policy is called for.
"We'll have the policy revisited so that the criteria is far more clearly defined," he said, adding the clause that allows staff to reject a proposal without an appeal might provide administrators too much "latitude."
"I think we need something that's a little more explicit and defines why something would be denied or accepted in some cases," Marra said.
Windsor political watchdog and radio show co-host Kieran McKenzie said the Transit Windsor decision to block the ad was "undemocratic" and has resulted in bad optics for the city's leaders.
"It's perplexing to me that City of Windsor would essentially not allow them to use advertising space owned by the public," he said. "It smacks of a poor commitment to democracy."
Fear of debate 'cowardly'
McKenzie said the entire debacle has shown the area's elected and administrative leaders aren't open to discussion and are not above using tools at their disposal —including the ad policy— to silence voices that disagree with them.
"If they have a legitimate disagreement with people in the community they should have that debate, have their say, don't suppress anyone … and then move forward," he said. "To not do that is cowardly in my opinion."
As for the city's refusal to release any information about the flurry of emails about ad, Marra said he's hoping they'll show administrators making decisions based on sound principles.
"I certainly hope there was no political interference," he said. "If it is revealed that it was politically motivated then that's a problem."
CBC plans to file an appeal to gain access to the 28 email threads about the ad to find out who was involved in the decision and what reasons they gave for denying it.