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Volume 73, Number 3 GST Included $1.25 Wednesday January 20, 2010 Orono Town Hall Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Hands off municipal resources Clarington's Clerk's Department is in the process of initiating a policy regarding the use of corporate resources for election purposes. According to the Clerk, Patti Barrie, the policy should be in place to ensure it is clear to all candidates that municipal resources shall not be used for campaign-related activities. The use of municipal resources such as buildings, equipment supplies, services, staff time, email, telephones, etc, on any campaign would constitute a campaign contribution by the Municipality. According to the Municipal Elections Act 1996, money, goods and services given to a person for his or her election campaign are contributions, and municipalities are forbidden from making election contributions. A recently completed audit of former Mayor John Mutton's 2006 election campaign estimated that $500 worth of municipal communications infrastructure was used for campaign purposes. The municipalities phone number and email address was printed on Mutton's campaign literature, a letter was sent from a municipal fax machine asking for campaign contributions, and he used municipal legal advice. The auditor also concluded that 10 of 45 "Mayor's Corner" articles written by the former POLICY see page 4 Brian Thompson was out walking King, his 12-year-old purebred Clydesdale on Saturday near the 5th Concession and Pollard Road. Privacy Commissioner blasts Region's Health Department Durham Region's Health Department will be implementing some new policies following the loss of the personal health information of 83,524 residents last month. On December 21, the Health Department reported the loss of a data storage device known as a USB key, containing personal health information for all residents who attended the Region's H1N1 vaccination clinics from October 23 to December 15th. According to the Health Department, the device was lost on Durham Regional Headquarters' property at 505 Rossland Road East in Whitby, by a public health nurse. A letter, issued by the Region on December 23 to all residents who had their personal health information compromised by the lost key, claims any individual attempting to access the information on the key would have to know what they are looking for and how to find the information in order to access the personal health information stored on the key. The Department also claims there is no reason to believe the device was deliberately taken. Upon being notified of the lost key, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, immediately initiated an investigation into what she calls, "This serious breach of the Personal Health Information Protection Act." In her report, issued on January 14th, Commissioner Cavoukian said her office sent a clear message three years ago to all health information custodians against storing unencrypted personal health information on mobile devices. This was following the loss of a laptop computer containing personal health information. An order was issued at the time by their office which outlined a new standard to be followed to protect personal health information on mobile devices. In her January 14th report, Cavoukian stated, "The fact that three years later, health care providers would be unaware of this requirement is both disappointing and unacceptable." HEALTH see page 4 What's Inside See page 3