CONE's NEC Report Card

CONE volunteers attend all of the NEC meetings to monitor their decisions and performance. The information collected is used to produce a biannual NEC Report Card (find out more about being a volunteer NEC Monitor).

The purpose of the NEC Report Card is to hold members of the NEC accountable to the public for the decisions they have made, good and bad.


The 2000 NEC Report Card

CONE's last NEC Report Card was released on May 8, 2000. The Report Card was based on the voting records of each of the Commissioners on ten key development permit or Plan amendment applications between January 1999 and March 2000. These applications ranged from agri-tourism development to "granny flats" to lot severances and subdivisions. They comprise a representative sample of the types of applications that regularly come before the Commission. Grades were based on whether the Commissioners’ votes upheld the provisions of the Niagara Escarpment Plan.

Niagara Escarpment Commission
2001 Members
David Arnill F Lary Miller F
Robert Boraks A+ Rob Nicholson F
Tom Boyle A+ James Rainforth A
Robert Charters D- Carol Reaney A-
Jacquelyn Fraser C+ Karen Rosenbrock A-
Rick Gilbert F Don Scott (Chair) n/a
Gord Krantz F Ian Sinclair A-
Ian Lang A Howard Staff F
Sam Luckhart F Louis Zurini F


View the 2000 NEC Report Card background report


The data showed that certain Commissioners have interpreted their mandate as "approve everything." Whether this is part of a calculated strategy to undermine the Niagara Escarpment Plan or merely the result of short-sighted thinking is unclear. However one fact is certain: there are several Commissioners whose clear aim is to approve every application.

Over 500 applications came before the NEC in 1999. Of these, NEC staff recommended approval for over 95 percent because they met the provisions of the Plan. These applications invariably passed without discussion. The NEC did not once vote against a staff recommendation to approve an application. However, when NEC staff recommended refusal of an application, it was a different story. NEC staff recommended refusal for fewer than 30 applications in 1999, but the NEC still saw fit to vote against their staff and approve almost half of these. They were often close votes with the "approve everything" side led by Commissioners Arnill, Krantz, Luckhart, Miller, Nicholson, Staff, and Zurini.

One of the most striking conclusions from CONE’s analysis of the voting records was the almost even split in the Commission. CONE awarded very few Bs, Cs and Ds in the Report Card. Instead CONE found an almost 50-50 split between the As and Fs, with just a very slim majority of Fs. More than once, Commission decisions hinged on which Commissioners were present or absent at a given meeting, since every application is decided on the basis of a simple majority vote.

Not all of the news was bad. There were several members of the Commission who recognized the importance of their role to uphold the Niagara Escarpment Plan. They still voted in favour of well over 90 percent of the applications which came before them, as recommended by their staff. But they recognized that not all development is good development and they knew when to say "no".

Long-time Commissioner Robert Boraks was foremost among these, as was former Commissioner Tom Boyle. Municipal representatives Ian Lang, Karen Rosenbrock and Ian Sinclair and public-at-large members James Rainforth and Carol Reaney also demonstrated sound judgement.

For a full discussion of the results of the report card, see the cover story in the Spring 2000 issue of CONE's newsletter On The Edge.

CONE released the results of the report card to media outlets all along the Escarpment. The full text of the press releases is available below: