Category: Conflicts of Interest

Vindication At Last!

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Legal issues / Local media / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry7 Comments

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The headline in CwoodToday reads, “OPP concludes investigation into JI events; no charges laid.” After ten years, the OPP finally shut down the investigation that actually concluded several years ago. And even then we knew the results: no one under investigation broke any laws. Not even the Municipal Act or the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Ten years during which innocent people were under suspicion, had their lives and work affected, were accused of wrongdoing, had reputations ruined, and suffered defamation. Why did it take … click below for more ↓

Council’s Inappropriate Pay-Raise Decision

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2022 / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Financial follies / TaxesLeave a comment

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Late last month — less than three months before the next municipal election — council made significant decisions about their own pay and the role of the mayor. Given that four of them have filed to run again (and a fifth is pending), and two of those are vying for the mayor’s role, this was a highly inappropriate decision and of questionable ethics. In the story in CollingwoodToday, it noted: ..council voted to approve changing the position of mayor from part-time to full-time, keeping Collingwood … click below for more ↓

Saunderson’s Your Guy

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Politics / Provincial Politics / Saunderson's MPP campaign4 Comments

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With the provincial election only a few days away, I thought I should remind you why you might want to vote for Collingwood’s much-disliked, hypocritical, bullying, and inept mayor, Brian Saunderson. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve likely read the dozens and dozens of posts I’ve written over the years about his failure to act in even a vague pretense of a leadership role, his hypocrisy, his mismanagement, his personal vendetta, and the constant conflicts of interest he ignores. But just as … click below for more ↓

Utterly Corrupt and Contemptible

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour5 Comments

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Last night, our council contemptuously appointed a replacement for former councillor Tina Comi, who had been bullied out of office by the Gang of Six of the eight currently at the table. The man they chose was former mayor, Chris Carrier, who also: Is a registered lobbyist in Collingwood for a major property developer and an insurance company (potential conflicts of interest); Donated money to the 2018 election campaigns of five of the six who voted for him to be the new councillor: Brian Saunderson … click below for more ↓

More Misogyny at Council

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour5 Comments

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At Monday night’s council (Jan. 31), there was yet one more example of the misogyny male members of council exhibit towards their female peers. And, as you might have expected, it involved Councillor Madigan, our mayor’s most loyal lapdog supporter who never seems to be called out for his puerile behaviour. You can watch it on the video of the meeting, starting at 01:42:35 or watch the snippet from the meeting, downloaded here.*  The snippet begins with Councillor Hamlin expressing her disappointment that “our community … click below for more ↓

Morally and Ethically Bankrupt

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ethics and behaviour / Legal issues7 Comments

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It’s official: our council is morally and ethically bankrupt. You may have felt that from their past behaviour, but Monday night they confirmed it for everyone. There is not a shred of decency left to share among them. At the Jan. 24 meeting of council, they voted unanimously to revoke Ed Houghton’s Order of Collingwood award, given in 1998. Rescinding his award was done to punish the former Collus CEO for hurting our mayor’s feelings a decade ago. Not a single member of our diminished … click below for more ↓

An Exercise in Hypocrisy

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / EntitlementLeave a comment

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A story in CollingwoodToday is titled, Collingwood residents asked to add to council code of conduct. It suggests the town (aka council) is looking for public input into the always-changing, always-ignored Code of Conduct. Yes, I know what you’re thinking when you read that story’s headline. Stop laughing. As if this council would ever pay any attention to public input. Or would heed any rules, codes, protocols, regulations or anything else that crimps their style or gets in the way of their ambition. This has … click below for more ↓

Our Council’s Reprehensible Greed

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies / Taxes2 Comments

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Our council’s sense of entitlement again came to light this week. A report from a consultant tabled in the Nov.1 meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee recommends that the mayor receive a 9.5% increase, while councillors get a 5% increase (page five of the report). Nine-point-five percent? Who gets a raise like that these days? Even five percent is over the top. The justification for this egregious salary boost is stated in the report: Remuneration traditionally is intended to provide some form of compensation … click below for more ↓

Why is Our Mayor Being Sued?

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaignLeave a comment

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Ontario civil court records found online show our Mayor, Brian Saunderson, is listed as the first defendant in a recent lawsuit, along with his allegedly former employers. The lawsuit is for $150,000 and was filed Sept. 17, 2019. The plaintiff is Grand Mortgage Investment Corporation, which the Financial Services Registry Authority office shows has a local office at 192 First Street, in Collingwood, with John Dopp listed as the mortgage administrator. M. Christopher Diamond, of DiamondPantel LLP, is listed as the company’s legal representative. I … click below for more ↓

Bad Behaviour, Disrespect in Council Meetings

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Legal issues / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry2 Comments

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There’s a video clip being shared on social media from the “special” meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee Agenda, on Thursday, October 14, 2021 (full video here). It shows a dishevelled Councillor Bob “Lapdog” Madigan in the upper right corner of the screen. It’s worth watching to see how poorly some of our councillors treat their role and their office. The meeting was held to continue the discussions on the judicial report’s recommendations that councillors should disclose their personal financial relations and holdings when … click below for more ↓

What is Council Trying to Hide?

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Legal issues2 Comments

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In an article in CollingwoodToday titled 18 simple rules? Council receives draft of new Code of Conduct, we learn that council is looking to update and revise its current Code of Conduct. Again. The article says, A new set of 18 rules aims to help town councillors navigate the sometimes-complicated situations they may find themselves in through their public service roles. You’d almost think it was a good thing when the article adds that the proposed code “seeks to incorporate recommendations to tighten up and … click below for more ↓

Why is Millennium Park so Poorly Maintained?

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / Local history / TaxesOne Comment

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We took a walk along the sidewalk and trail into the inappropriately-named “Millennium” Park* this week and were deeply disappointed by the lack of maintenance there. Aside from seeing a private pickup truck driving on the sidewalk for 100 or more metres before turning onto Waterside Lane (where were the police when you need them?) and the trees along the eastern side of the road that were abandoned to die, it was the poor condition of the trail at the north end, the sinkholes, and … 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 … 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 … 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 … click below for more ↓

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