Got the Summit Blues

For months now I've been ruminating about the escalating series of lies, screw ups and scandals perpetrated by our federal ruling party, and thought things were about as bad as they could get, but the advance media stories trickling out about the G-8 and G-20 Summits here in Ontario suggest it's only going to get worse.

Starting with the revelation that security alone for the two wank fests will cost a billion of our tax dollars, and will likely be much higher by the time it's all over, the whole thing becomes extremely anxiety provoking to contemplate what the entire tab will be.

With our intrepid RCMP in charge of security, they managed to find a company that isn't licensed in our province to do the work. Never mind, the provincial ministry will no doubt fast track the application process; they'd better, since hiring has already started and the fun starts rather soon.

The area around the Toronto event will be cordoned off, and even the Theatre District has given up and canceled performances that week, just as the CN Tower and Art Gallery will be closed to visitors. The University of Toronto, ever vigilant, closed down parts of the campus where it was deemed too close to potential protests. So has the Ontario College of Art & Design. The Blue Jays had to move their ball game out of town and even the much loved Steamwhistle Brewery will close its doors. Sounds more like a war zone than a conference.

But the icing on the cake has to be the artifical lake they are constructing down near the Exhibition grounds. When this story came out I thought I was dreaming. It's just too ridiculous, too bizarre, to be real. But, like the tories trumpeting maternal health while simultaneously banning funding for family planning, the fake lake is indeed true. And it is going to cost two million dollars!

This monument to wasteful spending and prime ministerial hubris is to include fake Muskoka chairs, a fake dock and fake back drop, all for the benefit of those journalists not chosen to head on up to the G-8 where the really important leaders will hang out. Maybe they can round up some of Mel Lastman's old life sized plastic mooses just to jazz it up even more. Perhaps along with them, a few fake fish in the water to add some realism. Hey, it's gonna need all the help it can get. Those journalists can get real snarky with their nasty comments.

It's a good thing our Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, will be on the job after the federal bank accounts have been emptied, to tell us all the juicy details about how our government, with a budget deficit this year of about 50 billion, blew all that dough on a party. It is to weep.

Now's the time for the lawyers

Here's an interesting quote from an email, "I just had a letter read to me by the Chair of the Nominating Committee indicating that there will be no election pursuant to the by-laws becuase only those accepted by the Board nominating committee as being qualified are eligible to stand for election and since the nominating committee felt that only their own candidates are eligible then the three of us are not going to be nominated as a member of the slate."
Funny how a hunch just became a fact. Now's the time to stop fooling around get a lawyer and have them get an injunction to delay the meeting until the procedures can be put in place for a 'free election'

A bit of fun this week

The 'World Cup" starts on Saturday, the game to be watched will be the opener between the USA and England. Today's odds at Ladbrokes are the same as they were in December when I picked up a couple of bets in Vegas - England 5-1 and the USA at 60-1. Pundits have proclaimed the USA as one of the teams to watch but the oddsmakers obviously don't agree.
England, the screamers that is, is already complaining that the referee assigned to the game is a bit of a flake and the Brazilian will be erratic and produce controversial rulings. But we will see and Toronto will be going nuts in the ethnic enclaves and St Clair Avenue will be a place to avoid for the next two weeks. Let the games begin.

What a turnaround

In every Army unit there is a F***up. Established in modern culture by the cartoonist who draws Beatle Bailey and perpetuated in every movie ever made about Armies. This FU is the guy who is late, never shines his boots, always fails his drill exercises, marches out of step and generally commits many small military crimes. The bane of his existance is the opposite; the Regimental Sergeant Major, the most feared man in the Unit. He is the man in charge despite what the Colonel thinks. He is the man who makes grown men quake in their boots and on his parades nobody slacks off. One of my recollections about an RSM is where a squad of apprentices, absolutely terrified of having to speak to the RSM, if he stopped in front of you when he was inspecting you and your kit, was the time he stopped in front of one fellow who after the RSM had spotted an error, "What's your name boy?" bellowed at top pitch. "Smith sir" "No it isn't you have just lost it - march him away Sergeant"
The inset picture shows the most famous RSM in history - John Lord. A beautiful pic that shows him at his most fiercest - on parade. However despite the obvious bluster most RSMs always had another side of humanity and most were courteous gentlement who because they demanded the highest of standards from all they dealt with were obviously confusing human beings.

