Thoughts on NCC Openness

“Damn with faint praise” was how Dennis saw my comments as reported in the Ottawa Citizen today.

Yesterday morning I attended the public NCC Board Meeting and as I listened to Marie Lemay give her well prepared presentation (that mirrored the NCC communications group’s issued document) I mused about how “real” the process was. Certainly meetings without an audience and cameras rolling make for more free discussion but the NCC is trying to be open and transparent.

I was reassured when some of the board-members did actually ask real questions and get a little discussion going. But the balance between being candid and being on stage remains an uncomfortable one.

The Citizen article refers to the AGM presentations later that evening.

When the NCC invited the public to a question and comment session last time, in the fall of 2009, the approach was a little different. Two sessions were arranged. In the first potential speakers were invited to submit their desire to address the Board well in advance and were assigned time slots. This took place in the NCC Boardroom. Later at the Chateau Laurier an open mic was provided for unscheduled presenters.

Perhaps the NCC felt that they’d gone to unnecessary expense last time since the Chateau Laurier room was nowhere near full, or perhaps they got tired of listening to so many people. In any event, this year the event was considerably truncated and held entirely in the NCC board room.

Whether the headcount was any different from last time or not the feeling (to me in any case) was one of greater crowding and pressure. Presentations were timed to 3 minutes with a yellow light that blinked on after 2 minutes and went red when time was up.

In 2009 I had been impressed that even though people’s submissions had ranged extremely broadly across a boggling range of concerns, in general the reception by the NCC was one that made participants feel they were contributing.

I got far less of that sense this year. As Claire Brownell said in her Citizen piece “The most common [NCC] response was, ‘Can you wrap up, please?’”

So, to wrap up: I think the NCC is sincere in its desire to be open and transparent but it sure seems a hard walk to walk and I don’t think they’ve been able to light on a satisfactory formula yet.