We had a glimpse of what democracy looks like on Wednesday.

Usually, the monthly public meetings of the MRC Council of Mayors see a routine passing of resolutions that have already been agreed at the behind-closed-doors plenary sessions held one week before. As a result, the public rarely sees any discussion, much less debate, of the issues behind those resolutions.

Not to say that the mayors don’t have debates and disagreements all the time; according to the mayors, they do. It’s just that it’s done in private, so the public doesn’t get to see it.

But this changed for a few hours last Wednesday evening, and we think our mayors and warden should be proud.

As . . .

reported in our front page story, Residence Meilleur gets a break on disputed $30,000, Wednesday’s Council of Mayors meeting featured a sometimes-tense exchange over whether the Chapeau retirement home should repay to the MRC a $30,000 grant it appears to have received in error.

In the process, the public saw everything one should expect in the deliberations of a democratically-elected body comprised of people with different perspectives: passionate speeches, argument over proper procedure, demands for evidence, ad-hoc amendments and finally, compromise.

Then, as if this wasn’t enough democracy for one night, every mayor of the MRC declared their views on an issue that could affect this area for generations, the proposed nuclear dump site at Chalk River. Overwhelmingly, they expressed serious concern over the proposal, with many stating their outright opposition.

A meeting that is typically uninformative and, frankly, boring was suddenly rich with content and riveting.

And because it was informative, the Pontiac is better off.

The people of the Pontiac elected their mayors for a reason. It does us all good to see our representatives in action, and it reaffirms why we voted for them. It builds our confidence in their ability to provide desperately needed leadership to the community, and in the ability of our local democratic institutions to function in our best interest, even in the face of inevitable disagreements.

Knowing the depth of concern expressed by our mayors regarding the proposed nuclear waste dump site, for example, not only gives our warden a solid mandate to make a strong statement on behalf of the Pontiac to the public hearings on the matter at the end of May. It also gives the public the right to expect nothing less.

Transparency. Accountability. This is democracy in action.

As the Mayors have shown at Wednesday’s meeting, democracy is more than just holding votes on resolutions. Yes, it is about debate, but it is also about rules of procedure that guide how a debate may unfold, what constitutes conflict of interest and how to establish the essential facts of the matter that are being debated.

And the public not only has a right to see this all happen, we have a responsibility to hold our elected representatives accountable. And that is simply not possible if we can’t see what they’re up to.

Some might say the debate was a bit messy, but that’s perfectly fine because sometimes democracy can get messy. People don’t always come to a quiet consensus on issues in real life. It’s incumbent on all of us to be understanding of what greater transparency can look like in practice. Inevitably, someone will say something you don’t like, or not be where you want them to be on an issue. But that’s okay. At least you will know what is being said on your behalf, and you can always lobby them to change their views if you want. It’s all part of the process. We just need to be open to debate and changing peoples’ minds.

It’s to the benefit of the entire Pontiac that we adopt a greater democratic culture. We believe it will make for better decisions and greater progress on the many issues crucial to our future, and there are a few.

We applaud the mayors and warden for being brave enough to move toward greater transparency. And many have expressed their support for continuing further in that direction.

We look to them for leadership, preferably sooner than latter, in dispensing with the private plenaries once and for all.

Brett Thoms