Author: Ian Chadwick

Retired writer, editor, reviewer, media relations & communications consultant, municipal politician. Ukulele player. Aficionado of Shakespeare, Horace, Machiavelli, Chaucer, Cicero, Homer, socialism, science, Godzilla, ERB, & tequila. Curmudgeon, skeptic & cynic. Lay historian. Community volunteer. PC gamer. Avid reader. Woke socialist. Loving husband. Companion to one dog & three cats. Passionate about my small town. Perennially curious about everything. My writing is copyright © protected.

Disrespectful treatment of the mayor, again

There’s a seemingly innocuous story in the Connection this week titled, “Collingwood to sell railway to County of Simcoe for $900,000” that underscores the ongoing disrespect The Block and the local media have for our Mayor. Down at the bottom of the piece there is a quote from The head of The Block, Deputy Mayor Brian Saunderson. That clearly shows how the local media collude with The Block to promote their personal agendas.* Saunderson doesn’t speak for council or the town. The mayor does. Using a quote from him instead of her is a flagrant act of disrespect. And it ……… click below for more ↓

The Block’s worst abuse of power yet

2017-08-23 2017-08-24 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Staff and administration / Utilities: electricity and waterLeave a comment

I warned you. I warned you The Block would blame others for their own evil acts, that they would scheme and connive to sell your assets behind closed doors, and they would find a way to keep the much-disliked interim CAO on, no matter what the cost to taxpayers. I warned you they would lie, scheme in secret, and behave unethically in order to get their own way. And I was right. They did it all, Monday night, behind closed doors. This week, the town issued a media release that can only be described as the most flagrantly disingenuous statement ……… click below for more ↓

The symphony of government

2017-08-20 2017-08-21 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Municipal Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

A good government in operation is like a symphony: disparate parts, dozens of different instruments and performers, each in their own space and place, all working together under the benign management of a conductor. When working in harmony, they are a delight to hear and see. There’s no “me” in a symphony: it’s the result of a remarkably efficient collaboration and trust of everyone involved. To be good, to sound good, they all have to watch the baton, to play and move in syncopation and in harmony. They all need to be tuned to the same pitch (A440). Singers need ……… click below for more ↓

Betrayal by the Block, again

2017-08-19 2017-08-20 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Taxes / Utilities: electricity and waterLeave a comment

Monday night, The Block will engage in their favourite political activity: betraying the public trust. In fact, it’s the only political activity they’ve engaged in this term, in which the public has been concerned. Everything else they’ve done has been to further their own personal agendas or entitlement. But Monday, they’re doing it up in style. And, of course, in secret. At the council meeting, Monday, there is what promises to be a lengthy in-camera session: Items for Discussion: a) Hydro Share Sale; b) Committee/Board Applications; c) Sale of 70 Huron Street property; d) Proposed Land Acquisition; e) Airport Lands ……… click below for more ↓

Taking credit for the work of others

2017-08-17 2017-08-17 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / TaxesOne Comment

A short while ago, I received an unsolicited email from the interim (and soon to be departing) CAO, John Brown, with the subject, “Ideas. Observations. Musings . Opinions . Facts ?” (yes, written just like that…). Although he says he never reads my blog, it inspired me to write this post. He wrote (copied in its original form and punctuation): I was wondering if you might be interested in the towns (sic) recent building permits statistics reflective of highly positive growth in the tax base during the recent past ? As you are aware from your time on council our financial position has ……… click below for more ↓

The Dude, the Tao and the Dharma

2017-08-13 2017-08-17 Atheism & Spirituality / Books & Reviews / Cults / Faith / Film & Reviews / Philosophy / Religion / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

I suppose it all began with Benjamin Hoff. Hoff was one of the first contemporary writers to attempt to distill Taoism in a lighthearted form for Westerners when he wrote The Tao of Pooh in 1981, a very successful book still in print. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for 49 weeks. A decade later, he followed with The Te of Piglet, less successful (its message somewhat diluted by Hoff’s extraneous political and social commentary) but also still in print. Not that Hoff was the first Westerner to attempt to explain Asian philosophy and religion. That goes ……… click below for more ↓

Thrasymachus and The Block

2017-08-09 2017-08-10 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

There’s a character in Plato’s Republic called Thrasymachus who acts as a foil to Socrates by presenting a series of comments and arguments the old philosopher has to debate and counter. He (Thrasymachus) is based on an actual historical figure, a Sophist from the fifth century BCE. It’s unknown if the views Plato has him voice are those of the real person, or simply a literary device to advance Socrates’ (and thus Plato’s) arguments. Of late, I’ve been reading Alan Bloom’s translation of The Republic. At the same time, I’m listening to the Great Courses 36-lecture series on Why Evil ……… click below for more ↓

Marcus Aurelius and The Block

2017-08-07 2017-08-07 Books & Reviews / Collingwood / Council / Ethics & morality / Ethics and behaviour / Philosophy / Stoicism & classical philosophyLeave a comment

