MV Council accuses The Current of defaming CAO Klatt

EDITORIAL

On 14 October 2025, The Current published an editorial entitled Why is CAO Klatt still employed by the Township? It contained the accusation that The Current’s request to make a delegation on that subject had been refused for contrived reasons. Subsequently, The Current proposed that, rather than referring the matter under the Municipal Act to a Superior Court Judge, the Township’s Integrity Commissioner be asked to conduct an independent investigation into the matter. Above: Mayor David Shulist passes the gavel to CAO Suzanne Klatt at the Dec.2 Council in Committee meeting (Photo: YouTube/Madawaska Valley)

We sent Tony Fleming, the Integrity Commissioner, a copy of our Delegation Request and he responded by saying he would be agreeable to this on the condition that Council pass a resolution authorizing him to do so. Readers will not be surprised to hear that Council, despite the very serious, uncontradicted accusations made against Klatt, refused to pass such a resolution. This was just the latest example of our elected body flouting its legal obligations of governing with integrity, transparency and accountability. Since The Current commenced publication in 2018, we have exposed numerous examples of similar conduct which explains why they resorted to viciously defaming us at one of their meetings in the hope that it would stop us publishing.

Latest reason for refusing delegation

Deputy Clerk Calvin Stecko advised us on Nov.6th that our request for a delegation had been “refused on the basis that it is defamatory to an employee of the corporation.”  This latest excuse flies in the face of the fact that the same accusations have been made over the past several years both in correspondence and in the pages of The Current, and have attracted no such response until now. We asked Stecko to provide detailed reasons for slurring us yet again but, as has always been the case, we have been met with silence.

This continuing obstructive conduct is no doubt also influenced by the fact that the Township can count on zero coverage about their vendetta by either the Valley Gazette or The Eganville Leader. We repeat what we said in the previous editorial that Council “should be ashamed if they are facilitating this continued attempt to protect an unsuitable Chief Executive from the consequences of her acts.” However, we strongly suspect that Council is motivated to sweep this latest exposé of its conduct under the carpet for fear that it would yield embarrassing revelations about their own complicit behaviour. As we put it to Stecko, “Potential embarrassment is not a valid reason for rejecting a Delegation Request.” Stecko also confirmed that Mayor David Shulist participated in the discussion giving rise to the rejection, despite a clear conflict of interest arising from his participation in the original attack on The Current.

National media investigation

In the same editorial, we reported on an ongoing investigation by one of our national news organizations. Several readers have asked us when the program we referred to will be broadcast. We do not have a date yet, but this is probably explained by the fact that the enactment of the Municipal Accountability Act 2024 is still awaiting its third reading at Queen’s Park.