Our Scruffy, Run-Down Town

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / Staff and administration5 Comments

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There’s a gravel trail that runs along the waterfront, north of the Shipyards development, that’s been blocked by barricades since the spring. It’s been that way at least six months, perhaps longer. The path suffered erosion and some holes opened up along it. These were marked by barricades. Sort of. Most of the barricades collapsed some weeks (months?) ago, but no one from the town has bothered to pick them up. Yet someone from the town regularly fills the nearby dog mitt dispenser on the trail, so that person or persons must see the fallen barricade every time they do ……… click below for more ↓

Cwood’s Ship Walk of Shame

Collingwood / Council / Ineptitude and bungling / Local history4 Comments

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Collingwood’s long history of shipbuilding, from the first hull (the Huronic, in 1901), to the last in 1985 (the Paterson, #231) was intended to be proudly captured in bronze plaques embedded in the sidewalks along Heritage Drive and around the boat docks. This was our “walk of history.” The town’s “Discover Collingwood” brochure says: 15. Harbourlands Walk of History Take a walk on the memorial walkway through Shipbuilder’s Park along Heritage Drive. The pathway has over 60 memorial plaques commemorating the ships built in Collingwood. Local residents and companies paid hundreds of dollars each ($400? More? I cannot find a ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Swearing and Vulgar Language

Language & Grammar / Meaning of words / Musings / Personal Reminiscences2 Comments

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(Warning: I swear in this post… frequently. You can’t write about swearing without actually swearing a bit. Or a lot. Easily offended folks might want to look elsewhere.) I find myself swearing more often these days than I ever did in the past, at least at home (not at my wife, of course). I’m not sure whether that’s a condition of my age, or the result of decades of experience that has left me with a weary recognition that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, and I am simply expressing myself rather freely about its deterioration. And ……… click below for more ↓

The Sad Neglect of Collingwood’s Terminals

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications6 Comments

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Whether you want to restore them or tear them down, you would probably like council to do SOMETHING about the decaying, century-old icon*on our waterfront. Anything, in fact. But as usual, council’s approach to actually doing something has been instead to do defer, delay, hire consultants, bloviate, ignore, pretend it doesn’t matter, and then pretend to want public input. The town’s website says: The Town of Collingwood is taking another step forward in determining the future of the Grain Terminals facility. In doing so, the Town seeks to support a healthy, strong, and vibrant community that recognizes the value of ……… click below for more ↓

Yet Another WTF Were They Smoking Decision from Council

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / Legal issues / Publicity & Communications / Wacky WTF ideas6 Comments

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Council has decided to close Maple Street to vehicular traffic at the end of this month, to make the street safe for bicycles as a one-month trial. Yes, I’m serious: they’re closing Maple Street, and it’s being done without even the pretense of consulting with the residents. But, in their typical manner of secrecy and deception, council will ask for residents’ feedback on the town’s website starting August 30, only AFTER the street is closed. Not before. The story in CollingwoodToday noted: The pilot project will run until Oct. 1, and will see barriers put up at each intersection from ……… click below for more ↓

Wilson Blames Council for Hospital Debacle, Brushes Off Saunderson

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ethics and behaviour / Hospital / Saunderson's MPP campaignLeave a comment

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“I blame somewhat the local council,” said MPP Jim Wilson in this recent interview from the Peak FM about the continuing debacle of the hospital redevelopment. Well, so does most of this town. “We’ve not had a clear expression to Queen’s Park from the community, other than myself and Norah Holder, the President and CEO of the hospital, indicating that we don’t think you can use any of the old building. And that’s what we’ll spend the $15 million dollars on, that the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, announced this week, proving to Queen’s Park that the ……… click below for more ↓

Meng and the SVJI: Parallel Cases?

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ethics and behaviour / Financial follies / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryLeave a comment

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The ongoing case against Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou has an odd parallel in Collingwood. Our own petty, revenge-obsessed council’s threats to sue people who caused no harm nor have ever been charged with a crime has an echo in a comment made during Meng’s recent extradition hearings.  Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said she was “skeptical of the validity of the United States’ claim,” according to the report, and commented something worth quoting. Of course, many local people are also skeptical of Mayor Saunderson’s claims about the events of 2011-2012. Well, about pretty skeptical of all of his claims, but let’s ……… click below for more ↓

Jail the Unvaccinated

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / Health & Medicine / Politics / Pseudoscience & Quackery / Social Order & Disorder / Uncategorized8 Comments

