A couple of random thoughts

#1 Oil spill ruminations. BP the owner of the oilrig that has caused the biggest ecological damage in the Gulf of Mexico in history, says that as the shutoff valve is not working they will sue the manufacturer of the valve. How about this - the Government of the USA fine BP a huge sum of money for each day of the spill for not checking to see if the valve could work ,at regular intervals, like every month! AND the money for the fine must come from profits, sale of assets or other company sources and not from higher prices to consumers. This Company deserves to be bankrupted, after paying the fines and costs of cleanup, for this kind of negligence.

#2 Jaffer ruminations. Mr Jaffer is coming under great criticism for not registering as a lobbyist and for contacting his conservative buddies for grants for projects that his company was trying to shepherd through the bureaucracy. How about fining the MPS he spoke to for not reporting lobbying activity. It's in the Accountability Act that lobbying has to be reported!

MayDay today

My favourite balladeer - Billy Bragg

Somebody has listened and acted - thanks

Monday evening will see discussion take place on the motion in the pic. Cobourg Council will debate the motion put forward by the Deputy mayor Gil Brocanier - congratulations Gil. it will be interesting to see just which Councillors will jump on board ths band-wagon.

it is just this kind of motion that all local Councils in the catchment should pass. But reading the comments made by members of Port Hope Council, after Mr Biron told them what was on his mind. Mayor Linda Thompson, who is rumoured to be seeking the local PC nomination in next year's provincial election, said, "Thank you that's just what we wanted to hear!" we fear that Port Hope may just use this as justification for continuing the non-support for the NHH.

It should be noted that the local health care coalition can't get on the agenda in Port Hope for weeks and is still waiting for a firm date for a presentation.

OH NO: Two Lost Posts

I have a confession to make. Two really. First, I sometimes help out the Burd Report by moderating comments when the Master is away working.

Second, this morning, I rejected two comments that I should have published. One was about Town Councillors retiring, the other about the hospital cuts. I have learned that once you hit the reject button, there is no "do-over".

So, would the two posters care to re-post their items? I promise to pay closer attention to which button I am using and offer my sincere apologies for my mistake.

All eyes were on this guy last night

Robert Biron, the CAO of the Northumberland Hills Hospital appeared at last night's Council meeting in Cobourg to explain his case. Saying nothing new he just followed his flashy powerpoint presentation and basically said that because we have done what the LHIN has asked the hospital to do - cut costs and redefine core services the hospital can now move forward as good little boys. Like a school monitor seeking the approval of the headmaster Mr Biron now thinks, and he said many times, "We are in a stronger position to deal with the LHIN." But when asked by Bob Spooner "What will you be able to do in the next round of cuts?" Biron fobbed that of to the MPP - "That's Mr Rinaldi's problem"
In a stunning admission he stated that the Board made the decision to cut Outpatient Rehab knowing that low and fixed income earners would not be able to access services in the community. And he also admitted that the Diabetes Clinic will not be able to serve all of its pressent clients - offered no solution as he felt cutting costs was more important than saving healthcare. "If we don't balance the budget the Board will be taken over and we will have supervision imposed on us." Mr Biron received enthusiastic applause from the six supporters, including Directors Lynda Kay and Dean Pepper, in the front row. The rest of the romm sat in stunned silence.

The next phase of the campaign to keep the services will be to elect friendly Directors at the AGM and some members have already targeted the Directors who should not be re-elected. John Hudson and Lynda Kay are two prominent Directors seeking re-election wearing bullseyes. With new people seeking nomination the procedural; battles will be most interesting. All prospective Directors have to be nominated by the present Board's nomination committee, only those people who meet the "qualifications" will be nominated. So it is entirely possible that only "Board friendly" will be nominated setting the stage for a very nasty AGM.

Another one quits

Saying that he wants to have his winters in the sun, Dean McCaughey announced that he will not be seeking re-election in October. So two down and two to go - that will leave four vacancies for Council, enough to make a clean sweep of the place.

As Stan Frost watches the announcement (penny for your thoughts, Stan), will he make his announcement soon? And what will he choose to do?

A follow up to a comment

Anonymous said...For those of us who have missed the news could you let us know which two former teachers have announced they are leaving council? Also can you fill us in about the bad old days of Kay and Clement ?

In fairness the quote was: I suppose with two pension laden former teachers leaving the Council the complement should be filled by Mr Henderson, another former teacher - nothing against John but do we really want another teacher on Council? - I didn't "announce" but speculated.

The first question: Dean McCaughey, a career teacher is highly rumoured not to be running, I guess playing on his boat beats sitting in Council anyday! The bush drums beat larger gossip everyday about the Mayor's intentions, He is in the States sitting on some beach contemplating his navel and deciding whether he should be running for Mayor or not. The best indications that he is leaning towards NO is the big rumour that Gil Brocanier is assembling a campaign team. Oh, the Mayor is also a former teacher. They leave and two former teachers are gone.

A bit of history as the BR sees it, it may be called revuisionist by some so be prepared. John Kay was the Chief of Police after Dan McDougal and Gary Clement was the Chief after John Kay. Both men came in with great flourish, promised great things and left the place in tatters. John Kay's time was marked by the controversy over one of his Deputy's impaired charge after a Council event in Port Hope. Gary Clement's time was marked by huge budget increases and bad PR over the botched attempts to establish a West Northumberland Police Service.

A couple of personnel issues

Monday evening Council will nominate former CAO Bryan Baxter as the Town's representative on the Police Services Board. Bryan has done a great job as the Chair and a Provincial rep. But the Province has been tardy in reappointing its reps and both have run over their time. Now the Town has taken advantage of a vacancy in its own representation to appoint Bryan. A good choice but it does put the boots to Dean "I want to be top cop" Pepper in his bid for a spot. His braunnosing of Chief Sweet obviously means nothing as there are only Provincial spots left and as a Tory Dean is on the wrong side for a Lib appointment.
In another announcement former Police Services Board member and Chair, John Henderson who sat on the Board during the bad old days of Kay and Clement wants to be on Council. I suppose with two pension laden former teachers leaving the Council the complement should be filled by Mr Henderson, another former teacher - nothing against John but do we really want another teacher on Council?

post deleted

I have just deleted a post because I couldn't make it work, maybe with more time to play I will bring it back, but it was about the Hitler parodies, look here for background.

Reading between the lines

In his stirring defence of the new plans to cut hospital services here, the Chief of Medical Staff, Dr. David Broderick, makes many points. The main one being is that in order to protect the hospital it must cut services to save costs.

By making self-preservation the main ideal the Doctors' Chief is only protecting the status quo of having Doctors maintain their juicy investment in the system. He repeats the mantra: "Health care, already consuming approximately 46 per cent of current government spending, could balloon to 70% in the next 15 years." Perhaps if Doctor's pay was controlled, and they as a group have received far more of the health pie than any other group, health costs wouldn't rise so much. Hospital share of the pie has gone down over the last few years so why would the Doctors blame them for the cumulative increase?

So folks the fight is still on. Mr Biron will defend his moves on Monday evening and the rest of us will stand amazed that he could be following orders so well. The fight here is not with Biron and the Board but with the Central government, and to that end the first phase of our local message will take place tomorrow when a petition containing nearly 5,000 names - surely a local record and one that is easily twice as big as the last local petition, will be handed over to Queen's Park. The fight continues!