Collingwood is being investigated by OEB

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies3 Comments

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Collingwood Council and town administration are in trouble. The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) is investigating them and their recent activities with regards to Collus-PowerStream and its board of directors. This is not good news for those at the table or those behind the scenes who guided their hands. A letter was unexpectedly added to the agenda for the Wednesday, Sept. 21 Strategic Initiatives standing committee from the OEB. It reads in part: …the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) is commencing an inspection under the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 (Act) to review Collus (PowerStream Corp.’s (Collus) compliance with the Affiliate Relationships Code ……… click below for more ↓

Neanderthals: a love story

Evolution & Paleontology / History & Biography / Science & TechnologyLeave a comment

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Squat, hairy, broad shoulders, a big nose, beetle-browed with a low forehead. As Blind Willie McTell wrote in his classic song, Statesboro Blues, “I know ain’t good lookin’, but I swear I’m some sweet woman’s angel child.” That line might have been written for early Neanderthal cousins. First described as dim-witted and brutish, our more recent assessment of them is far less critical, especially of their tool-making and culture. But even the most complimentary of modern descriptions still make them out to be rather lumpish, heavyset characters. Barrel-chested. Robust, we call them today. Big brains, though, and better eyesight than ……… click below for more ↓

Reading The Histories

Books & Reviews / Classical period / History & Biography / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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I hadn’t always wanted to read Herodotus. He has a mixed reputation among historians, often cited as an unreliable source, gossip monger or simply as a fantasist. Sure, he’s the “father of history” as Cicero called him (or at least of historical writing) and penned the earliest surviving work of non-fiction, but he often doesn’t get the respect that, say, Thucydides gets for his efforts (dry as they might be at times). Herodotus has even been called the ‘father of lies‘ by some modern historians. Steve Donoghue noted: Herodotus’s widely acknowledged vulnerability has always been his affection for thomata, the ……… click below for more ↓

Hospital destruction avoided… for now

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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Congratulations. Your efforts worked. After getting severe backlash from the community and even from their (former) supporters, The Block was chastised enough to recant their stubborn foolishness long enough to approve the hospital redevelopment after their previous debacle caused such an uproar. That earlier motion blindsided council, the mayor and the hospital board: they had not shared with others before it was read aloud. A blatant show of partisanship and petty personal agendas over the greater good The Block always plays to its supporters, no matter how drastically that group has shrunk over the past two years. And that little group was in the ……… click below for more ↓

The News: A User’s Manual

Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Media / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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Alain de Botton attempts in his small book to give us a guide, to provide some larger, meaningful context, to the news we get 24/7 these days. I don’t think he succeeds very well. In part it’s because he sees news as something grandiose, world-moving, world-shaking. I’m more familiar with the local aspect; a much smaller scale. It may not appear to have the majestic sweep of international news, but it isn’t any less relevant. We are focused, collectively, on the US presidential campaigns and the interpersonal battles between Trump and Clinton. It’s a great drama of Homeric or Shakespearean proportion (albeit ……… click below for more ↓

Blockheads severely chastised over CG&MH motion

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Publicity & Communications6 Comments

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The following emails were forwarded to me following my recent post on the debacle council made over the hospital redevelopment. That action has certainly upset many in the community and several people have spoken to me to express their disgust at the motion approved last week. More to the point, some residents have severely chastised those behind this scurrilous action. And you, dear reader, should know what is being said to and about our council. I take no credit for them: these are the words of others. The first email was sent to Deputy Mayor Saunderson and Councillor Kathy Jeffrey, by ……… click below for more ↓

Their secret emails, redacted

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Publicity & CommunicationsOne Comment

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A Freedom of Information (FOI) request I recently filed shows just how devious and secretive some of our council and administration are. You can read the entire series here. The cover letter is here (it is instructive…). In late July, Council approved sending out a request for proposals (RFP) to sell our share in our publicly-owned electrical utility (without any public consultation or input, of course). On July 25, the clerk – on behalf of the interim CAO – sent an email to council members asking for input (with, of course, no public discussion or input allowed): Further to the ……… click below for more ↓

Can the mayor fire the interim CAO?

