Who is Ian MacCulloch? We were only told by the town that he’s the newly-appointed councillor, chosen this month by council to fill the seat vacated by Brandon Houston, who quit his responsibilities and resigned back in January. But unless you dig deeply, you won’t know anything more about the newbie other than his appointment. The town’s announcement about him was vague and insubstantial, although not surprising for a townhall that prefers secrecy over openness.
In fact, the town said nothing about MacCulloch’s experience, his past, his relation to the community, his qualifications, his plans and priorities, his family — all disclosures that actual candidates let the public know about when campaigning. All the town could muster to say about him was to repeat some of his own words:
Ian MacCulloch stated in his Expression of interest “I would represent Collingwood residents with integrity and a forward-thinking approach. With a commitment to well-reasoned decision-making and a fact-based perspective. I believe that Council serves the Town best with listening, understanding, and acting in the best interests of residents. Our Town is growing and evolving, and I am passionate about helping shape its future.”
But those are nothing more than vapid buzz words. The town did, however, direct readers to bury more deeply into its user-hostile website to look for his actual letter of application, and after several clicks you can find it here. It doesn’t tell you anything significant about his priorities or his goals, nor does there seem to be any relevant community service involved. Not a requirement, of course, but it might have been nice to appoint someone who had contributed to the community outside of running a business here.
Well, of course CollingwoodToday leapt in to fill in the void and inform readers in greater depth about their new councilor by… repeating word-for-word the town’s flaccid announcement. It was apparently too much like work to actually pick up the phone and ask a couple of basic questions of the new appointee. Local media, eh?
Over at the increasingly irrelevant Simcoe.com, their reporter at least asked a couple of warm-n-fuzzy questions. MacCulloch, it reports, said he had “participated and engaged in every aspect of the town and there’s definitely things we think it needs and can improve on,” but the reporter seems to have neglected to ask for details about what that “participation” and “engagement” entailed, or what sort of things he wanted to “improve on” and why. More vague and lazy stuff.
But at least their reporter came up with a single goal from MacCulloch: to build “…a shiny new multi-use facility (with) all sorts of facilities that brings the whole community into one place.” But beyond that, no depth. Nothing asked about why the whole community wasn’t already served by two ice rinks and a covered, year-round swimming pool, thanks to the existing modern facilities. Or how the town could afford to operate more such facilities without raising taxes again.
Eventually, someone at CollingwoodToday got motivated to actually do the job of reporter and ask MacCulloch about himself and his plans, although as expected it was more softball stuff. We got a slightly more fulsome and cozy story about the new councillor, albeit posted only March 26. Nice photo set against the background of a rather well-stocked wine cellar somewhat beyond the reach of those of us who buy grocery-store boxes of the stuff. Maybe he owns a wine store. I might have to visit it, if so.
In the interview, MacCulloch said, “the biggest issue facing the town is unchecked growth.” But, of course, the reporter never asked him to explain what exactly “unchecked growth” meant (given the many legal and regulatory checks and balances already in place for any development and the provincial designation of Collingwood as a growth node…); or why it was the “biggest” issue as compared with, say, homelessness or affordable housing; or how to implement “checked” growth. Nor was he asked how reducing growth might affect future town finances, what sort of legal leverage the town might have to wield to reduce growth, and what the consequences of that might be for the town, its infrastructure plans, and for developers with existing approvals and commitments from buyers. Local media, eh?
The headline of the interview was “New Collingwood councillor wants to push for rec facility.”
Shades of the much-despised Brian Saunderson, Collingwood’s self-aggrandizing former mayor, the worst in our town’s history. Saunderson’s petty obsession with giving the YMCA a multimillion-dollar free handout from town coffers to build such a white elephant led him to run for mayor where he wasted more than $10 million of taxpayers’ money on a judicial inquiry against those who thwarted his ambition!*
MacCulloch added,
There was an opportunity to do that (build a facility) right around when we arrived here. There’s another opportunity right now. I have a little fire in my belly in that one because I have to visit all of these beautiful places in our travels.
With, of course, no suggestion who was going to pay for this. Nor did the reporter apparently think of asking about it. Or why we needed more ice rinks and swimming pools when we already have two of the former and one of the latter, both performing beautifully and meeting the needs of the residents. Or where the land could be found for some lavish structure, or the economic damage to the downtown if the Eddie Bush arena was closed in favour of some suburban facility many kilometres away. Just the sort of questions a reporter should be asking, but who am I to criticize? Okay, I was a reporter and editor here when we had a real print newspaper, but what would I know about local media?
But given the loyal Saundersonites still on council, I suspect there would have been a warm welcome for this idea, unformed and uninformed as it might be. The lingering stench of Saunderson still wafts through townhall.
