Category: Collingwood

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

The Hypocrisy Starts

Collingwood / Council / Municipal Politics / PoliticsOne Comment

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It didn’t long for the hypocrisy to start at council. Monday night, council approved a five-year contract for an unsolicited proposal from the town’s only (monopoly) taxi service without going to an open bid process. Yes that’s right: this council approved a sole-source contract in its first two months of this term. No tender. No RFP. No public input. It wasn’t advertised. It just came in, unsolicited.* And the contract lasts five years – beyond the term of this council. Yes: the same people who loudly lambasted the previous council for sole-sourcing a contract for Sprung (although staff recommended it because ……… click below for more ↓

Professional Politicians? Not Here…

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / PoliticsLeave a comment

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There’s an editorial in the January 29 edition of the Collingwood Connection that underscores how little the local media really understand local politics, and how biased it remains. Which is unfortunate, because buried within this vitriolic screed was a nugget of wisdom; a salient point about local politics.* First, it begins with an essential error by criticizing councillors for not showing “…they’re willing to work as a team -as they’ve been elected to do.” In non-partisan municipal politics, only individuals are elected. Not teams. Yes, there was a slate of candidates with similar ideologies who ran and many of whom were ……… click below for more ↓

Revised CPLUG Ukulele Song Book

Collingwood / Culture / Library / Music & Reviews / My Writing / Personal Reminiscences / Ukulele: instruments & musicLeave a comment

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I spent the past couple of weeks diligently working on updating and expanding our Collingwood Public Library Ukulele Group (CPLUG) songbook. I’m happy to announce it is completed – and that I can get back to my regular blogging. Update, June 2020: The link to download was broken and is fixed. AND there are more songs in the songbook than listed below. I had put together two smaller songbooks previously for group use, as well as sent along several individual song sheets over the past year. Over the time since the group began, I’ve been updating my own style and ……… click below for more ↓

My Goodbye to Local Politics (for now)

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal Reminiscences / PoliticsLeave a comment

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I had meant to read a statement at last night’s final meeting of Collingwood Council, but I misplaced my printout between the time I left home and the meeting’s start. I remembered most of it, but may have missed a few words. Here’s an edited version of what I said with some notes from what I had written for the occasion: First, I’d like to thank staff for all their help and support these many years. Staff have helped make council’s ideals, plans and goals into reality. Without them, we would have floundered and run aground on our unconsummated ideas. ……… click below for more ↓

Thank you for your support

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal ReminiscencesOne Comment

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Thank you everyone who voted for me this election. I am delighted and honoured that you once again gave me your confidence and trust to represent you for another term in office. Unfortunately, although there were a lot of you, it wasn’t quite enough. I will not be returning for the upcoming term, but perhaps I will run again in 2018. I promised this term, as I always have done, that I would keep the interests of all of Collingwood in the forefront; to make decisions I believe are in the best interests of everyone to be fully open and transparent in my decision making, ……… click below for more ↓

Logical Fallacies

Collingwood / Critical Thinking / Logic and reason / Philosophy / Politics6 Comments

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Last night at council I referred to seeing what I believed was a >post hoc fallacy in a report, or more properly a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Yeah, I probably annoyed some folks in the audience because I used Latin words and that confused them. But hey, they already think I’m a jerk because I can spell words like egregious and nefarious without using spellcheck, so I doubt I lost any votes over it. It means an error in assigning a causal relationship between two or more coincidental events. For example: I combed my hair a different way and ……… click below for more ↓

Collingwood in the Top Ten

Collingwood / Development & Growth / Municipal Politics / Planning & Policies / PoliticsLeave a comment

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There’s a story in today’s Financial Post that is headlined, “Collingwood’s debut in top 10 on ranking of business friendly cities is no accident.” No accident at all, as anyone on council, in staff or who follows local politics knows. We’ve worked hard to get to this. We deserve it. We told you during the election we were finally open for business and here’s the proof: the rest of the country recognizes us. Collingwood was ranked tenth out of 81 small-sized communities in the FP’s poll, conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses: In its first year to qualify, ……… click below for more ↓

