Ontario ombudsman André Marin says a secret meeting between the mayor of London, Ont., and six city council members in the back room of a restaurant was a “clear violation” of the Ontario Municipal Act and a betrayal of public trust.

“Backroom, backdoor, closed-door meetings — organized by and participated in by elected officials — are inimical to the democratic process,” Marin says in his report, In the Back Room, released on Tuesday.

“This case is a cautionary tale for municipal governments, underscoring the risks of so-called social gatherings that are really a shield for clandestine meetings to further city business away from public scrutiny,” Marin said in a statement.

There are no legal consequences for violations of the Municipal Act.

On Twitter, Marin scoffed at a London city councillor who claimed he accidentally called his colleagues by sitting on his phone.

The ombudsman’s office said it received 60 complaints, the most ever for a closed meeting of this sort.

In February Mayor Joe Fontana and six council members met at Billy T’s Tap and Grill for what was clearly city business, not a social gathering, Marin found.

“It was a betrayal of public trust, and diminished the credibility of the council participants in the eyes of London citizens, other council colleagues and all Ontarians,” the controversial ombudsman stated in his report.

The seven council members were represented by a Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis LLP, which issued a statement: “The ombudsman’s conclusions reflect a substantive misapprehension of what constitutes a meeting and a flawed application of the facts to the law.”

Section 239 of the Municipal Act, or the so-called Sunshine Law, requires all meetings of municipal councils, committees and local boards to be open to the public. It also requires all municipalities appoint an investigator for complaints about illegally closed meetings.

The investigation involved two rounds of interviews with witnesses under oath, an extensive review of evidence, including councillors’ cellphone records, the report explained.

“I do not accept the explanations that it was mere chance or accident that brought seven members of London council — all well-publicized members of the ‘Fontana Eight’ — together in a backroom gathering at Billy T’s on Feb. 23, 2013, just five days before a key budget vote,” Marin stated.

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“All seven chose to congregate behind a closed door in the back room. This was a literal backroom, backdoor, closed-door meeting of seven council members.”

Marin said while the councillors denied talking business, the evidence found members of the Investment and Economic Prosperity Committee “engaged in conduct that — at minimum — laid the groundwork for council members to exercise their power and authority,” with regard to a $25,000 Trillium Foundation grant.

“This is precisely the sort of mischief the open meeting requirements of the Municipal Act seek to prevent,” he said, adding it threatens the very heart of democracy.