Raising taxes to pay for something unnecessary yet egregiously expensive seems par for the course. But let me ask again: where will the money come from? We need a new (or at very least significant upgrades to the) wastewater treatment plant; a new hospital (and the infrastructure to the new property is the town’s responsibility); our new water treatment plant is estimated to cost almost $300 million (compared to $45 million when first proposed in 2014); many in the community want an elite arts centre; our crumbling roads and aging infrastructure need serious repairs and upgrades; our harbour still needs many upgrades; the infrastructure buildout to the now-private terminals will cost at least $16 million (as estimated in 2022); and council keeps hiring highly-paid bureaucrats to siphon off more of our taxes for little in return. Plus council keeps giving itself a pay hike every time they pass a budget.
A multiuse facility these days will easily cost $100 million, including the cost to obtain property and provide the necessary infrastructure to get necessary services to it. After that, it will require a continuing stream of money to operate it (keep in mind that municipal facilities are not allowed to make a profit). Why didn’t the reporters ask our newly appointed councillor, “where will the money come from?”
Did the reporter ask if MacCulloch had any relationship with our despicable former mayor, now feckless backbench MPP? Did the reporter ask if he had participated in the protests with Saunderson and his cabal outside town hall, demanding the town provide the handout to the Y for the poorly-imagined-but-expensive facility, 15 years ago? Did anyone in the media ask him about other issues, like housing? The environment? Taxation levels? Collaboration with neighbouring municipalities? The rising costs of OPP service? If so, nothing was put in print.
I sometimes despair about local media. It again failed to ask the tough questions or broach uncomfortable issues. Or even to ask basic questions to which I believe the public deserves answers. I suppose when local media acts as the propaganda arm for the town, and accepts its money for advertising, it’s not surprising. MacCulloch is not to blame for their laziness or ineptitude, of course. But I digress.
MacCulloch personally lobbied some, if not all (it’s unclear), of the sitting council members on his own behalf between March 3 and March 10. The record of his activity can be found on the town’s lobbyist registry. The registry note says he had “Discussions with members of Council regarding priorities as the individual considers the vacant council seat.” There is no indication he met with staff to discuss the responsibilities or requirements of the role.
No reporter seems to have asked if he had ever read the pertinent provincial legislation regarding council activities and behaviour. But then, no reporter seems to have noticed an applicant was also registered as a lobbyist on the town’s website.
None of those “discussions” with council members have been made public and we are left to guess what might have been raised. I am uncomfortable with councillors giving any applicant special treatment, but then the Saundersonites on council would consider it standard practice, given the tawdry and corrupt way they appointed another lobbyist and political donor last time there was a vacancy (and to several at the table, a personal friend).
It can be argued that MacCulloch was doing his due diligence by approaching members of council, and in that he is to be recognized for taking the role seriously. But I also have to point out that councillors should have been wary of engaging one applicant alone at the very real risk of being accused of favouritism. None of those discussions seem to have been raised by councillors during their deliberations about making a choice, nor have any of them come forward to explain why only one applicant lobbied (or was allowed to lobby) council. Were other applicants given that opportunity or even advised that another of them was doing it? Did the mayor warn council to be cautious and noncommittal when approached by candidates? Methinks not.
The unfairness and undemocratic nature of the process itself is what galls me. Candidates in an election need to get at least 25 signatures from residents approving their candidacy. They have to pay a registration fee and a deposit against sign violations (both refundable after the campaign under certain conditions). They usually have to raise donations for campaign literature and signs, have to attend public debates, and be interviewed by local media. They walk around town, knocking on doors and introducing themselves to the electorate. Their lives and past are subject to public scrutiny. Aside from the two applicants who were previously candidates, none of the others were required to do any of this. Council simply ignored all the candidates’ efforts. A slap in the face to them.
Instead, it was a popularity contest with councillors as the judges. And one of the applicants was meeting in secret with the judges. Surely I am not the only person uncomfortable with this process.
I am not suggesting MacCulloch is in any way unsuited for the role, that he did anything wrong, or will not fulfill it with the best of his ability. I just believe that the process as I see it was not a democratic one and that is a major failing of council, not the applicant.
The candidates who ran last time, who put all that time and effort into their campaigns, should have first been asked if they wanted to apply, and if so, those candidates should have been considered before any others were invited to apply. That would have been both the democratic and ethical approach. The public participated in that initial election process by casting their votes. In this one, the public was shut out by a council which too easily sloughed off the obligations of ethical democracy. If you had hoped we had seen the last of that sort of autocratic behaviour with the departure of Saunderson, you will have been disappointed to see it still exists among the current council.
Collingwood deserves better from its council.
Notes:
* The amount Saunderson’s committee proposed to give the YMCA to build this private acility was $35,251,965.11. At the time, the town’s treasurer told council this would raise the average homeowner’s property taxes by 10%. The YMCA, a private corporation not a public facility, sits on town land but pays no property taxes like other businesses or recreation facilities are required to do. A longterm lease agreement requires them to pay $1 a year for the land, although I have never seen evidence that this has actually been paid to the town. Is this fair to competing facilities?
Words: 2,133
