Now would be a good time

To test the theory that raising the minimum wage kills jobs. That mantra has never been proven to a conclusion or else the MW would never be raised from the minimum. The President of the West Northumberland Chamber of Commerce has put herself on the line in this story here . Mrs Thrasher, owner of Boston Pizza says her business cannot absorb the costs of an increased wage bill and she will have to cut jobs. Up until this point the argument of lost jobs has never really been put to the test, it has been thrown around as a talking point in the decades old battle of higher minimum wages. Rather like the mythical "diaper on the beach" no real economic evidence has been produced to back it up. But now if the threat is so real we should be able to watch the job numbers, in Ontario, go down on a comparison basis in August (after the layoffs go out in July).
I hope some evidence will be seen even if it is only to prove or disprove the mantra. Perhaps then we can get on with making the minimum wage a "living wage"!

We need a lot of angry folks

The only way to get any attention these days is to be angry. The recent hospital cuts demonstrate this. Despite province-wide cuts, all the same and all over the province some hospitals have been able to make changes and how did they do it? Lots of angry people keeping the pressure on local pols and MPPs. Talking to the hospital administrations or Boards will not work because they have made their minds up. CAO Biron is not going to change his mind about the bottom line no matter how many bigwigs schmooze him. Talking behind the scenes may work if you want something from someone who can make changes but in this case the changes are systemic and can only be changed by the government.
So how do we make the government listen? Take on the local MPP. He seems to think that the local cuts "Are not the end of the world". Well Lou if you keep that up you will be running against a conservative candidate flanked by Doug Galt and we all know that Doug Galt gained his reputation as a constituency man by putting his job on the line for this local hospital. Run a cardboard cutout of Doug Galt talking about saving the hospital against Lou and Lou will be history.

So if you want to have your say about local action join the organizers at the public library tomorrow at 5.30pm.

N.B. click on the image to read it

Fear Mongering at its Finest

It looks like the federal government has expanded its campaign of trying to frighten Canadians into the international sphere. Our foreign minister, Lawrence Cannon, tested out the new strategy at a recent speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto recently. No doubt the elite were empowered and gratified to hear that our country, in addition to protecting the interests of our citizens at home, imagines itself charged with the responsibility to deliver safety and freedom across the entire globe, all for our benefit when we travel.

As reported in the Toronto Daily Star by reporter Linda Diebel, Cannon delivered a speech that was "dark and described a bleak and scary world" riddled with terrorism, drug dealing and crime. The nuclear threat posed by Iran and North Korea featured prominently too, just in case the other concerns weren't enough to make us truly frightened.

Just what is this all about? Do they think their scare mongering about imaginary crime waves at home is so successful they just want to go Big on the international stage too? Or is the scare mongering about Canada not successful enough, so they are adding the international component to jack up the volume? Maybe it's just posing for the G-20 Summit this summer, which is what his speech was supposed to be about.

Whatever the reason for it, I don't like it, and I don't think scare mongering Canadians into a perpetual state of fear does anyone much good, especially when the boogey-men are so often imaginary, and the facts to support their contentions just aren't there. In fact, the truth is the opposite, in the case of the alleged crime wave they are using to justify their increased criminal sanctions against Canadians.

If only we could find politicians, and a political party with a positive vision for Canada, instead of the Orwellian double talk and blatant disregard for the truth that is this government's specialty. I'm sick of being manipulated, and sick of living with a government that thinks it's appropriate to frighten its citizens.

It just get wierda and wierda

Perhaps Lou Rinaldi, our local MPP should think of packing it in, he obviously hasn't been to Timmies lately, maybe he is waiting for the new one in Brighton to open. If he did enter the hallowed halls of coffee he would sit at any table and eavesdrop on outraged constituents rant about the latest actions taken by the local Health Industry. Maybe that's his problem, having done nothing to stop the savage reorganisation of the Quinte Health Centre he is now impervious to the local complaints coming out of Cobourg and West Northumberland.
His latest quote, that hit the editorial pages today: "It's not the end of the world" and noting that hospitals should get back to the traditional services of caring for the sick. He apparently doesn't understand that rehab services make people well a lot faster than usual if rehab doesn't take place. Not to mention the rising costs of healthcare due to readmissions.
Well Loo if we all earned a fat MPP's salary with lifelong benefits then we would be saying the same. But we don't, most of us are a paycheques away from bankruptcy due to extra-billing and out-sourcing. If the previous MPP's reputation was gained by the refusal to say no to the non-funding of the building of the local hospital it will be Loo's epitaph if he doesn't do a lot more than he has done to date.

And in the meantime the two agencies named to help shoulder some of the burden of the redirected healthcare - Wraparound and The Hospital Elder Health Care program - are not service providers in these fields, just facilitators. That's all we need more peolpe talking about what should be done and no money to do it!