Perhaps the most famous work by any Stoic is the Meditations, written as a series of notes-to-myself by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. I’ve been reading a lot of Stoic works of late, and this remains my favourite. Although never meant for publication, just as reminders to himself, it’s full of wonderful, inspiring comments. And some seem eerily prescient in our current municipal calamity. For example, Book Two opens with these words: Begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ……… click below for more ↓

The strange life of Bobby Fischer

2017-07-22 2017-07-30 Books & Reviews / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Pop Culture / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Forty five years ago this month, a momentous event took place in Iceland that shook the world. After 21 games spread over almost two months, the eccentric American chess master, Bobby Fischer, ended 24 years of Soviet dominance in chess after beating Soviet grandmaster, Boris Spassky. It shook the world at the apex of the Cold War. I watched it unfold, a memory I will always carry. Many years later, former Russian grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, commented, …in the Soviet Union, chess was treated by the Soviet authorities as a very important and useful ideological tool to demonstrate the intellectual superiority ……… click below for more ↓

Bullying the hospital again

2017-07-22 2017-07-23 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Hospital2 Comments

Brian Saunderson never seems to tire of creating conflict with our local hospital. When he’s not acting all lawerly and grilling the volunteer members of the board and its representatives like guilty suspects in a trial, he’s coming up with new ways to be confrontational and adversarial. All in a vain attempt to make it look like he, the town administration, and his sycophant Block minions are not the cause of the problem. Sneaky, Brian, but ineffectual. You, dear reader, know the truth. You’ve followed the story here, you’ve watched the hospital representatives being attacked and insulted by Brian and ……… click below for more ↓

Why hasn’t a new CAO been hired?

2017-07-20 2017-07-20 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Staff and administrationLeave a comment

The town was supposed to be hiring a new CAO, to replace John Brown, the unpopular interim CAO currently in the corner office. But although he’s supposed to be gone by September (I can hear you cheering now at that thought), that’s barely six weeks away. And we have heard nothing yet from council about his replacement. By now, a new one should have been in place. Announcements should have been made in the local media. But we’ve heard… nothing. Smells fishy? It’s as if The Block still intends to keep Brown on, to extend his contract for a third ……… click below for more ↓

Utter contempt at council

2017-07-19 2017-07-19 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Taxes / User fees and costsLeave a comment

Utter contempt. That’s what The Block showed for process at council, on Monday night. And for ethics. And for you, the residents. Utter contempt. But when they want to give benefits to their friends or themselves, boy do they rise to the occasion. Which of course they did, Monday. Anything for a buddy, no matter what negative effect it has on residents. No matter how it will exacerbate ill will in the community, or create bad feelings towards town hall. No matter what it will do to your insurance rates. As long as their friend gets his, who cares? As ……… click below for more ↓

The test of integrity

2017-07-12 2017-07-13 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Taxes / User fees and costs4 Comments

I’ve been complaining all this term that Collingwood’s standing committee system is broken. It is redundant, ineffective and expensive. It continues in use only because it was the brainchild of the interim CAO who The Block worship. But it is about to come under a test: one that will determine the integrity and ethics of both the system and The Block. On July 10, the Corporate and Community Services Standing Committee received a report on the services of Fire Marque, an insurance collection agency. The report was requested by Councillor Jeffrey, close friends (as are all of The Block) with ……… click below for more ↓

What will the secret EPCOR negotiations cost us?

2017-07-11 2017-07-11 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Utilities: electricity and waterLeave a comment

I was reading about the failed attempt by EPCOR – an Edmonton-based, for-profit corporation – to purchase half of Innisfil’s Power utility (InnPower) last year. Back in Sept., 2015, there was a story in the Barrie Examiner that noted: INNISFIL — Town council has approved the sale of 50% of InnPower (formerly Innisfil Hydro) to Edmonton-based EPCOR to create a new ‘strategic partnership’. At a public meeting to discuss the sale (remember public meetings and public engagement? Those are processes you got last term… this term it’s all about secrecy), PowerStream’s CEO, Brian Bentz commented on …the “exclusivity clause” in ……… click below for more ↓

Cultural appropriation is the new gluten free

2017-07-09 2017-07-09 Arts / Critical Thinking / Culture / Media / New Age Codswallop / Political fadsLeave a comment

Like food fads, political fads wax and wane as the gnat-like attention span of their followers gets diverted by the Next Big Thing. Political Correctness has of late given birth to Cultural Appropriation just like the gluten-free food fad gave rise to lectin-free food fad. All such fads are fuelled by the earnest desire of some people to avoid thinking and follow the crowd over the intellectual cliff. They’re not about analysis, research, and objectivity: they’re about being on the Latest Thing bandwagon. All fads teeter on a basic misapprehension; sometimes it’s a fabrication, other times a misunderstanding, and other ……… click below for more ↓