So back to the point: where are the FUs in the Canadian Army. Examining the press reports about the Canadian Army's performance in Afghanistan all we know is that each and every casualty is a hero. So asking the question again it is obvious that the only known FU is the Commander of the Force - Brig-Gen Menard who has been sacked.

Only in Canada can we find the only acknowledged miscreant in the Army is its Commander!

Here's another opinion flying upwind

Mr Harper's vengeful streak struck again last week when he had his "lady on the broomstick" Diane Finlay, announce that a bill was being brought forward to disallow federal Pension payments to prisoners serving more than two years. Now this strikes me as meanspirited as how many prisoners other than Clifford Olsen are not married and may have family relyng on this money?

But that's not my main basis for objection. The equality argument is. Universal programs are just that - Universal. If Mr Harper wants to ride a wave of revenge and attack Clifford Olsen by removing his pension then do it another way. Try charging him a surcharge (for being a heinous criminal that we can't murder (no capital punishment left to apply), just because he did) that would be applied selectively to prisoners based on family need. This punishment just erodes Universality and I'm agin any of that!

Welcome to the site

Now just who are these people - Smart Systems for Health Agency? They appeared in the tracking stats around the time the BurdReport started to expose the machinations of the Hospital Board. IP lookup tells me they are based in Peterborough, and as of this morning they have hit the site 48 times, five times yesterday alone. But what do they do?





According to their website it is a Provincial Government Agency dedicated to finding IT solutions to Healthcare problems. Another interesting fact is that this Government Non-Profit is part of E-Health - Yikes.

Anyway all speculation aside, a message to the person who is assiduously tracking the site who is either a member of the organisation or is using a computer on the organisation's network - welcome and feel free to report back to your bosses just what the other side is thinking!

BTW don't bother clicking on their website - it doesn't work.

The law of unintended consequences

Newton's third law of motion states that for every action there is a reaction, so it is in the latest analysis of the fight to get the membership list from Mr Biron, the secretary of the NHH. In an exchange of emails with me he concludes that whilst the Hospital is governed by laws of privacy he was motivated to call on the Privacy Commissioner for a ruling; can he release a membership list to the public? by the plea from some members that they didn't want their personal information released.

So as one anonymous commentator has pointed out in the last thread, we are now in the situation of having shareholders rights trumped by privacy laws. This situation if allowed to develop is very dodgy. I would say to those members who don't want the contact information released - "If you want to stay private get the heck out of the Association". I would also say publically, to all who will listen and there are few of those around, "Please may I have the membership list without the contact information - just the names please?".

Because as it stands now the Board of the Hospital Association is acting just like a Klu-Klux Klan coven because of its insistence that the membership list remain secret. Public is public - give us the names.

This piece of local satire sums it up:

Imagine a day not too far in the future.  We are in a comfortable middle-class dining room--after dinner.  The talk, however, has been quite anxious.

A Father and son are talking.  They talk about the future.  The father is retired and although he has made many sound and wise investments--they are not doing so well.  He has no control over them. And although he and is fellow investors believe a small change in management in some of the companies they have invested in would change the value of their investments--they are powerless to act.

They can't act because the very management they wish to address are the only people who can speak to all the investors.  They as owners can not speak to their fellow owners--because they can not know them.  Only the proprietors of information may know them.  That being the government and, of course, the management of the companies.

This is because the "privacy" of the owners trumps their ability to communicate to each other.  Even if that ability to communicate with each other would enable them, as owners, to redirect the companies they own to a greater and more prosperous future.

The son asks: "Father, why is it you can not know or communicate with the fellow owners of your company?" "Because," says the Father (with a heavy sigh), "it was decided one day at a hospital, in Cobourg of all places, that this was not permissable."

"But," ask the son, "Is not a hospital a non-profit organization?"  "Well, yes," says the Father, "but at the time it was still technically a corporation and instead of owners it had members."

