Category: Election 2018

My responses to residents: 3

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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NB: As a candidate for Deputy Mayor in the upcoming municipal election, I receive questions from residents about my stand on various issues and policies. I will post my responses here for everyone to read. My responses are in italics, below. Looking forward to your review & response to enclosed questions to understand your level of support to improve cycling infrastructure in Collingwood that you will provide if elected in the upcoming election. Thank you for the opportunity to comment and respond to your questions. As a bit of background, when I was on council (2003-2014) I advocated for and ……… click below for more ↓

My responses to residents: 2

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / HospitalLeave a comment

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NB: As a candidate for Deputy Mayor in the upcoming municipal election, I receive questions from residents about my stand on various issues and policies. I will post my responses here for everyone to read. My responses are in italics, below. Hi Ian, Where do you want the hospital to be built ? It’s not where *I* want the hospital built that matters – it’s where the hospital’s staff, consultants, planners and board identified as the best place after many months of surveying, studying and planning. They are the experts, not me, not anyone on council. It’s the site with ……… click below for more ↓

My responses to residents: 1

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018One Comment

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NB: As a candidate for Deputy Mayor in the upcoming municipal election, I receive questions from residents about my stand on various issues and policies. I will post my responses here for everyone to read. My responses are in italics, below. One of my main concerns is development in the area. I do understand that development is important for the economic growth of Collingwood and builds a tax base. My concern is the natural area that makes Collingwood beautiful is shrinking especially with the future housing plans. Is this a priority for you? If yes, what will you do to ……… click below for more ↓

Airport sold after secret deal, no public input

Collingwood / Council / Deceit / deception & secrecy / Election 2018 / Ethics and behaviourOne Comment

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According to the Connection, Collingwood’s airport – owned by the taxpayers – was just sold to a private corporation after almost 20 closed-door council sessions. Not once was the public consulted. Not once was the public told WHY or even if selling the airport was good for the community. Not once did Brian Saunderson or his Block puppets warn the public last election campaign that they planned to sell our public asset.  Not once did Saunderson or the Block or the town administration present a business case in the past four years to show that selling it was good, that ……… click below for more ↓

A response to Don May

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018Leave a comment

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In a recent email, Don May took several shots at me and my integrity. I expected this and similar attacks from Saunderson’s followers – and May is an admitted supporter of Brian Saunderson. I won’t bother to respond to his innuendo or unfounded allegations. However, I want to address one thing May said that is correct: he accused me of having a, …desire to go back to our former governments of the past. Leaving aside the obvious tautology (what else could a former government be but of the past?), he’s right: I do want to see Collingwood council return to ……… click below for more ↓

Saunderson’s abject desperation

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018 / Entitlement / HospitalLeave a comment

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I’m not sure whether I pity Brian Saunderson most for his lack of principles or for his lack of shame. Or maybe both. Desperation makes people do things that common sense would suggest won’t work. Monday we saw desperation replace both principle and shame when Saunderson made a motion to support the hospital at the end of the meeting. It was an abject, grovelling effort. Embarrassing to watch.* Brian Saunderson is, of course, desperate. He faces not one but two credible candidates for the position of mayor, in a town where he and his five Block minions on council are ……… click below for more ↓

Running for office, 2018

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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This morning I filed my papers to run for Deputy Mayor in the 2018 municipal election. I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to run, who endorsed my application, and who has promised to help my campaign. Your confidence in my ability to do the job and to provide open, ethical governance and return council to accountability is deeply felt. I promise I will not let you down. I will continue to inform voters of the abuses of power and personal agendas this term, and expose for a larger audience the unacceptable amount of secrecy and deception this council ……… click below for more ↓

Tim Fryer’s fictitious candidate

Collingwood / Election 2018Leave a comment

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You have to wonder who is being described on Tim Fryer’s campaign website when you read about claims of: Transparent and Trustworthy Leadership. Responsible and Accountable Creative and Open Minded Socially & Environmentally Conscious Is Fryer advertising for another candidate? One not so deeply joined to Brian Saunderson and his personal agendas? One who actually stood up and fought for open, accountable meetings and public consultation when privatizing our electricity utility instead of shambling into almost 50 closed-door meetings to plot the sale? One who refused to sideline our hospital redevelopment and delay it three to ten years? One who ……… click below for more ↓

