Council – Page 3 – Scripturient

Just Gonna Leave This Here…

This headline appeared in CollingwoodToday: “Town councillor, deputy-mayor candidate charged with assault.” In Simcoe.com (Collingwood Connection), the headline was “Collingwood councillor, deputy mayor candidate Bob Madigan facing assault charges.” Bob Madigan is running for deputy mayor of Collingwood. Is this the sort of behaviour you want in your elected representatives? Given his past behaviour, this latest event didn’t surprise me. But by the time this reached the local media, his arrest was already well-known around town and shared in the coffee shops and sidewalk chatter. … click below for more ↓

Hobbesian vs Benthamite Politics

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was not an optimist about human behaviour. Writing more than a century after Niccolo Machiavelli, the English political philosopher argued in his masterwork, Leviathan (1651), that the quest for power was the main motivation for humans. And that our quest to acquire more would never cease until we were dead. He wrote: …in the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind a perpetual and restless desire of Power after power, that ceaseth only in Death. And the cause … click below for more ↓

What Just Happened?

I was startled to see that one of our candidates for municipal election — the third person in the deputy mayor’s race — dropped out shortly after submitting her papers. According to the town’s web page, Jordan Fleming filed her papers at 11:34 a.m. on August 19; two-and-a-half hours before nominations closed. She withdrew at 2:54 p.m. on Aug. 24. According to the interview in CollingwoodToday, she decided to drop out almost immediately because of family issues. I was surprised she hadn’t considered those issues … click below for more ↓

Please Take an Election Sign

C ollingwood residents: I would very much appreciate it if you would allow me to place one of my election signs on your lawn. Please fill in your name, phone and address in the comments section below. This information will NOT be published and will be deleted after the election and signs have been removed. Alternatively, send me an email or call me to request one. Signs will be placed by me or one of my team on your property within a week of your request … click below for more ↓

Hypocritical Candidate Wants to Return to Council

Two more of our local “basket-of-deplorables” incumbent councillors (aka quidnuncs) have filed their papers for re-election: Steve Berman and Kathy “Me! Me! Me!” Jeffrey. So has former councillor Cam “Sleepy” Ecclestone, who announced he was running in the provincial election for the fringe “Consensus Party” then never appeared on the ballot. Readers will recall that both Berman and Jeffrey willingly participated in the bullying of former councillor, Tina Comi. Both signed identical copies of councillor McLeod’s complaint to the town’s integrity commissioner. Both defended their … click below for more ↓

Don’t Forget Who Blocked the Hospital Redevelopment

Among those incumbents running for re-election, are (so far), three who were part of the cabal on the 2014-18 council that actively and aggressively tried to block the Collingwood General & Marine Hospital’s redevelopment. Their efforts did cost the hospital money and time, and set the redevelopment back at least five years. Who can forget when that previous council brought in a highly-paid lawyer and a highly-paid PR consultant (both sole-sourced) to lecture the public as to why the hospital should not be allowed to … click below for more ↓

Council’s Inappropriate Pay-Raise Decision

© August 8, 2022 © August 8, 2022 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2022 / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Financial follies / Taxes itemprop="discussionURL"Leave a comment

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 ↓

Our Troubled Urban Forest

On August 8, Collingwood council will “consider” a proposal to spend “up to $100,000 to retain a consultant to inform the next council on how Collingwood can better protect [our] tree canopy,” according to a story in CollingwoodToday. The article says, “With Collingwood’s population rapidly increasing, the town is behind when it comes to its policies around [our] tree canopy.” (This is an expanded version of a post I put on my Campaign for Council website) Given how poorly the town maintains those few trees … click below for more ↓

Just a reminder…

During this 2022 municipal election campaign, I will also be posting on my campaign website blog with short pieces about local issues, events, policies, elections, and my vision for Collingwood. During the campaign, I remind my readers who care about local issues and politics to check my campaign site at www.chadwickforcouncil.ca/blog/ for the most recent content as well as this blog. Thanks for being a reader and a subscriber. And if you’d like to contact me, to help my campaign, or contribute to it, please … click below for more ↓

I have filed my papers

As of today, I am running for a seat on Collingwood Council, in 2022. I will use my new campaign website at www.chadwickforcouncil.ca to publish updates, comments on current issues, policy and position statements, pictures, upcoming events, and other relevant material. As many of you are aware, I served on Collingwood’s council previously, from 2003 to 2014. I would like to contribute my experience and understanding to a collaborative, cooperative council that focuses on the needs of the community first. Collingwood is our home and … click below for more ↓

The Misogynist Bully Files for Deputy Mayor

Councillor Bob “Lapdog” Madigan — council’s most notable bully and misogynist — filed his papers for deputy mayor, a position for which he is supremely unqualified. Well, to be fair, he’s not really qualified for any council position, is he? In almost eight years in office, Madigan’s accomplishments have been… well, nothing. Aside, that is, from being a misogynist bully; showing disrespect for not only other councillors and the public but for the office itself; acting the clown; sucking on the public tit, voting as … click below for more ↓

Berman Flails Over Jurisdictions

Sure, most Canadians are appalled at the recent decisions by the Talibangelists on the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), and the loss of rights and freedoms their overturning Roe v. Wade represents to women. But aside from never voting for Conservatives to avoid the same thing happening here, what can Canadians do? After all, it’s an American legal decision and legal problem, not ours. Abortion rights in Canada were unaffected by the decision.* Well, according to CollingwoodToday, our own councillor, Steve “Mr. Mediocrity” Berman leapt into … click below for more ↓

The Marionette and the Mediocrity

Councillors Mariane McLeod and Yvonne Hamlin have both filed their papers to run for the mayor of Collingwood after a mere single term serving in the least effective, most inept council ever, serving as loyal sycophants to the worst and most disliked mayor in the town’s history. What hubris! Aside from their abilities to vote the way Saunderson expected, to express oleaginous praise for him in public absque verecundia (without shame), and to ignore the needs of the community for the past three and a … click below for more ↓

Grovel, Snivel & Fawn

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 ↓