"And..." asks the son.

"Well, it was decided that to protect the identity of the members--they could not be allowed to communicate with each other.  Especially around the management of the organization"

"Why," asks the son.

"Well, its complicated" says the Father, "But nevertheless it set a precedent that the privacy of the members was more important than the ability of those members to call into account the management and governance of that organization"

"And," says the son.

"Well, since then, because of that precedent no owner or shareholder, and no member, can know who are the fellow members or fellow owners of an organization or corporation--only management can."

"Oh, I see." says the son.

But he doesn't.  Because he has never known any different.

Interesting

Is this just another stall?

I too received the same 'bedbug' letter that Bridget Campion received from Mr Biron, about the request for an association membership list; her's was on display last evening. In that letter shown on the right, click on the image to enlarge, he said that the release of the list depended on a ruling from the Privacy Commissioner. So when I called the Privacy Commission to see if they had a request on file and how long it would take for a response Karen Hale, a Privacy Officer, asked me, "Why would we make such a ruling, hospitals are not subject to the freedom of Information Act (FOI)?"

So is the request for a ruling just a stall or a move by a highly paid person who doesn't know the basics of FOI? I would prefer to think the former but then Mr Biron's motives may be questioned as an attempt to stall the release of the list until after the AGM.

This move doesn't pass 'the sniff test'. In an e-mail I have pointed this out to Mr Biron and asked for the list to be released.

Stay tuned.

200 people came together last night

Last night about 200 people gathered to hear what local people had on their minds as the Northumberland Hills Hospital AGM looms ahead.







The folks in the pics were the people who had something to say. Bill Patchett was the most stirring exhorting the crowd to keep faith in the Hospital. "It's your hospital, the government didn't give it to you they used your money to build it!" He did explain that of all the hospital fundraising campaign in North America Cobourg and District was the highest percapita contributor in measured campaigns. $450 dollars per person compared to the average $250.

Frank Farago used his time to explain the management mistakes observed in watching the CAO, Robert Biron. "Recent cuts do not include management even though the hospital will need less peolpe who are being manged, service cuts were made in the absence of alternate services and finishing with the quote, "hospitals serve patients not provide jobs.""

Deb O'Connor pointed out that low-income people, of all demographics are often unhealthier than the general population and cutting services will affect them the most as care now becomes more inaccessible than before. She suggested a few changes that could be made based on keeping community services local. But as with others she advocated the abolishment of the LHINs.

Peggy Smith described the emotional problem of trying to keep a level head on the very day that she, and all the others on her ward, were told that would be out of a job in September. She also mentioned the problems of trying to access distant clinics.

Rudy Roeleveld, a management consultant, explained, with the aid of PowerPoint his theories of the situation.

And, Tony Farren explained the upcoming AGM and the need for the members to elect him and two others to the Board for "transparency reasons". He explained the problems that his group has had in trying to influence the CAO, working on the onside, they have failed and "the public process of the hospital is one of not listening."

Others, not on the panel, also spoke. Michael Mackenzie, a supporter of the Board spoke with great courage as he publically supported the Board and criticised the "Citizens for Alternative Solutions" as being disruptive.

Others, Lloyd Williams, Bruce Steele, Jerry Ender, Stu Henry and Nancy Blakely all offered their opinions.

So how did it end up? Most people thought it was worthwhile and productive, we now know that are 375 paid-up members of the Association entitled to vote at the AGM for three new members chasing five vacancies. And the meeting was chaired very ably by Bridget Campion.

A guest post about a recent event

The 150^th Anniversary of Victoria Hall came and went. The poetry performance in the Old Bailey Courtroom also came and went. There were two sessions of readings performed by Cobourg Poet Laureate emeritus, Eric Winter, and newly appointed Cobourg Poet Laureate, Jill Battson, and Port Hope resident, Patrick Gray, author of a single book of poetry, The Grace of Light, which is a limited edition.

It was an event organized and set up by the Cobourg Poetry Workshop, largely to promote and proselytize itself and its members. That it had anything to do with Cobourg, or anything to do with Victoria Hall, was almost beside the point.

