NB. This is a repost from Dec. 16, 2021 At its Dec. 13 budget meeting our perpetually greedy, self-serving council voted 5-3 to increase their own individual expense accounts from $4,000 a year to a staggering $5,500. That’s $2,000 more than councillors were allowed for expenses in 2014. That’s a LOT of money for a council that has spent the last two years in virtual meetings, … (more–>)
NB: This is a repost from Dec. 9, 2021. See below. Last year, I wrote about how Councillor Bob “Lapdog” Madigan had behaved in a churlish, misogynistic manner towards female members of council during open council meetings, first in March, 2021, and again in October. But if you thought the boorish Madigan — who, it’s rumoured, plans to run for mayor or deputy mayor next election — … (more–>)
This is a repost from a draft of the piece posted on Dec 7, 2021: In the Dec. 7 meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee, last Tuesday, one of the issues discussed was the replacement of Deputy Mayor Hull during his unexplained absence, as well the “potential” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) “Mayoral Vacancy” (readers will recall that Mayor Saunderson sloughed off his mayoral responsibilities and his … (more–>)
Recently, CollingwoodToday ran a six-part series asking all members of council to express — without editing or Berman’s censorship “fact-checking” — their thoughts on what they had done on council, what they hoped to do, what challenges they faced, what they thought was their “enduring” legacy (stop laughing!) and whether they planned to run again. Our mayor — who is expected to set an example for … (more–>)
Our council’s sense of entitlement again came to light this week. A report from a consultant tabled in the Nov.1 meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee recommends that the mayor receive a 9.5% increase, while councillors get a 5% increase (page five of the report). Nine-point-five percent? Who gets a raise like that these days? Even five percent is over the top. The justification for … (more–>)
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together… (Shakespeare: All’s Well That Ends Well, Act IV, Sc II.) Elumbated.* It’s an archaic word meaning “weakened in the loins” according to the OED. It apparently derives from the Latin elumbis “having a dislocated hip (from e out + lumbus loin).” I thought that the word itself might be well resurrected to describe … (more–>)
There’s a petition being shared online that calls on Mayor Brian Saunderson to actually do his job as head of council and discipline the misbehaving Councillor Madigan. You can read my post about Madigan’s behaviour here, and download a PDF copy of the petition here (or download a Word version here). I doubt he will heed it, but I admire the sentiment. After all, Saunderson has … (more–>)
Whether you want to restore them or tear them down, you would probably like council to do SOMETHING about the decaying, century-old icon*on our waterfront. Anything, in fact. But as usual, council’s approach to actually doing something has been instead to do defer, delay, hire consultants, bloviate, ignore, pretend it doesn’t matter, and then pretend to want public input. The town’s website says: The Town of … (more–>)
For the social media trolls and whingers who never take the time to read, or listen, or check facts before spewing out their bile, here are a dozen points to consider before you bloviate further (yes, I realize the chance that the hard-of-thinking will actually read this is slim, but I live in hope): The judicial inquiry (or as it’s known locally, the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial … (more–>)
Just when you thought our council could not get any more petty or puerile, they lower the bar again. Last night, in a 7-2 vote, our punishment-obsessed council voted to spend yet more of your tax dollars on the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI). Yes, that’s right: they agreed to give even more of your money to sole-sourced lawyers. Again. It will likely cost … (more–>)
Monday night, council will once again scurry behind closed doors like cockroaches to avoid the light of public scrutiny to hear yet another virtual presentation from lawyers about the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI). And, of course, it will cost the taxpayers again to help The Great Leader pursue his personal vendetta against councillors and staff who countered his ambition, nearly a decade ago. … (more–>)
On July 29, 2020, Councillor Jeffrey (the Queen of the Unlimited Expense Account), seconded by Councillor Hamelin made a motion to give away a very large piece of Harbourview Park to a group that few if any had heard of before that date. GIVE AWAY OUR PUBLIC WATERFRONT PROPERTY! There was no public consultation, residents were not asked whether we felt handing our parkland to an … (more–>)
Chris Pott’s latest blog post, titled “Council in Major Disarray” captures in part the stumbling, bumbling, and fumbling in-fighting that has become endemic in our council and is now on view for the public’s entertainment. Potts writes: Collingwood, when council starts fighting amongst themselves, you know we are in trouble. We already knew we were on the brink of disaster but this now confirms we are … (more–>)
On Thursday, June 24, our council again scurried behind closed doors to do town business out of the light of public scrutiny. Oh, how they love doing their machinations in the dark! The items on the agenda included: Items for discussion: a) Collingwood Judicial Inquiry Legal Advice; and b) Collingwood Airport Why would the airport be a topic for secrecy? After all, we don’t own it. It … (more–>)