Council in panic mode

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The Block in panic modeCollingwood Council has graduated from inept bumbling and stumbling to fully-fledged, sky-is-falling, Henny Penny panic mode, it seems. A special meeting has been called to try and do damage control over the Monday night fiasco about the hospital.

The Block divided the community, alienated their supporters, and fostered division and acrimony. No bandage will heal those self-inflicted wounds. So they panic.

The meeting was called today for tomorrow, Saturday, March 4. It is another in-camera meeting – this council LOVES to go behind closed doors to discuss everything and avoid public scrutiny. The agenda says:

4. IN-CAMERA
THAT this Council proceeds in camera in order to address a matter pertaining to:
* a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board; (a)
* advice that is subject to solicitor/client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose; (a)
Items for discussion: a) Hospital Redevelopment

Deputy Mayor Saunderson spoke about expropriation in his argumentative cross-examination of David Finbow, Monday. I inferred from his comments that the town was eager to start legal proceedings that will oust residents from their property in the vicinity of the hospital. My guess for this meeting: The Block will scream “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” and demand staff start panic-expropriating homes around the hospital. They will then try use that to bribe the hospital board into choosing the current site for its redevelopment.

But why would they propose expropriating ANYTHING until the hospital had made a planning application? Like the two reports that set up the initial roadblocks to the hospital redevelopment, this is another pointless, premature action sure to further annoy the hospital board. It sure won’t make the Ministry of Health look more favourably on Collingwood’s intransigence towards the redevelopment.

And it will mean more legal fees YOU have to pay because apparently a lawyer will be in attendance: “…subject to solicitor/client privilege.” Wasting taxpayers’ money on Machiavellian schemes cooked up in secret has never given The Block cause for thought in the past, so why should it bother them now? After all, tax money grows on trees, right?

Given the notice of motion filed this week by Councillor Lloyd for inclusion in the March 13 council meeting, this will likely be a waste of time, too. He is requesting staff include the hospital in the “employment lands” category, and to support the G&M’s proposed Poplar Sideroad location.

They can’t do both – expropriate and support the greenfield site – no matter how hard The Block try to suck and blow at the same time. They have to decide. It’s a shit-or-get-off-the-pot motion.

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3 Comments

  1. I wonder how much money they will pay out in legal fees for today’s closed-door session. How much could they have saved if they instead read the Expropriations Act:
    https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90e26
    And information about the law in Ontario such as this primer on expropriation law:
    http://colauttilaw.com/Publications_files/A%20PRIMER%20ON%20EXPROPRIATIONS%20IN%20ONTARIO.pdf
    Or read the Expropriation Association’s website:
    http://www.oea.on.ca/qanda.aspx
    Or this FAQ:
    http://www.ackermanlawoffice.com/FAQs-Expropriation-Law.page
    Or this lesson in how it can damage a municipality’s reputation:
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-expropriation-airport-1.3541418

    Yes, yes, I know. You will protest, “But Ian, they don’t read.”

  2. Pingback: Saunderson’s Role in Blocking the Hospital Redevelopment – Scripturient

  3. Pingback: Don’t Forget Who Blocked the Hospital Redevelopment – Scripturient

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