Category: Collingwood

Comments, thoughts and musings about my hometown: Collingwood, Ontario. And some local politics, too, with my comments as a municipal councillor.

Saunderson’s Job-Killing ICBL Continued

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Financial follies / Hospital / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications / Uncategorized6 Comments

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James Madison, one of the US’s Founding Fathers said that a government “…without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a tragedy or a farce, or perhaps both.” Sure reads like someone describing our own council and their refusal to listen to the public during their discussion on the recent interim control bylaw (ICBL) that killed growth, development, and jobs in Collingwood: both a farce and a tragedy.* Thomas Vincent, developer of the Balmoral Estates adult lifestyle community in Collingwood,  wrote a letter to council just before this debacle, criticizing among other things, the ……… click below for more ↓

ICBL Sinks Development and Saunderson’s MPP Dream

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry2 Comments

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I wonder if our mayor, Brian Saunderson, gave any thought to what last night’s vote to kill construction in Collingwood might do to his dream of becoming our riding’s next MPP? I’d say both went down the tube when the draconian, interim control bylaw to stop providing building permits (the ICBL) was passed. In one meeting, our mayor and his cabal managed to alienate pretty much every developer and builder who was a potential supporter and donor to his campaign. And with them went the local real estate business, whose lifeblood is in the new home industry. Everyone in the ……… click below for more ↓

Saunderson’s Epic Blunder

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Utilities: electricity and water14 Comments

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A blunder of epic proportions? A sobering display of supreme incompetence and ineptitude? A total failure of communications, direction, and leadership? An underhanded excuse to hand our municipal water services over to a private corporation without public consultation? A rudderless municipal government fumbling from one crisis to the next with no future planning? An unprecedented assault against our neighbouring municipalities? Another attack on the construction industry by an anti-development council? Or all of the above? Whatever your view, this debacle falls on the shoulders of the mayor, Brian Saunderson. He’s the leader, the spokesperson, where the buck stops.  The headline ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s Frenzied, Deranged, and Expensive Obsession Over the SVJI

Collingwood / Council / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / User fees and costs12 Comments

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Three hundred seventy-nine boxes and one hundred binders. That’s what EPCOR has delivered to town hall for town staff to comb through looking for… well, no one knows yet. Maybe heffalumps. And it will occupy a considerable amount of the time for the town’s $216,000-a-year CAO to go through them looking for those elusive heffalumps. And the electronic records have not even arrived, which are probably as voluminous as the paper records. Keep in mind that this is the same material that was gone through by the OPP during their investigation (which, since it was opened in early 2014, has ……… click below for more ↓

The Fox, The Hedgehog, and The Mayor

Collingwood / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryOne Comment

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Brian Saunderson is a Hedgehog. Not literally: metaphorically. At least that’s how I read Isaiah Berlin’s 1953 essay that classified people into two categories; Hedgehogs or Foxes. Berlin wrote that Hedgehogs had a single, central vision; one core ideal through which they viewed their entire world. Foxes. on the other hand, pursued many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory. Their interests ran across many different schools of thought, areas of interest and belief systems. Berlin considered himself among the Foxes.* Berlin’s idea is based on a fragment of a line from the ancient Greek poet, Archilochus (died 645 BCE), which ……… click below for more ↓

Time of Use Billing is an Assault

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Politics / Provincial Politics / Utilities: electricity and waterLeave a comment

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By returning to the money-grabbing time-of-use (TOU) billing, Ontario’s Hydro One continues its unrelenting assault on the province’s seniors, stay-at-home parents, the unemployed, night shift workers, those under lockdown, and every business and industry here. Time-of-use billing has always been nothing more than an egregious money grab by the service provider. This customer-hostile practice had been briefly halted during part of the pandemic because so many of us had to stay at home as the result of provincial lockdown orders. It’s tough to pay your bills when the province says you can’t work. And they keep saying that. But without ……… click below for more ↓

County’s Lukewarm Response to SVJI

Collingwood / Council / Municipal Politics / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry5 Comments

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Seems our mayor failed to get the response from the county for the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) he hoped for. Rather than welcoming the report with open arms, Simcoe County Council seemed hesitant to do more than what appears a token gesture of support “in principle.” One might even think some of them actually read the 900-page report with its 306 often redundant or irrelevant recommendations and thought, “This isn’t right for my community.” Saunderson pitched the SVJI to Simcoe County council back in February, clearly hoping for an enthusiastic endorsement he could crow about. But county ……… click below for more ↓