The mote and the beam

Canadian Politics / Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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“Hide witch hide, the good folks come to burn thee; Their keen enjoyment hid behind a Gothic mask of duty.” Jefferson Starship: Mau Mau (Blows Against the Empire, 1970) I was thinking about those lines recently. They seemed appropriate given the events in town since last spring. I was also thinking about what Gord Hume wrote in 2011: “Explosive internet columns, blogs, and opinion pieces that do not seem to be overly-burdened with concerns about facts or accuracy are now being added to the traditional media mix, and have further aroused this toxic brew.” Gordon Hume: Take Back Our Cities, ……… click below for more ↓

Montaigne on Friendship, Liars and Politics

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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“I am seeking the companionship and society of such men as we call honourable and talented,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay, On the Three Kinds of Social Intercourse (Book III, 3). “It is, when you reflect on it, the rarest of all our forms…” Montaigne was musing in his essay and others on the nature of not simply friendship, but on what attracted people to work, converse and share at the highest levels. To bond without some ulterior motive such as work, politics or profit. What, after all, is true friendship? Once stripped of necessity is it pure ……… click below for more ↓

The Best of Times

Books & Reviews / Collingwood / Municipal Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I was overcome this weekend with an urge to re-read Charles Dickens’ masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities. I suspect it’s because of its brilliant, powerful opening. That opening epitomizes for me Collingwood’s municipal election and the dichotomy between the two camps: positive versus negative. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… I was downtown Saturday, shopping in the farmers’ market and local stores when the urge came over me. Ducking into Sandra’s little used-book store on Ontario Street, I found a copy. I sat on a bench downtown and read the first two chapters ……… click below for more ↓

Lessons From the Campaign Trail

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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I always learn something new, something valuable from every municipal election campaign. I learn from talking to people, I learn from community meetings. I learn from comments and emails I receive. I learn from other candidates, too – there are often good ideas proposed that can be developed by council later. Each election campaign has been a bit different, and I’ve tried different approaches each time. In some, I’ve done more door knocking; in others I’ve done more mailing. I’ve tried different signs, different literature. This time, I knocked on a lot of doors. It’s been educational every time. Here are a few of ……… click below for more ↓

Carrier’s Attack Ad

Collingwood / Municipal PoliticsLeave a comment

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Former mayor Chris Carrier has a big, nasty attack ad in the Connection this weekend. He promises “facts” and attacks the current mayor’s “spin.” But any reader who has followed the debate over the real figures for the town debt knows it’s quite the opposite. You weren’t fooled, were you, dear reader? I didn’t think so. Why he would think a negative attack ad laden with insults and misinformation would win voters is unclear. Perhaps he thinks he can scare voters into picking him. I doubt it. I think he really doesn’t understand municipal finance. Council received a very clear and indisputable amount ……… click below for more ↓

Promising What Can’t be Done

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Politics7 Comments

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There’s a wrap up in the Connection this weekend with candidates’ comments on “accountability” I want to address. One deputy-mayoral candidate, Brian Saunderson, wrote, he would, “Strengthen the current council code of conduct to include dealing with siblings as a defined conflict and impose consequences for council members who breach the code.” Council cannot make a law that supersedes provincial law, nor can council impose any penalty outside those specified in the Municipal Act and Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. In fact, alleged breaches of those acts can only be dealt with through provincial authorities. The province does not give municipalities ……… click below for more ↓

The Lobbyist Registry

Collingwood / Humour & Satire / Municipal Politics / Politics4 Comments

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I was in the local grocery store with Susan, picking over the collection of organic vine-ripened tomatoes, earnestly searching for the best couple of them. A man recognized me as a member of council and approached me, smiling, hand extended.* “Hi, Councillor Chadwick,” he said. We shake. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” “Okay,” I replied and passed what i considered the two best tomatoes to Susan who headed off in search of some fresh Ontario asparagus. “How can I help you?” “Well, I’m Pastor Jones with the local United Way and I wanted to ask…” “Wait a ……… click below for more ↓

A Swimmer Comments on the New Pool

Collingwood / Development & GrowthOne Comment

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Here are some comments from a pool user emailed to me this week, slightly edited. I asked for and received permission to post these. Apparently some local people who don’t swim or use any of these pools – including our own – have been posting on social media that our facility can’t live up to the standards of other facilities. That bricks-and-mortar is superior. Seems the swim community – the people who actually use our facility, the people who actually know the standards and features – disagrees. I have not visited any of the places mentioned, so I cannot confirm the details. ……… click below for more ↓

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