What did the LHIN say yesterday - Yes Yes Yes

With a couple of members posturing for the crowd, which was a hostile one, the eight members of the LHIN that were present unananimously adopted the plan submitted by the NHH Board - that is to outsource departments, close beds and have the consequence of losing up to 45 - 60 jobs.
In this story the Chair of the LHIN told the NHH Board that the plan was approved but with the proviso that the Board talk to the community: "I want it on the record that the NHH board meet with and talk to members of the community," Central East LHIN board chair Foster Loucks said. "With this plan, or modifications to it," talks must take place, he stressed, referring to public reaction and the 40 e-mails received.
What a load of crap! Talking is done, Mr Biron can't spin his way out of this one and if he did talk to the community what would he say, "Ooops I'm sorry but we don't have the money"
The questions before us are simple and few, where are the masses going to get the money to pay for the "available, but not accessible" rehab services and where are the long-term beds that the community and the LHIN is demanding that be in place before beds are cut?

In the meantime the two agencies that have been named as the agencies that will shoulder the need for some of the healthcare needs - Wraparound and the Hospital Elder Life Program - are peculiar choices. No delivery of services just facilitation services, that's all we need more people talking about what to do but no money or staff to do anything!

At least these folks are planning to do it properly

In this story Council bosses seek a developer to provide world-class city waterfront (From Daily Echo) from the UK a Municipal Council wants to redevelop its aging waterfront. Reading the story I am struck by a comment from a Council member, that one of ours should have made during our debates, "Cllr Smith said: “This has to be a big draw. It’s not going to be block of flats on the waterfront.""

A guest post

Dean Peacock

New advertising slogan:
"Cobourg,Ontario... Please pack up, leave and don't forget your welcome mat!"

In response to the latest article and editorial in the Northumberland News (March 11,2010 Edition) about the ongoing saga with Victoria Beach and Park, I think it would be wise for the city leaders (elders) to revisit the town slogan and maybe consider changing to the one I have provided above. Or: "Town(Country Club) closed for members only. Please take your business, your jobs, tax dollars and invest somewhere else." Maybe even: "Let's not be polite unless you are white."

I bet you would be really surprised to learn that my family and I are new residents in Cobourg. We moved here in September after throughly enjoying our visits during, what I have since learned, were the two busiest long weekends of the year. King Street was alive; the beach was full; children, from toddler to teen, were everywhere playing and just downright enjoying themselves. A great place, we thought, to bring a family of two preschoolers and one part time teen. A place to play and a place to watch them all grow into adulthood. Well... Baa daa ding ding... ding ding ding!

I do not buy the arguments that the residents here use as an excuse. Like "... It is too crowded forthe residents to enjoy their beach" or "...they leave all their garbage behind" and " ... they don't spend any money."

Come on now. This is a spectacular beach in Cobourg. It has always been one of the great joys of all cultures around the world to pack a picnic and snacks so that a family can spend a relaxing and inexpensive day bonding with the sand between their toes. And leave their garbage behind-hopefully in the receptacles that are provided!

As for suggestions that we should charge for admittance for visitors (not locals, of course) like they do at Presqu'ile. Hmm... How's this for an idea. How about we turn the area into a Provincial Park, like Presqu'ile, and have the Government buy up a fair chunk of the beach front housing(at Government assessed values) to make room for more green space and parking. This concept certainly will give the opportunity to charge for usage. Unfortunately, to be fair, we would all have to pay to have our day in the sun.

Visitors do spend money in this town when they visit. We did. We found a nice coffee shop, had a nice dinner, and bought some gas (a Cobourg pet peeve I've heard that I had to throw in) for the trek back to civilization. I would suggest the real penny pinchers are the locals.

As I go for my almost nightly walk through the downtown core it always shocks me on what a ghost town it is. The clock turns five, the streets are empty, and most of the bar staff do not know what to do with themselves. And in the day, unless it is sunny and warm, the area is only slightly more active.

If you truly, honestly feel that the local merchants are getting shafted then get out there and support all of them. Get the town to support them. Revitalize the area. Give them tax incentives, grants, so that they can renovate to improve their chances for success. I think there are only two or three places in the core I have not been in since relocating here. With that, there are maybe only a half dozen places I would take guests to. The majority are eye sores inside and out. Some places smell and have the look of the local ghosts still sucking back a two pack a day habit. The LCBO stinks of rotten stale booze probably from a pallet of stubbies being knocked over late in the seventies. This is what the tourists(the enemy), visitors, business leaders... are noticing and telling others. Clean the area, spend some money, or close it down for good.

I'm guessing some(most) of you are wondering why we are still here. Well... my wife loves the beach,my children love the beach, and gosh darn it, I love the beach too. The majority of my forty plus years of life have been spent within walking distance of a beach and I cannot see that ever changing. So we will watch closely how this all plays out. We will either vacate the area and contribute to the continuation of stagnant growth, or...

