Category: Disrespect and bad behaviour

Grovel, Snivel & Fawn

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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Grovel, Snivel & Fawn. You might think it’s the name of a law firm, but it’s the art of political sycophancy practiced by our own council.* It’s how our council behaved when the former, and much-disliked mayor, Brian Saunderson, took his leave from sucking on the municipal tit last week (it was not disclosed whether he will be paid for his brief, grandstanding appearance to accept the laurels from the committee). One last time our council cabal eagerly and publicly grovelled, snivelled, and fawned over … click below for more ↓

Crybaby Hull and Ditzy Doherty

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2022 / Ineptitude and bunglingLeave a comment

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As a recent Connection story noted, our acting mayor wept openly when a decision he supported took some community flack. Seriously. He cried at a council meeting. Hardly the sort of behaviour one expects of the man chosen to replace the head of council (our much-disliked mayor who couldn’t wait to get away from his responsibilities). You can watch the entire discussion on video on the town’s website starting from 04:53:39. Hull’s comments begin at 05:01:05; he breaks into tears around 05:01:30 and is unable … 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 ↓

What is Council Doing to Our BIA?

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications / Uncategorized / Wacky WTF ideasLeave a comment

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Last week, the chair of our BIA (Business Improvement Area: our association of downtown merchants and businesses) resigned from the organization he has served on for the past seven years. In his letter (quoted in CollingwoodToday) of resignation, David Conning wrote (emphasis added): Following last evening’s council discussion, I continue to have no faith that the town councillors will support any major initiative of the BIA, even when presented with expert documentation recommending the project… I have neither the time nor the inclination to invest … click below for more ↓

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There’s Signs

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling6 Comments

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The Town of Collingwood’s Facebook page has a post that shows photos of our council members grinning at the camera while holding a piece of paper with a word handwritten above a printed text. I am not aware that this bit of self-promotion has been covered in any local media (but then, so little is, these days).* This paper they are holding comes from a County of Simcoe initiative called “#itsstarts” which, the county’s website says, is, “a public awareness campaign designed to take a … click below for more ↓

Council’s Abject Failure Over Water

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Financial follies / Ineptitude and bungling / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / Utilities: electricity and water5 Comments

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You may have learned from our local media that the new water treatment plant costs have doubled to almost $121 million — suggesting massive increases in your water bill and likely your property taxes are coming. The flaccid media coverage of this outrage didn’t explore the consequences of the increase, of course. As the story in CollingwoodToday notes, the egregious increase was sprung at the March 7 strategic initiatives standing committee meeting: Community benefit changes also being added include adding park washrooms to the property, … 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 ↓

Brian’s Hypocrisy on Display. Again.

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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This week, the Town of Collingwood again raised the pink flag to show its support against bullying. It’s an initiative that local resident Trevor Henson has been promoting for the past 16 years. How ironic that Mayor Saunderson was there to hoist it. And look, there were councillors Doherty and Berman beside him, two of the Gang of Six Bullies. Given council’s role in bullying former councillor Tina Comi into resigning, and Saunderson’s failure to responsibly do his role as mayor and show even a … click below for more ↓

Council Gives a Bad Name to Train Wrecks

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / PoliticsOne Comment

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In his latest post, fellow blogger Chris Potts opines on our council’s misogynistic bullying of former councillor Tina Comi that resulted in her resignation from the toxic environment in local politics. Potts calls our council a train wreck, noting: …my true opinion of this council and the only thing that comes to mind when I think of them is “Train Wreck”. Over the past months, we continue to watch the same crap day in day out, absolutely no leadership at the top, and to be … click below for more ↓

Comi-gate Continues to Plague Council

Collingwood / Council / COVID-19 responses / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling4 Comments

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Mayor Saunderson and his gang of bullies continue to take flack for their hostile, childish behaviour towards the former Councillor Tina Comi, who resigned her seat late last month. The week after she resigned, the town’s integrity commissioner (IC) revealed a complaint against Comi filled by the Gang of Six because her 11-year-old son entered her room during a council training session that should have been held in public. You can read the story about their disgraceful, vengeful act here. And once again, our council … 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 ↓

The Bullying Will Continue Until We’re Satisfied

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour2 Comments

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Which of the following words or phrases do you feel best describe Collingwood Council (you may choose more than one): Petty Vindictive Puritanical Hypocritical Vicious Punitive Jealous Envious Mean-spirited Puerile Slavishly loyal to their Great Leader Self-righteous All of the above Imagine this (cue the Twilight Zone soundtrack…): a council member is participating in an in-camera Zoom meeting, this one a training session about the importance of in-camera confidentiality in which NO CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION was shared. It should, of course, have been held IN THE … 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 ↓

A Bullied Councillor Resigns

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

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On Friday, Jan. 21, Councillor Tina Comi resigned from council. I am deeply disappointed and troubled. She was the only one at the table not among the slate of slavish sycophants who serve The Great Leader. Her departure leaves us with a dysfunctional council devoid of wisdom, devoid of community spirit, with a black hole of greed at their collective core instead of a conscience. She was the sole independent voice at the table and will be sorely missed. While I have sometimes chastised her … click below for more ↓

Socrates and Saunderson

Classics / Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Philosophy / Saunderson's MPP campaignOne Comment

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In Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, Socrates debates with three sophists — Gorgias the rhetorician and his pupils Polus, and Callicles — about justice, power, morality, and virtue. Socrates also questions the value of oratory and rhetoric — the crafts of the sophists — in contemporary politics and whether they do good for the people. Spoiler alert: he’s not convinced they are for the good. You can read the somewhat stuffy Benjamin Jowett translation here and here, or read David Horan’s more modern translation here. I realize … click below for more ↓

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