A guest post

W Keeler

Another victory for FREE SPEECH. This time it was struck by the Court of Queen’s Bench in Alberta, Dec.3, that overturned the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) ruling against Stephen Boission for writing and sending a scurrilous letter against homosexuality which had been published June 17, 2002 in the Red Deer Advocate.

Five years later, November 29, 2007, the AHRC announced their ruling: “paragraph 357 excerpt “In this case, the publication's exposure of homosexuals to hatred and contempt trumps the freedom of speech afforded in the Charter. It cannot be the case that any speech wrapped in the `guise' of politics or religion is beyond reproach by any legislation but the Criminal Code”.

Several months later came the “remedy”.

14. The Panel finds, and the Panel orders as follows:
a.
That Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals. Further, all disparaging remarks versus homosexuals are directed to be removed from current web sites and publications of Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc.
b.
That The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. and Mr. Boissoin shall, in future, be restrained from committing the same or similar contraventions of the Act.
c.
That Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. provide Dr. Lund with a written apology for the article in the Red Deer Advocate which was the subject of this complaint.
d.
That Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall request the Red Deer Advocate publish a copy this Order in the Red Deer Advocate and that they request their written apology for the contravention of the Act be published in the Red Deer Advocate.
e.
That Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall pay to Dr. Lund an award for damages, jointly and severally, in the amount of $5,000.00

It is obvious that the remedies are ludicrous and unenforceable.

The Canadian Constitution Foundation declared that “In spite of today’s court ruling, Albertans need to continue to exercise extreme caution when speaking about public policy issues, lest they offend someone who then files a human rights complaint. No citizen is safe from being subjected to a taxpayer-funded prosecution for having spoken or written something that a fellow citizen finds offensive.”

Take a break for a week

Pre-Christmas break is now on. Posting to resume on Tuesday 15th December.

BUT as the computer will be travelling with me TheBurdReport will be able to post, so if anybody wants to post just email me and I'll put it up. On the other hand there may be a travel blog erected. I'll provide the link if it gets done.

Bargaining - modern style

"We've made a fair offer" says executive vice president Michael Shtaif, of Viceroy Homes. The union comment was "is either take it - or we're closing,". Fair to whom? and further down the Union press release was another comment that the contract comes with no guarantee of not being shutdown. References were made to efforts by local elected officials being invovlved in rescue efforts and these have been ignored. So just what is a community to do when faced with determined employers? Not much except to get involved either to make the pols loook good for trying or ignore the situation because nothing can be done. Does the Mayor of Cobourg really think that a brand new arena is going to make Cobourg more attractive to prospective companies? If he does he is delusional. The local taxes that the company will pay are far more of a detriment and drag than a shiny new ice-pad that the exec's kid's will play on.

In another story it has been reported that a mediation session between Cameco and USWA 14913 hasn't gone very far. This is a puzzling strike in that Cameco has deliberately set out to own all parts of the nuclear business from mining to installation. Why then take out a piece of the chain for such a minor set of issues?

Another shiny piece of newspaper illustrated the five proposals for the CCC yesterday. Pity the submission for comments had passed by the time people had sat down to read and make comment. The announced plan has not changed yet and the timetable means that nobody will know who has been selected to build the CCC until Monday evening's meeting, probably not even councillors as the agenda is already printed. "Will that be - door #1 or door #2" Peter and when will interested citizens be able to make comment?

The HST debate is confusing

The Libs are getting their knickers in a knot, they are having a caucus meeting to discuss how they can not bring the government down, not put themselves into a position of supporting an unpopular tax and not annoying Gordon Campbell and Dalton McGuinty. The Provincial Cons are getting tossed out of Parliament, and making absolute asses of themselves and the Federal Cons are ramming through a motion designed to put eh Libs on the spot. Surely Tim "little mike" Hudak should be talking to his federal pals, after he knows the PM's chief of staff very well having served with him in Queen's Park.
The only parties with any consistency are the Bloc, they are for it (don't understand why) and the NDP who are against it at both levels of government.
Locally the NDP candidate is applying pressure by calling upon Rick Norlock to tell his boss to stuff the HST - respond to his constituents instead of taking orders from Party Central. Read his release here
For those who want to make a point you can join a demonstration at Queen's Park on Thursday December 3rd at 1.30pm and demand public hearings.