Saunderson Failed to Engage Public on His SVJI

Collingwood / Council / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryOne Comment

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Despite his continuing efforts to promote and lavish public funds on the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI), our mayor has again failed to make the public interested in his expensive report. The latest foray into self-promotion was the virtual “public meeting” held last week (the first public meeting about the SVJI since it was called for, more than three years ago!), which, as I predicted, was not a public event as much as another harangue from himself and staff about why it was worth spending more than $8 million (more than $10 million if council was being honest ……… click below for more ↓

Fixing Collingwood’s Streets

Collingwood / Council / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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While our council has been obsessed with the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) and lavishing all our tax dollars and their time promoting its often redundant or irrelevant recommendations, most of our residents have been focused on things that actually matter. Such as the sad condition of our decaying streets and crumbling sidewalks. This is, of course, being made worse daily by the increase in traffic from visitors and the growing number of people moving here from the GTA. And there are more delivery trucks and vans on the road because more people are ordering goods online. But ……… click below for more ↓

Council Rewards Its Friend. Again.

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / User fees and costs4 Comments

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Our council has found yet another way to reward its friend, despite the recommendations in the report from the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) warning about “apparent” conflicts of interest with friends. Page 7 of the full SVJI report states (emphasis added): Councillors and staff should avoid providing or appearing to provide preferential treatment to close friends and family. They should not conduct municipal business or encourage the municipality to contract with individuals with whom they have a close relationship. Recommendation 42 states (emphasis added): The Code of Conduct should state that Council members cannot use their position ……… click below for more ↓

Are Creationists Gaining More Sway?

Creationism / Critical Thinking / Local media / Pseudoscience & Quackery / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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A recent survey by Research Co. and Glacier Media shows a deeply disturbing trend in Canadians: we seem to be getting increasingly stupid. While this survey didn’t get the media coverage that other current events received (and hasn’t even been hinted at in local media, but no surprises there), I think it is one of the most troubling surveys of the last decade. The survey showed that, … more than half of Canadians (57%) believe that human beings evolved from less advanced forms of life over millions of years, while 26% think that God created human beings in their present form ……… click below for more ↓

An Example Our Mayor Should Follow

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaign4 Comments

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In a recent story in the Quinte News (March 31, 2021) the headline told us, “Belleville Councillor Ryan Williams has resigned from Belleville City Council.” Williams was elected the federal Conservative candidate for the Bay of Quinte riding for the next federal election, and instead of staying on in council taking the town’s paycheque and benefits, he has resigned his seat. In his media release, Williams said it was because that was the right thing to do for his community: I have decided to resign instead of taking a leave of absence with the best intentions of being the fairest ……… click below for more ↓

Does Collingwood Mislead its Citizens?

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry4 Comments

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The town’s “engage” page  for the upcoming “public” (virtual) meeting about the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI) contains a deception (emphasis added): “The original estimated budget for the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry was $1.6 million. To date, the Town has processed and paid over $7 million. The costs will continue to be tallied through the completion of all associated bills and will be posted to the Town’s website.” But the town’s own accounting of the costs to date that was made public late last year is actually much higher: $8,098,547.40. You can read the document here.  As long ago ……… click below for more ↓

Once Upon a Time in Collingwood

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry7 Comments

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MORE THAN SIX MONTHS after council received the final report from the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI), council has finally seen fit to hold a (virtual) public meeting about it (April 7). Given their history of secrecy and deception, I suspect most of them begrudge even that one “public” activity. It is, after all, the first such public event since the previous council approved Saunderson’s motion to initiate the inquiry, more than three years ago. It’s been two years since the inquiry itself began, and almost a year and a half since it ended. And let’s be clear: they’re ……… click below for more ↓

Lichens of South Georgian Bay

Botany & Paleobotany / Collingwood / Environment / Personal Reminiscences / Science & Technology / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”19″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] In recent months, I have developed an interest in lichens: wondering what species live in our area, how and where they grow, which plants are their competitors or companions, why they grow where they do, what they live on for nutrition, how they reproduce and spread, what lives on them, and their microbiology. Small, innocuous plants you may mistake for a discoloration on rock or even a disease on a tree, they are nonetheless very common throughout our local environment. In fact, lichen have been found on every continent, including Antarctica, which has earned some ……… click below for more ↓

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