The Niagara Region may have resolved a lawsuit against former Chair Al Caslin and his team, but that doesn't mean all sides are happy with the outcome.
The Region announced yesterday it had resolved a lawsuit and a settlement with Caslin, Jason Tamming and Robert D’Amboise in the 2016 CAO hiring fiasco.
The lawsuit claimed they breached their duty of good faith and duty of confidentiality to the Region for their involvement in the hiring of former CAO Carmen D’Angelo.
The hiring of D’Angelo is at the centre of the controversy after award-winning journalist, Grant LaFleche, who was working for the St. Catharines Standard at the time, detailed the controversy in his 'All the Chair's Men' series.
LaFleche's findings were backed up by the Ontario Ombudsman, which released a report into the investigation called 'Inside Job'.
"My investigation confirmed that staff in the Regional Chair’s office shared confidential information, including questions for interviews, suggested answers for a written exercise, and biographical information about other candidates, with the candidate who became the CAO during the 2016 hiring process. We found evidence that the documents were saved to his computer at the conservation authority." Paul Dube
D'Angelo was working for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority prior to being hired as the CAO.
The Region then filed a $850,000 lawsuit against Caslin, D’Amboise and Tamming claiming they had damaged Niagara's reputation.
Caslin went on to lose his seat in the 2018 election, and D'Angelo left his position before the Ombudsman’s report was released.
The terms of the this week's settlement against Caslin and his team are confidential and the Niagara Region will not be making any comments on what is included in those terms.
The matter was decided by Regional Council in a closed-session this past week.
"On behalf of Regional Council, I want to unequivocally restate our position that the actions of the former regional chair, and his staff, were entirely inappropriate and truly inexcusable for any individual holding public office or serving in a position of influence. The facts as they were laid out by the Ombudsman speak for themselves and the actions of Caslin, D’Amboise and Tamming shook the public’s trust in Regional government. In short, Niagara’s tax payers deserved far better from their elected officials. We remain unwaveringly confident that should this matter have proceeded to be heard by a judge we would have proven our claims. With this issue behind us, Regional Council will continue to put our constituents first and make a positive impact on the residents of Niagara." ~ Regional Chair Jim Bradley
A lawyer representing Caslin, Jason Tamming and Robert D’Amboise sent a response to CKTB late Friday criticizing the way the settlement news was handled.
“It is regrettable that immediately following a settlement negotiated in good faith with Niagara Region, whereby its lawsuit against Alan Caslin, Jason Tamming and Robert D’Amboise was concluded, the Region has issued a public statement simply repeating the false and baseless allegations previously pursued in its politically motivated claim. In settling, the Region has decided to avoid subjecting those very allegations to the scrutiny of the court, where it knows it would have been unsuccessful."
Lawyer, Rohit Kumar, says the Region’s claim that it is “confident” that it could prove its case at trial is contradicted by its decision to enter into a confidential settlement.
"Caslin, Tamming and D’Amboise had hoped that, following the settlement, the Region would choose to move on and focus on improving the lives of its residents. Instead, the Region today has once again prioritized its political agenda against them, to the detriment of Niagara Region taxpayers.”
LaFleche, who is now an investigative journalist with the Hamilton Spectator, says it appears Regional councillors backed down in the final chapter of the story.
He was quoted in the St. Catharines Standard saying “Cleaning up the remains of this scandal was the crown jewel in that promise, and it looks like the Region lost its nerve in the championship round."
CKTB continues to follow this story.