Missed the meeting

Didn't get back into Town until 1930hrs, so I missed the big event. I did have great feedback from one person who I knew would be there and although the delegations did give details the big details about operating costs could not be given because the tenders haven't been opened yet.
I guess the invitation for public input should have been, "Ask any questions but we can't give the answers you want if they are financial." Well excuse us folks, after all isn't the operating cost the one item we have to know, as the building is going up for free, the yearly costs should be known! Taxpayers should have no surprises, it is not too late to can the project.
Just as a footnote. I asked my question by downloading the pdf form, filled it out with an online pdf editor and emailed to the Mayor's email address at City Hall. I also cc'd all six councillors and the CAO. Tagged the "send me a receipt button" and waited for a response. Out of of all of these eight people, seven of whom pledged, in their election campaigns, to be responsive and open to questions, I received two receipt notifications, one answer (in two emails) from two Councillors and a very welcome phone call from the CAO. Thanks Stephen, I'll be home next time you phone. Perhaps the Mayor meant, when he asked on the form, if a response is needed, that the CAO, or a minion would be his flunky. I guess the other councillors don't need to respond after all they aren't the Minister of Sports. Although that guy, Councillor "I want to open the Arena" Bob Spooner didn't respond either. Perhaps he will when he figures out how to use email!

Just getting ready for Monday

According to the procedure on the Town's website and data gleaned from the MSM Monday evening will be busy for those who wish to have their say in the process. The Concert Hall is being rolled out for the occasion and everybody will dressed to the nines to hear five companies talk for ten minutes about their respecrtive submissions.
The general public - us - will have an opportunity to be heard by submitting questions to the Mayor and he will ask those questions directly.

• Problem #1 - the downloadable comment form instructs that submissions will be accepted by Thursday Dec, 3rd, a little late for a Monday question?
• Problem #2 - What if the Mayor doesn't like your question, will he ask it?

Perusing the docs this morning elicited the following information:

• Giffels - no mention of size
• Peak - 121,000 sf
• Bird - 116,000 sf
• Bondfield - 125,000 sf
• Ball - no mention
• All documents boast about using the latest in recycled materials, diminishing construction waste that is to be landfilled and most propose to use the same ice-making apparatus that recycles water and chemicals, but none state the overall operating costs. It's about time we looked at building specs the way we do for cars - measure the energy consumption and costs

This is important when considering the overall construction costs. So the questions I will be submitting, and let's see if the Mayor asks them are:

• How much per square foot to construct each concept
• What is the proposed operating cost per square foot

Now for the floor plans, grabbed from each submission. I make no apologies for the quality. I really do think that as we get into the 21st Century electronic versions, other than pdf files should be mandated. For example an image that can be magnified is essential. Clicking on the image will get you a somewhat larger pic.


Ball Construction

















Bird Construction



















Bondfield Construction






















Giffels Construction

























Peak Construction























A description of the concepts can be found here

Following up

The CCC contestants will be making their cases on Monday in the public forum however as most of the entries will cost the same amount,, not much less than the maximum budget, cost will not be a factor. So what will? the largest amount of glass, who has the shiniest CVs or any other Wow factor? In a recent post one really intelligent suggestion has been made - who has the best suggestion to lower operating costs? Who is using the most environmetally friiendly systems? In other words which of these building will be cheapest to maintain. As operating costs will the key to public support in the years after contruction surely a really good assessment of operating costs per building should be the main consideration, for as the commenter said almost all the buildings look alike and if they cost the same, within a few thousands, there has to be one distinguishing factor. Let them all be measured on operating costs.

Some images of the future

One of the more interesting parts of public life is being able to see what few people care about. The imagination of the future. For every development plan presented there is a watercolour painting of the concept (you could fill a book with the developers prints of the harbour plans presented during the 80s). Here are the concepts of the Community Centre as presented to the public yesterday.

Peak Construction


















Giffels Construction














Bird Construction













Bondfield Construction








Ball Construction









Now you have until December 3rd to make up your mind and then mail or deliver your preferences to the Mayor. He will then tally them up and tell Council on Monday what the public choice was. Click here, print off the form, fill it out and your done.