The poets chose to recite British poets, American poets, and a few Canadian poets. The only link the poems had to Cobourg/Victoria Hall was that they were written during the lifespan of Victoria Hall. How easy and lazy is that! Cobourgers would be correct to think they had been short-changed.

Why was a Port Hope resident engaged to commemorate a Cobourg event? Does Cobourg not have any poets of its own? While it is understandable that the new Poet Laureate, Jill Battson, who was never a resident of Cobourg until 6 months ago, would be ignorant of Cobourg’s literary heritage, indeed, ignorant of the heritage of Victoria Hall, as were all three poets.

It’s not difficult to find the names of Cobourg’s poets of yore who wrote and published during the 150 years of Victoria Hall’s existence.Thomas Page, the cultured editor of the Newcastle Farmer in the later half of the 1840s, blessed Cobourg with two daughters who came to prominence as poets.

Elizabeth Agnes Page, published 36 poems in a 1850 book, Wild Notes from the Back Woods, with ironic parallels to another local poet, Susanna Moodie's, Roughing It In the Bush, which went on to inspire renown poet Margaret Atwood. Her sister, Rhoda Anne Page was well known for her poem,

Voices From The Woods:
Oh! many a voice from the sequester'd wood
May whisper to the soul in thoughtful mood,
Wisdom that comes from Heaven.

Frederick Preston Rubidge (1806-98) was one of Cobourg's earliest poets, was also a producer and actor. He was noted for the sonnet,
`River Otonabee`
Stream of the wilderness, at whose far source
The fierce wolf lappeth, or awaits its spoil;
Through ages rolling thy ignoble course,
But now to flow with corn, with wine, and oil.

Carrie Munson Hoople was another Cobourg poet, who had published ‘Along the Way With Pen and Pencil’, New York, 1909. She was also renowned locally for her incisive parodies.

Other poets that graced Cobourg include Stanley Howell, an insurance broker at the turn of the century who cleverly combined business and poetry, and Dorothy Herriman and Virna (Stanton) Sheard.

Let us not forget that one of Canada`s renown poets, Archibald Lampman (1861-99) was educated at Gores Landing, Cobourg Collegiate and Trinity School, Port Hope.

Cobourg also had poets during the twentieth century and they can be found published in the Cobourg Sentinel Star, especially during the era when Foster Meharry Russell was publisher and editor, as well as a poet and anthologists.

Long before the Cobourg Poetry Workshop existed, poetry was thriving in Cobourg – for five years during the late 1960s, young Cobourg poets published Refraction, containing poems written by individuals who eventually became prominent in the town.
Cobourg has a rich heritage of poetry and poets, but this virtually unknown by the Cobourg Poetry Workshop, but then again, most of the self-declared poets of that group have shallow roots in Cobourg. The Town of Cobourg asserts that the duty of the Poet Laureate is to act ``as a literary ambassador for the Town of Cobourg.

Take a look at the video above and you will see that Glenda Jackson, a member of the Cobourg Poetry Workshop, was proselytizing as a literary ambassador for the group, not the Town of Cobourg
Everywhere they appear, members of the Cobourg Poetry Workshop boast that they are a MAJOR VENUE for poetry in Cobourg. It is sure that they are a known and welcome node for poetry in Canada, but the self-aggrandizement is a bit over the top, especially in light of the fact that they have made negligible inroads in the very community they take their name from: COBOURG.The Cobourg Poetry Workshop organized a greet and meet authors a few weeks back in Grafton. The result was that almost twice as many authors showed up for their kudos people who attended to meet them. Now we have the 150^th Anniversary, and the Cobourg Poetry Workshop failed to arouse any interest amongst the general population of Cobourg. It would appear that the Cobourg Poetry Workshop consists largely of a snobbish crew of the Better Poems and Garden set with no other purpose than the aggrandizement of their paying members. However, I do want to thank the group for their monthly poetry readings, which includes a feature poet from outside the workshop. These `real` poets are all too often my friends and colleagues that I have known for years in the poetry circles and triangles of Canada. It is a treat to have them visit my home town and sometimes drop over to my home.
Wally Keeler