Council’s Frenzied, Deranged, and Expensive Obsession Over the SVJI

Collingwood / Council / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / User fees and costs12 Comments

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Three hundred seventy-nine boxes and one hundred binders. That’s what EPCOR has delivered to town hall for town staff to comb through looking for… well, no one knows yet. Maybe heffalumps. And it will occupy a considerable amount of the time for the town’s $216,000-a-year CAO to go through them looking for those elusive heffalumps. And the electronic records have not even arrived, which are probably as voluminous as the paper records. Keep in mind that this is the same material that was gone through by the OPP during their investigation (which, since it was opened in early 2014, has ……… click below for more ↓

Killing Commendatore

Books & Reviews / Literature / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I’ve been a fan of Haruki Murakami’s novels for several, recent years, and have read nine or ten of them already. Those I’ve read have all fit into the category of “magical realism”; a style of fiction that was made famous by Latin American authors like Gabriel García Márquez (you would have encountered this in his bestselling book, 100 years of Solitude).* It’s a technique of writing where the imagined, or the fantastic enters the mundane world and is treated as natural. Or as Britannica notes: … the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. I ……… click below for more ↓

The Fox, The Hedgehog, and The Mayor

Collingwood / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryOne Comment

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Brian Saunderson is a Hedgehog. Not literally: metaphorically. At least that’s how I read Isaiah Berlin’s 1953 essay that classified people into two categories; Hedgehogs or Foxes. Berlin wrote that Hedgehogs had a single, central vision; one core ideal through which they viewed their entire world. Foxes. on the other hand, pursued many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory. Their interests ran across many different schools of thought, areas of interest and belief systems. Berlin considered himself among the Foxes.* Berlin’s idea is based on a fragment of a line from the ancient Greek poet, Archilochus (died 645 BCE), which ……… click below for more ↓

The Serpent Gets a Bad Rap

Fables / FaithLeave a comment

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Why doesn’t anyone ever think of the serpent as humankind’s liberator instead of some villain who got us kicked out of Eden? Why does Eve take the blame for listening to the serpent instead of being considered another hero for taking a bold step to ensure our collective freedom? Okay, I know the whole Genesis-Eden-Adam-and-Eve story is an allegory, and not meant to be taken as fact. But the story pervades Western culture (our literature and art are full of it) so that even a nonbeliever knows the details. The tale has informed religious and social policy for millennia, and ……… click below for more ↓

Why Master Sun Matters Today

Books & Reviews / Classics / Culture / Philosophy / Politics / Quotes & Mis-quotes / Translations & translatingOne Comment

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Master Sun was a wise man. So wise that his famous treatise, The Art of War (aka The Art of Warfare), has been read, written about, critiqued, and discussed for roughly 2,400 years. It has been used as a model of strategy and leadership for the military, for business, romance, sports, and for politics. And, like Machiavelli’s The Prince, it has often been misused, misunderstood, and misinterpreted for those purposes.* It’s a short book: a mere 13 chapters written in generally brief aphorisms. And, very much like The Prince, it’s one of the most often-quoted and referred-to of unread books, ……… click below for more ↓

Time of Use Billing is an Assault

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Politics / Provincial Politics / Utilities: electricity and waterLeave a comment

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By returning to the money-grabbing time-of-use (TOU) billing, Ontario’s Hydro One continues its unrelenting assault on the province’s seniors, stay-at-home parents, the unemployed, night shift workers, those under lockdown, and every business and industry here. Time-of-use billing has always been nothing more than an egregious money grab by the service provider. This customer-hostile practice had been briefly halted during part of the pandemic because so many of us had to stay at home as the result of provincial lockdown orders. It’s tough to pay your bills when the province says you can’t work. And they keep saying that. But without ……… click below for more ↓

County’s Lukewarm Response to SVJI

Collingwood / Council / Municipal Politics / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry5 Comments

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Seems our mayor failed to get the response from the county for the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) he hoped for. Rather than welcoming the report with open arms, Simcoe County Council seemed hesitant to do more than what appears a token gesture of support “in principle.” One might even think some of them actually read the 900-page report with its 306 often redundant or irrelevant recommendations and thought, “This isn’t right for my community.” Saunderson pitched the SVJI to Simcoe County council back in February, clearly hoping for an enthusiastic endorsement he could crow about. But county ……… click below for more ↓