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In a recent opinion piece in Macleans Magazine, Scott Gilmore wrote what I expect many vaccinated Canadians felt about those who still refuse to get vaccinated and help end this pandemic: We need to begin treating the vaccine holdouts as the fools they are. It is not fair that reasonable and responsible Canadians should pay the price for their deadly selfishness. No more soothing tones and patience. Time for the stick. The stick in question that Gilmore suggests is withholding services and access to the unvaccinated, as was recently announced in France and Italy: without proof of vaccinations, people there ……… click below for more ↓

Houghton Wins Precedent-Setting Lawsuit

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Legal issues / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryOne Comment

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Both local media reported that after a lengthy court battle, former Collus CEO Ed Houghton (and former Acting CAO for Collingwood), was awarded costs for his legal expenses during the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI).  This decision has implications for any subsequent lawsuits should our petty, punishment-obsessed council decide to attempt to sue those participants who have never been charged with any criminal activity from the SVJI’s events. It also shows how much the SVJI cost those participants (and the town aka the taxpayer when it was forced to pay legal expenses for participants). And, of course, only ……… click below for more ↓

Another WTF Were They Smoking Moment From Council

Collingwood / Council / Financial follies / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies10 Comments

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I read this in CollingwoodToday: At Monday night’s council meeting, Coun. Deb Doherty got support from her council colleagues to ask staff to investigate the feasibility of creating a Healing Forest in Collingwood, and report back during 2022 budget deliberations. And my first thought was, WTF are they smoking in council meetings these days? And then I thought, a “healing forest”? WTF is that? Is it the opposite of a “wounding forest”?  If I have a broken arm, can I go to the “healing forest” and get it fixed instead of the hospital? Does it dispense bandages and antibiotics? What does ……… click below for more ↓

Montaigne on Ketchup-Flavoured Cheetos

Musings / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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In his famous work, Essays, Michel de Montaigne, channelling the Epicureans, wrote that, “All the opinions in the world point out that pleasure is our aim. (Book I: On the Power of Imagination).” And I have to admit that what we euphemistically call “junk food” is a widespread pleasure that many of us enjoy these days. Of course, Montaigne, ever the skeptic, also wrote, “Que sais je?” (What do I know? Book II, Ch. 12). I did it again: I used the name of my favourite writers to lure you into this musing piece. No apologies, of course, not even ……… click below for more ↓

I Miss Collingwood’s Elvis Festival

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Financial follies / Ineptitude and bungling3 Comments

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I miss Collingwood’s Elvis Festival. It was a weekend full of visitors, friends, music, entertainment, dancing, and fun. But it was killed in 2019 by a council that dislikes others having fun. Elvis was too loose, too free, too liberal, too wild for their puritanical tastes. Couldn’t have people dancing and singing in the streets, drinking, laughing, and enjoying themselves, could we? Fun, it seems, can only be something our dour, Soviet-style council mandates, and only under the strictest supervision and oversight.  The Elvis Festival was a kitschy delight that drew thousands to the town, gave the community worldwide publicity, ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on The Tempest and Council

Collingwood / Council / Musings / Shakespeare / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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It was a dark and stormy night… Shakespeare’s last solo-authored play, The Tempest, opens with a storm (the eponymous tempest) in which a group of elite passengers (a king, a duke, relatives, and courtly hangers-on) gets washed overboard (or jump) while the working sailors remain safe onboard their ship. In fact, the working class are sturdy, brave, and steadfast as they struggle to save the ship and passengers, while the panicked elites run around like headless chickens on the deck, wailing and bemoaning, afraid for their lives, and trying to convince the mariners they’re Special People Who Deserve Saving. Entitlement ……… click below for more ↓

Why Are Council’s Conflicts of Interest Being Ignored?

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaign7 Comments

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While local media focuses on our revenge-obsessed council’s myopic intent to punish people who committed no crimes, merely thwarted their Great Leader’s personal ambitions in 2012, they blithely overlook the bigger issue at the council table: conflicts of interest. Avoiding even the appearance of conflict is at the core of the recommendations in the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI), yet these recommendations are routinely ignored at the council table. I have written about and documented them here in detail, but local media also ignores them. Not a word on these conflicts gets published. That’s troubling. We know that ……… click below for more ↓

Montaigne on Ice Cream

Daily life / Eating / Food & Drink / Musings / Personal Reminiscences2 Comments

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No, Michel de Montaigne did not write about ice cream. I just used his name to entice you into this musing. But given the wide variety of topics he did write about, you’d think he might have at least penned a few words on it. Had it been available in his time, that is. It would suit his style to muse on its flavours, texture, ingredients, and digestibility.  Unfortunately, while Montaigne does mention food and eating several times, he really didn’t write any gastronomic essays, much less about ice cream. In his essay On Experience, he wrote, “The art of dining ……… click below for more ↓

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