Saunderson trolling for votes

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018 / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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After four years of deception, secrecy, more closed-door meetings than the previous four councils combined, and avoiding public scrutiny at all costs, Brian Saunderson and his Block minions have suddenly decided that they want to be “accessible”. I know, I know: stop smirking. On the threshold of a municipal election, desperate to sanitize their grubby reputation, they’ve called for live streaming of all meetings – years after moving many committee meetings out of town hall to deter that very public accessibility, and refusing to live stream as early as 2015. Amazing how some politicians can do an about-face when an ……… click below for more ↓

A cop on every corner and in every backyard

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018 / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviourOne Comment

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Councillor Kathy Jeffrey wants to get tough on crime. Serious crimes like throwing birdseed on your deck, not cutting the grass on the boulevard in front of your house, and riding a bicycle on a sidewalk. I suppose and we’re all at risk from imminent social collapse if they aren’t curtailled and the malfeasants brought to justice right away. And charged. Big, hefty, bankruptcy-threatening fines. Getting tough on crime is always a hot button topic around election time, so there’s little surprise Jeffrey is on that bandwagon now, and was silent about it the previous three-and-a-half years. The Connection reported ……… click below for more ↓

More costs pile onto the SVJI

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018 / Ethics and behaviour / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryLeave a comment

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It seems Saunderson’s Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (SVJI) is eating up taxpayer money rapidly, with a little help from other town departments. It was originally estimated to cost taxpayers between $2 and $6 million – and now it seems that could be much more thanks to this latest farcical chapter. Saunderson’s Vindictive Judicial Inquiry needs space, not just your cash, to conduct its business. Lots of space, it seems. The SVJI crew had set up shop in town hall, and were occupying office real estate therein, but it wasn’t enough: they needed room to expand. With space in the building already ……… click below for more ↓

Collingwood’s Reichstag fire

Collingwood / Council / Deceit / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018 / EntitlementLeave a comment

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The Reichstag was the home of the German parliament until 1933, when it burned down just one month after Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor. The Nazis immediately blamed the fire on the Communists – their main political rivals – and used the event to suppress their opponents, repress opposition and dissent, consolidate power, while deflecting public scrutiny from their more hideous acts. Many historians believe that the Communists weren’t involved, but rather the Nazis set the fire themselves to help promote their own agenda and enable their vendettas. They used propaganda tactics to enrage the public, and consolidate their position. ……… click below for more ↓

The Hate Brigade returns

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018Leave a comment

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The dyspeptic Hate Brigade was back in front of town hall last night, stirred into another mindless frenzy by misleading media stories, innuendo, and conspiracy theory. (Okay: they don’t have an official name, but it was that or Brian’s Bullies…) Last term Brian Saunderson and Steve Berman were the Hate Brigade’s leaders; now Saunderson is deputy mayor, so the public aspect of the dirty work falls to the slovenly mooch, Berman.  Saunderson made his cunningly timed appearance, entering the building to the anemic cheering of supporters; none of them apparently aware of how they’ve been duped over and over this term. ……… click below for more ↓

Innuendo, not guilt, in CBC story

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018 / Publicity & Communications4 Comments

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By now I expect you’ve read the scurrilous CBC story written by Dave Seglins or at least one of its local spin-offs. For me, the best line in the CBC piece is the description of Seglins by David O’Connor, a “veteran criminal defence lawyer,” who called Seglins a “… f—— sleazeball.” Eloquently said, and certainly an opinion shared by others in town. I would have added a few other expletives, but I already stand guilty of egregious verbosity, so I’ll let the description stand on its own merit. It’s a story full of allegation and innuendo, but not guilt. The ……… click below for more ↓

Ecclestone’s laughable campaign literature

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018Leave a comment

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When I saw Cam Ecclestone’s self-aggrandizing flyer, I was strongly reminded of the opening of Chapter 24 of the Tao Te Ching, which in my latest translation reads, Blowhards have no standing, The self-promoting are not distinguished, Show-offs do not shine, Braggarts have nothing to show, The self-important are here and gone. (The Dao De Jing: A Philosophical Translation, trans. Roger Ames & David Hall, Ballantine Books, Jan. 2003)* As the least active member of council, the vain Ecclestone’s main contribution to the process this term has been to make the motion to adjourn at the end of a meeting. ……… click below for more ↓

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