Category: Collingwood

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

Another Abuse of Power and Position

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Municipal elections past4 Comments

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As this term of council winds down, with only a few weeks before the election, it seems some members at the table can’t help themselves abusing their position and their power. Their sense of entitlement is an embarrassing display. At tomorrow’s council meeting (Sept. 20), Councillor Jeffery will make the following notice of motion: THAT Council appoint Acting Deputy Mayor McLeod as Deputy Mayor for the duration of the current term of Council. This isn’t just a change in title: it is a political gambit to allow McLeod to campaign as the Deputy Mayor, not merely the Acting DM. Apparently, McLeod’s ……… click below for more ↓

What About the Code of Conduct?

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Municipal elections pastLeave a comment

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I attended a two-hour seminar hosted by the town about Collingwood’s Code of Conduct last week. It was intended as an introduction to the policy for new candidates and a refresher for incumbents, and was presented by the town’s Integrity Commissioner, whose slides ranged from conflicts of interest to accountability, from public behaviour to confidentiality. Councillor Bob Madigan wasn’t there. Four incumbents running in this election attended (Doherty, McLeod, Hamlin, and Berman), for which I give them credit. Madigan didn’t show. Perhaps it’s because the town’s web page about the conduct of members of council says (emphasis added): “Members are ……… click below for more ↓

Just Gonna Leave This Here…

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Municipal elections past4 Comments

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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. I’m only sharing it here because it’s now been reported in local media.* As CwoodToday ……… click below for more ↓

Hobbesian vs Benthamite Politics

Collingwood / Council / Political philosophy / Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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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 of this is not always that a man hopes for a more intensive delight than ……… click below for more ↓

Ancient Election Wisdom

Classics / Election campaigns / Political philosophy / Politics / Stoicism & classical philosophy2 Comments

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I recently came across this piece by Marcus Tullius Cicero (one of my favourite classical authors) on the Sententiae Antiquae website (a good source of classical Latin and Greek translations), taken from Cicero’s oration Pro Murena (35-36). Lucius Licinius Murena was elected as his election as consul in 62 BCE but was subsequently accused of bribery. He was defended by  Cicero, who recorded his speech for posterity. Here’s what Cicero said about elections in general: What strait or what channel do you imagine has as many currents, twists, and tide changes as the disturbances in the breaking waves produced by ……… click below for more ↓

What Just Happened?

Collingwood / Council / Election campaigns / Municipal elections pastLeave a comment

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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 in the three months nominations were open before she filed at the very last minute. ……… click below for more ↓

Please Take an Election Sign

Collingwood / Council / Municipal elections pastLeave a comment

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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 and removed within 72 hours after the election (Oct. 24).. If you have a specific ……… click below for more ↓

Hypocritical Candidate Wants to Return to Council

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Municipal elections pastOne Comment

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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 bullying in public comments. Then they appointed a friend, campaign donor, and lobbyist in her ……… click below for more ↓

Don’t Forget Who Blocked the Hospital Redevelopment

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Ethics and behaviour / Hospital / Municipal elections past3 Comments

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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 re-develop on Poplar Sideroad? And to publicly scold those who disagreed? During the previous council’s ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s Inappropriate Pay-Raise Decision

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Financial follies / Municipal elections past / TaxesLeave a comment

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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 council at nine members, and increasing the base rate of pay for council positions to ……… click below for more ↓

Our Troubled Urban Forest

Collingwood / Council / Ineptitude and bungling / Municipal elections past / Planning & Policies / Staff and administration / Wacky WTF ideas3 Comments

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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 it does plant, it’s not surprising: there are dead trees in the Second Street dog ……… click below for more ↓

Just a reminder…

Collingwood / Council / Municipal elections pastLeave a comment

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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 here.

I have filed my papers

Collingwood / Council / Daily life / Municipal elections past4 Comments

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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 our community deserves nothing but the best effort from its council. If you would like ……… click below for more ↓

The Misogynist Bully Files for Deputy Mayor

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Hospital / Municipal elections past2 Comments

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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 he’s been told, and expressing egregiously oleaginous praise for his beloved former mayor. But let’s ……… click below for more ↓

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