Sometimes we win one

Most elections progressives and alternate thinkers do not get their candidates elected. However those of us who do not support the status quo have a little bit to cheer about today and the neo-cons will be driven to distraction by the news that another bogeyman is in Town. The polarising figure in the picture is Sid Ryan, formerly President of the CUPE division of Ontario, now the President of the Ontario Federation of Labour. This fiery charismatic person, one who compels almost instant opinion is now in the twilight of his career as a labour leader and his final hurrah will be to steer the house of labour through turbulent waters. I wish him luck.

A very pertinent guest post

submitted by Martin Partridge

All good things must come to an end so I so suppose the demise of First Night Cobourg was inevitable. I'd like to briefly document the history of First Night Cobourg from my perspective as former chair. Others may wish to augment the record.

Former Councillor Pam Jackson fired up the original First Night Cobourg volunteer group in about 1994. The committee created a small-scale version of Toronto's successful New Year's Eve non-alcoholic street festival, which in turn was modeled on major events in Boston and elsewhere. Local entertainers, performance groups and face painters warmed up clusters of Cobourg families, both inside and outside Cobourg's historic downtown municipal properties (notably the Firehall, Market Building, and of course Victoria Hall). There were horse-drawn hay wagons to ride on, and barrels of burning firewood to keep volunteers warm. At midnight, mainly for the benefit of the remaining hardy volunteers, there was a small fireworks display right in front of Victoria Hall. The cost for the whole evening was $5, free for children.

After three modestly profitable years, the committee responsible for the event ratcheted up the entertainment, running carefully timed hour-long music events for three hours in six locations, for a total of 18 highly professional and diverse shows ending at 9:30 p.m. A people's parade was then led by the Town Crier down to the waterfront for a much larger fireworks display, which had been moved to earlier in the evening for the benefit of the children. The evening ended with a two-hour major show in the Concert Hall. The price was kept at $5 with children free, thanks to ever growing sponsor donations.

This new-style First Night Cobourg, with its tightly formatted entertainment program, culminated in a major millennium event on December 31, 1999. More than 7,000 people thronged the downtown buildings and the waterfront for double-decker bus rides, very high quality children's shows, notable entertainment from across Canada, and a huge fireworks display. There was a cultural exchange, which resulted in a musical group called Middle Tickle travelling from Fogo Island in Newfoundland to perform in Victoria Hall with Aengus Finnan simultaneously travelling to Fogo Island to entertain the residents there. A rudimentary internet camera was set up at each end to allow each side to see what the other was doing. Fireworks were set off here at precisely 10:30 p.m. to coincide with the first Canadian arrival of the year 2000 in Newfoundland. A conference call, initiated in Cobourg, was held among federal, provincial, municipal and European politicians and personages to exchange millennium greetings. Hovering over all this were the Y2K fears, which seem quaint now but were genuine at the time and resulted in a broad scramble for backup generators and had all emergency services on standby.

Cobourg citizens, in part through its automotive dealers, industrial plants, lawyers and other groups, came up with about $30,000 in donations and badge purchases to pay for the big Y2K entertainment, and Council contributed $15,000 for the grand fireworks. The event was such a great success, with tourists writing in to say keep up the good work, that the committee asked Council to endorse a similar approach the following year. Instead, major funding was denied and the event ended up being cancelled altogether. December 31, 2000 was the only "dark" New Year's Eve in downtown Cobourg in the last 15 years.

The event was resurrected a year later thanks to new committee chair Gerry Drage and many long-time devoted committee members including Bert McMillan, Sharron McMann and (eventual chair) Brian Edmiston. The event has been held successfully throughout this decade.

I thought the one saving grace of installing the controversial concrete frink in place of parkland in downtown Cobourg was that it would be used to inject new purpose and vigour into First Night Cobourg. Indeed, the new frink was well used at last year's First Night event.

I'm sad but not surprised that this Council could not see the logic, after blowing off about $1.5 million to install a concrete skating pad in the centre of First Night Cobourg operations, to invest a little more to shore up the one established and well loved winter event that could put it to good use. After all, increasing tourism during the winter months was cited by Council as a prime rationale for the frink decision. Perhaps a refreshed and revived future Council will see things differently.