Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
This ancient warning came back to me as I read the report of a company in Port Hope planning to set up a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Port Hope. The sceptic in me tells me that I'm from Missouri and will believe it when I see it. Remember the web based graphics art facility that was going to set up shop over there - what happened to it? Anyway whilst clapping PH on the back for snagging the location a couple of nagging thoughts keep hanging around. One where was Cobourg in all of this? While only getting what one pays for, we only have half an Economic Development department. Wendy Gibson works her butt off doing ED stuff but the big announcements, and presumably activity, resides in the Mayor's office. A while ago the CAO told me that there were tons of enquiries, (my words - none of it has translated into action). A rumour persists that a big prospect for the empty GF building has flown the coop ad there is little activitiy on the site except a sign blaring that the place is for rent.
But back to Cobourg's effort to attract the wind turbine plant. When did Cobourg hear about this (if they did) what did Cobourg do about it and if the plant was interested why was it not pursued. The public deserves an answer, we pay a fair amount of money for ED and if all we do is produce reams of stats and a glitzy website it obviously is not working.
On the topic of wind turbines don't forget the "Info" meeting set up by a group of "Interested" citizens to discuss a project proposed for the Grafton area. Note the first person to utter NIMBY will get tossed out on their ear! Tonight, Centreton Town Hall 6.30pm
But the other nagging thought is the structure as announced: a guy from Port Hope has links with an Owen Sound company partnering with Linamar in Guelph. How many actual manufacturing jobs will happen when Linamar has a large and efficient machine shop in Batawa, not an hour away from here? So strike out the manufacturing side, now all we have is the assembly side, not many jobs there with a limited production schedule. So is it really going to be 75 jobs. The biggest question of all is the industry itself. Nice concept but hard to implement. There is a transmission problem, the grid is overloaded and without Hydro One building more lines not many more windmills can be taken on.
But back to Cobourg's effort to attract the wind turbine plant. When did Cobourg hear about this (if they did) what did Cobourg do about it and if the plant was interested why was it not pursued. The public deserves an answer, we pay a fair amount of money for ED and if all we do is produce reams of stats and a glitzy website it obviously is not working.
On the topic of wind turbines don't forget the "Info" meeting set up by a group of "Interested" citizens to discuss a project proposed for the Grafton area. Note the first person to utter NIMBY will get tossed out on their ear! Tonight, Centreton Town Hall 6.30pm
But the other nagging thought is the structure as announced: a guy from Port Hope has links with an Owen Sound company partnering with Linamar in Guelph. How many actual manufacturing jobs will happen when Linamar has a large and efficient machine shop in Batawa, not an hour away from here? So strike out the manufacturing side, now all we have is the assembly side, not many jobs there with a limited production schedule. So is it really going to be 75 jobs. The biggest question of all is the industry itself. Nice concept but hard to implement. There is a transmission problem, the grid is overloaded and without Hydro One building more lines not many more windmills can be taken on.
10 comments:
What was advertised as a web-based graphic arts business was discovered to be --by all those who applied for jobs there-- a sales-oriented outbound call centre. They did commit to hiring quite a few people, who were told they would be the management and supervisory people there. They did put those people through 2 - 3 weeks training. Then: never heard from again. I know quite a few people who quit existing jobs on the promise of getting in at ground level in a new business coming to the area. They felt real and last pain when this outfit disappeared into the night.
All the local municipalities can do is scramble for the crumbs. With such a limited and diminishing " food " supply, working together honestly as a set of local municipalities on amorphous things such as ED should be obvious. Of course each municipality is looking for the home run to improve it's tax base. Unfortunately for us, the pitching's just too damn good anymore.
Regarding the "web based graphics art facility", I'd love to know what THAT was about. It sounded like they wanted to start up a minimum wage sweatshop. I tried looking them up at the time, and there was nothing to be found, the company more or less did not exist.
Speaking of planning, does anyone else remember the Diamond Triangle outfit headed by Frankie Liberty? The two towns and a couple of rural municipalities (Hamilton and ?) all paid into the organization to promote the area and attract business.
Then of course, the municipalities started fighting with each other, the rurals dropped out, and the org. couldn't carry on and disappeared, leaving each municipality to fend for itself.
And we see how well that is going! I'm afraid as long as the various fiefdoms continue to resent and mistrust each other this whole region is doomed to petty small infighting that will get us exactly nowhere.
As usual.
Deb. O. is right on: I'm afraid as long as the various fiefdoms continue to resent and mistrust each other this whole region is doomed to petty small infighting that will get us exactly nowhere.
As Manfred says, the system stinks--the market system that pits like against like, that is.
Deb O's comment about competing fiefdoms resenting and mistrusting one another resonates in much Conservative federal government policy.
Consider, for example, this comment about the Governments EI Reform Bill C-50: It pits different categories of the unemployed against one another. It even pits people who find themselves in the same boat against one other if they don’t comply with the Conservative view of when the recession will be over – September 11, 2010.
Here's a link to the article.
Pitting people against each other despite their common interests is an old tactic invented, if I recall correctly, by the Romans, whose expression was "divide and conquer".
We see it manifested right here in this blog, where a poster without a union admits to having resentment against those who do.
In my work there were clearly defined levels of disadvantage: the injured workers at the top, then the obviously physically disabed, on down a couple more layers until you find the lowest of the low: the single male able bodied welfare recipient, who seems to exist only so those above him have somebody to take pot shots at, secure in knowing that at least they haven't fallen that low. Yet.
In the interests of complete accuracy, that post was from a non-union worker who wished the strikers all the best. The person posting did not report feeling resentment. The post reported hearing others, that is fellow workers, expressing that resentment. The post did NOT suggest agreement with that resentment but advised that unions and especially union locals on strike would be wise to acknowledge this view and to address it.
Divide and conquer is a serious danger. The left-leaning, progressive-outlook folks have a tendency to exacerbate this by their habit of "eating their own." Look to today's news that David Miller will not be running for Mayor of Toronto for a 3rd term. I feel we will look back and realize that however much we did not like him, we like his replacement far, far less. Much like when we did not like Bob Rae much until we saw what Mike Harris did to us.
The Right divides the Left and the Left divides the Left, too. No wonder it stays divided.
Anonymous, thanks for correcting my sloppy work. I certainly agree with your analysis of the effectiveness of the divide and conquer strategy as we have seen it work its magic on the Canadian Left.
When it comes to David Miller though, I like the guy, and I think he took on an impossible job. Toronto City Council is a monument to dysfunction, even worse than Cobourg. I don't blame him for giving it up, life is too short for that kind of aggravation.
Leave it to John Tory and the others to discover what a thankless task leading that city really is.
Anon! S/he said: "Much like when we did not like Bob Rae much until we saw what Mike Harris did to us."
Well, I liked Bob Rae, MUCH--Rae Days and all. His biggest failure--as this fan sees it--was his NOT proceeding with a provincial auto insurance scheme. Sure, he may have lost the next election in any case, but what a wonderful legacy that single act would have left.
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