Saunderson Failed to Engage Public on His SVJI

Collingwood / Council / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryOne Comment

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Despite his continuing efforts to promote and lavish public funds on the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI), our mayor has again failed to make the public interested in his expensive report. The latest foray into self-promotion was the virtual “public meeting” held last week (the first public meeting about the SVJI since it was called for, more than three years ago!), which, as I predicted, was not a public event as much as another harangue from himself and staff about why it was worth spending more than $8 million (more than $10 million if council was being honest ……… click below for more ↓

PS: I’m Making Theme Changes

Blog & Blogging3 Comments

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I may be updating this site and changing themes sometime soon. I’ve been exploring alternative looks for this blog and, although I have not decided on a particular one yet, am interested in switching to a layout that has some features this one lacks. If you see changes to the look and layout, it’s because I’m experimenting. It may abruptly change to look radically different, too. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Plus the host service I use plans to migrate content to a new server, but has not identified a date for that. I expect it ……… click below for more ↓

Fixing Collingwood’s Streets

Collingwood / Council / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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While our council has been obsessed with the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) and lavishing all our tax dollars and their time promoting its often redundant or irrelevant recommendations, most of our residents have been focused on things that actually matter. Such as the sad condition of our decaying streets and crumbling sidewalks. This is, of course, being made worse daily by the increase in traffic from visitors and the growing number of people moving here from the GTA. And there are more delivery trucks and vans on the road because more people are ordering goods online. But ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 27

Cancer / Daily life / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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I didn’t really expect the hormones to be so disruptive of my daily activities, but there are times when the “hot flashes” interrupt everything. They tire me out, sometimes making even simple tasks a chore, making my breathing more difficult. And, of course, they wake me at random times during the night, during which I throw off the bedcovers as I toss and turn until I cool down again. And along with the covers any cat or dog who was sleeping against me. Then I flap about to pull them back up when the heat has passed and I cool ……… click below for more ↓

Council Rewards Its Friend. Again.

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / User fees and costs4 Comments

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Our council has found yet another way to reward its friend, despite the recommendations in the report from the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) warning about “apparent” conflicts of interest with friends. Page 7 of the full SVJI report states (emphasis added): Councillors and staff should avoid providing or appearing to provide preferential treatment to close friends and family. They should not conduct municipal business or encourage the municipality to contract with individuals with whom they have a close relationship. Recommendation 42 states (emphasis added): The Code of Conduct should state that Council members cannot use their position ……… click below for more ↓

Are Creationists Gaining More Sway?

Creationism / Critical Thinking / Local media / Pseudoscience & Quackery / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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A recent survey by Research Co. and Glacier Media shows a deeply disturbing trend in Canadians: we seem to be getting increasingly stupid. While this survey didn’t get the media coverage that other current events received (and hasn’t even been hinted at in local media, but no surprises there), I think it is one of the most troubling surveys of the last decade. The survey showed that, … more than half of Canadians (57%) believe that human beings evolved from less advanced forms of life over millions of years, while 26% think that God created human beings in their present form ……… click below for more ↓

An Example Our Mayor Should Follow

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaign4 Comments

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In a recent story in the Quinte News (March 31, 2021) the headline told us, “Belleville Councillor Ryan Williams has resigned from Belleville City Council.” Williams was elected the federal Conservative candidate for the Bay of Quinte riding for the next federal election, and instead of staying on in council taking the town’s paycheque and benefits, he has resigned his seat. In his media release, Williams said it was because that was the right thing to do for his community: I have decided to resign instead of taking a leave of absence with the best intentions of being the fairest ……… click below for more ↓

The COVID-19 Vaccination Screw Up

Daily life / Personal Reminiscences / Social Order & Disorder5 Comments

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For a long time during this pandemic, Susan and I were in the “not eligible” age bracket for the COVID-19 vaccination (65-79 years old) here in Ontario. Why our age group was left out I have never been able to uncover. Maybe some politicians felt we were more expendable than other groups. But late last week, the provincial government finally announced it had expanded eligibility to our group. Whoopee! So we immediately went online to book a slot. The Ontario government site, however, directed us to book through the local Simcoe-Muskoka health unit (SMHU). So we went to its website ……… click below for more ↓

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