When Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner visited Cornwall April 23, it should have been an opportunity for the local media to engage, observe, and report on issues that matter deeply to our community: policing, fire services, public safety, and provincial funding. Instead, the visit took place without advance notice — no media advisory, no invitation, no public schedule.
We only found out after the fact, when carefully crafted press releases landed in our inboxes, offering polished quotes, curated images, and just enough detail to assure us that all is well.
But that’s not good enough.
Minister Kerzner’s visit wasn’t a private meeting about classified intelligence or a security-sensitive operation. It was a tour of our city’s future fire headquarters and a sit-down with Cornwall Police Service leadership. According to the releases, he met with firefighters, police officers, dispatchers, and elected officials. He discussed the Community Safety and Policing Act, infrastructure upgrades, grant funding, and cross-border crime — issues that directly affect the public.
These are precisely the kinds of discussions the public deserves to hear about without a filter, not just through a sanitized recap.
Let’s be clear: it is the Solicitor General’s prerogative to conduct his itinerary as he sees fit. There may be valid reasons, on occasion, to keep a ministerial visit low-profile. But when the visit results in not one, but two glowing press releases, from both the City and the Police, it’s fair to ask: Why weren’t journalists invited to cover this directly?
Media attendance isn’t just about getting the right photo or the perfect soundbite. It’s about accountability. When reporters are present, they can ask tough questions. They can verify claims. They can offer the public a broader perspective, beyond what’s neatly packaged for them in a press release.
By excluding the media, a valuable opportunity for public transparency was missed. And when that happens, the optics shift from open governance to staged messaging.
This isn’t a knock on the City or the Cornwall Police Service — both have made meaningful strides in community engagement. Nor is it a knock on them for producing media releases. It’s a call for higher standards of democratic accountability. Based on the media releases, it’s clear that Minister Kerzner, MPP Nolan Quinn, Mayor Justin Towndale, and other officials believed the visit was important. I agree, and so will many residents who care about safety, public spending, and transparent governance.
So why was the local press left out?
If a cabinet minister comes to our city to meet with leadership, tour public infrastructure, and discuss the future of essential services, the public deserves to have journalists there, not merely to report the facts, but to observe, question, and provide context. That’s not adversarial. That’s democracy. That’s the Fourth Estate.