Dean for Mayor !!!

(catchy, isn't it!?)

Just what are we doing here?

It seems to me that everybody wants to do the same thing but doesn't quite know the best way. Plenty of people want to protest outside the hospital, some want to protest outside of Lou Rinaldi's office, Some are going to look at LHIN stooges whilst they follow Ministry of Health dictates and approve plans also drawn up by bureaucracy following Ministry dictates and the bottom line is that local services are being cut, leaving citizens with the prospect of having to pay for what were once free services.

The contradiction in this is best expressed by Bill Patchett being heard saying, "I don't agree with picketing Lou Rinaldi's office he is working to save healthcare" Well until Lou actually gets down and dirty with the people waving signs and telling them he will opposes any mandated cuts in the legislature nobody will believe him. Meanwhile we have many local people, who have never been in a demo before, thoroughly committed to protesting.

We need focus people! The meeting on Thursday evening may pull people together but at the moment it is still without identifiable leadership. Two Cobourg councillors, Frost and Mutton, were at the OHC meeting last week, how many more have got off their duffs to help?

Where is the Mayor in this? Cobourg Council has staked its future on the Hospital as a economic driver, it has sunk millions into the construction, for it to abdicate its position now would be scandalous.

The point has to be made that despite cutting 30 beds and up to 45 jobs we have to concentrate on the fact that services are being cut, take the rehab for example, where is Joe Lunchbucket or Mary Pensioner going to get the $100 for the first consultation and the additional $75 for each visit to get post operative care? This situation is not about jobs it is about the cost of future care. If we keep focusing on the jobs argument it will be lost, nobody has sympathy for those earning better than average wages any more, but concentrating on the cost of out-sourced healthcare might strike a chord.

So we at the BurdReport see it this way: go to the meeting on Thursday and see who wants to lead and what issues emerge as the ones to act on.

We will be watching. Your comments are important as yet there is no community forum to discuss these issues, you can do it here.

Insidious Seductions by Bureaucrats

Anyone trying to understand how the top management of organizations get away with their shameless antics should check out the old British television series, "Yes Minister", and later "Yes Prime Minister". Books were produced too and are available in libraries.

When we first meet hapless, newly elected MP Hacker, his civil servant equivalent is a smooth and cunning experienced mandarin named Sir Humphrey Appleby. While he appears to show great deference and respect for his new boss, Appleby is really manipulating him at every turn, massaging his ego, and using subtle scare tactics to mould the MP into a malleable talking head who believes everything the mandarin tells him. Before long, MP Hacker is putty in Appleby's hands, completely convinced that Appleby knows best and will protect his interests at all cost.

Turning our attention to home, to the County of Northumberland, the public school board and the Northumberland Hills Hospital, we can see these tactics at work by the top bureaucrats of all three institutions. They coddle and flatter the elected representatives, feeding them fresh fruit and pastries and telling them over and over how important their jobs are and how well they are doing. Throw in lunch and dinner allowances, travel expenses and the occasional conference, and the elected representatives start to believe all the hyperbole being flung at them.

In the guise of being helpful they manipulate and massage, delivering a consistent message that they, the bureaucrats, are there to serve them and their needs. It can take years for an elected representative to see through the game, and many never do because they've been completely taken in. They come to depend on these wise and all-knowing administrators and wouldn't do anything to change the way things are done. They are, in fact, co-dependents.

Naturally, when it comes time to discuss salaries, the manipulation and fear factor is in overdrive. Conned into believing they have to keep raising pay or risk losing these valuable administrators, they give them everything they want.

It's been a process that I started noticing in the 80's with the public school board. Regular people I knew who were school board trustees began to think they, and the board staff, walked on water. Pay rose quickly both for trustees and the top managers once their perception of their own greatness was firmly established, and since then this insidious seduction has escalated in all large institutions, to the point where even ordinary citizens think it's normal to pay administrators and top level managers 4 or even 5 times the average Ontario wage.

It's all a con game folks, and one we need to put a stop to if we have any hope of bringing common sense back to public service. Right now, it is the non elected bureaucrats running these institutions, not the people we elected to do the job.

That has got to change, and fast. We need to elect people with a clear sense of commitment to the voters, who are too smart to be fooled by the machinations of these modern day snake oil sales persons who pass for civil servants these days.

Sunday #3 The numbers are in

Every month Statscan produces reams of numbers. One of the tables is the monthly change in employment and workforce figures. Last month the BurdReport highlighted just how much unemployment had grown in the last month; this month we look for change.

We found it - in February the workforce, in our region, decreased by 100 people, the number of people that found jobs went up by 200 and the unemployed went down by 300, 100 of the unemployed obviously gave up looking and became "discouraged workers" who are not officially counted.

The bottom line is that the regional area still has 18,100 people counted as unemployed - shameful!