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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Does the mayor have the authority to fire someone by herself? The interim CAO, for example? It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot of late by residents. I think so, but it’s not clear to me in the Municipal Act. She is, after all, legally both the head of council and the chief executive officer, and while related, these two roles can be interpreted differently. The mayor doesn’t have any more political power than any other member of council (e.g. she gets one vote). But we are the Corporation of the Town of Collingwood and as such shouldn’t our officers – ……… click below for more ↓

The Wasaga Beach G&M Hospital

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour6 Comments

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You’d think supporting your local hospital’s redevelopment was a no-brainer for municipal politicians. And since ‘no-brainer’ has been the exemplary style of Collingwood Council this term, they should go hand-in-glove. But apparently for The Block, ‘no-brainer’ means merely thoughtless focus on personal agendas, not the community’s well-being or future. That’s not news, of course; just signs that another disaster is brewing. The Wasaga Beach General and Marine Hospital. Like that name? Get used to it. That is likely what this council’s actions are going to result in. And Wasaga Beach council is as firmly behind making it happen as our ……… click below for more ↓

Another Collus conspiracy debunked

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications3 Comments

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As a former reporter and editor, I always feel a twinge of satisfaction when I read a well-written story in the local papers that gets all of its facts right. When everything is stated correctly, the English is good, the facts well reported, the reporting unbiased and everything clearly posited. It just makes me beam. Sadly, I haven’t felt that joy for a few years now. I too often feel our local reporters are on cruise control, and don’t work very hard at getting their stories right. They are too quick to swallow the propaganda issuing from town hall or from ……… click below for more ↓

Flat earthers? Must be a spoof…

Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / New Age Codswallop / Pseudoscience & Quackery7 Comments

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At first, I thought a story on Tech.mic titled “Meet the People Who Believe the Earth Is Flat” was satire. You know, a parody of those zany conspiracy theorists who believe in such nonsense as chemtrails, gluten-free, the government staged the 9/11 attacks, homeopathy, vaccines cause autism, Trump is a good presidential candidate, astrology, creationism, climate change is a hoax, Collingwood Council has ethics, and the rest of the rampant silliness and stupidity that haunts the Net. And it would be easy to write: wingnuts are almost too easy to lampoon. But no one can really believe the earth is flat, ……… click below for more ↓

Wolf Hall reviewed

Books & Reviews / England and Britain / History & Biography / TV / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I have just finished watching the six-part BBC series, Wolf Hall, based on the two novels by Hilary Mantel. I am also about halfway through my reading of the first of the two, Wolf Hall (with Bring up the Bodies waiting in the bedside pile). The series conflates the two novels into six one-hour episodes. Given the length of the novels (Wolf Hall is 650 pages itself), compacting them and retaining clarity, plot and drama is quite a feat. Normally, I would argue for the written word over the adaptation. Any adaptation. As good as they may be, it is rare ……… click below for more ↓

Deputy mayor & interim CAO missing in action?

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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The headline in the Connection story reads, “Collingwood meets with provincial ministers about waterfront plan.” Well, that’s incorrect: it wasn’t “Collingwood” – it was Mayor Cooper and two staff members at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference this month. Notably absent from the reporting of these important meetings were the deputy mayor, Brian Saunderson; our interim CAO, John Brown; and senior administrative staff. Why? Saunderson was at the AMO conference. Was he not invited? Or did he simply disdain to attend? I don’t know. I doubt the interim CAO attended AMO. I suspect he was too busy hectoring Collus ……… click below for more ↓

A brief update on Collus-PowerStream

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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Just a brief note to give my readers the opportunity to examine two documents related to Collus-PowerStream and our council’s secretive efforts to sabotage our utility. Both are in PDF format, linked below. First is the presentation given by the Electricity Distribution Association (EDA) to AMO delegates earlier this month. I referred to this in a recent post about the opportunities this council has thrown away in their headlong rush to fulfill their petty little vendettas. Collus-PowerStream was mentioned during the presentation (page 14) as one of the leading innovators in LDCs in Ontario. Bet you’ve never heard The Block say anything like ……… click below for more ↓

No consultation with customers or neighbours

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourOne Comment

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Did you know Collus-PowerStream serves thousands of customers in Stayner, Thornbury and Creemore? More than 4,000 residences, businesses, restaurants, stores, churches, municipal facilities and farms are on the Collus-PowerStream distribution network, along with almost 12,200 in Collingwood. Do you know how many times Collingwood has consulted with the councils of Town of the Blue Mountains and Clearview over its plan to sell our utility to Hydro One that will crucially and negatively affect those customers in their communities? Right: none. The same number of consultations they have had with local customers. It’s all been done furtively: behind closed doors with high-priced, ……… click below for more ↓

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