Small Niagara region town declares war on local newspaper

Town of Pelham cuts off communication with Voice of Pelham
Excerpts from the newspaper's story:

"In a departure from all previous practice, the Town has removed the designated media table from Council chambers, the latest of a series of efforts seemingly aimed at shutting down Voice coverage of municipal matters.

"Since February 20, the Town has not responded to nor even acknowledged receiving questions from the newspaper. The move came as the Voice began scrutinizing another aspect of the Town’s East Fonthill development activities, this time involving tendering for construction contracts worth at least $4 million dollars.

"Numerous emails to Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald, other Town staff, Mayor Dave Augustyn, and all six Councillors have been ignored.  . . .

"A request for comment on the matter from all of Council, the Mayor, the CAO, and Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald was ignored. . .

"Last week the Town announced that it would no longer send out news releases. This advisory came before the Town held a press conference at the community centre construction site, in which it was announced that Meridian Credit Union was to pledge $1 million dollars to the project in return for naming rights.

"The Voice was not among the media notified of the event and was not present."

The full story

From Wikipedia:

The Town of Pelham (2016 population 17,110) is located in the centre of Niagara Region in Ontario, Canada.