Is this what we think it is?

The Tannery lands, now just a big piece of rotting industrial brownfield, was assumed by the Town as a result of the owner failing to pay his taxes and subsequently going bankrupt. This fetid place used to be the home to a tanning factory firstly for animal hides and then fish skins. The chemicals used over the years have been allowed to sink into the ground and previous employees have reported that they used to regularly pump the toxic wastes, arsenic, chrome and other tanning aids, into the ground. It is a potential hazmat horror story.
When the town assumed the land they fenced it in and attempted a minor remedial process and demolished the buildings and it now sits on the Town's books as a tax liability with an accrued cleanup cost. Estimated at at least 1.5 million. The theory for this is that this money will be recovered when the Town sells it.

But on Monday night the first stage of the "Great Giveaway" will ocurr when the minutes of a special meeting will be adopted. A special meeting convened at 9.31 pm and adjourned at 9.35 pm on June 21st. A motion was passed to reduce the tax liability from $835,000 to an unknown amount. This is a statutory move designed to allow the CAO flexibility in his negotiations with prospective buyers. Depending on the new uses proposed by prospective buyers taxpayers of Cobourg will not know if this is a good move or not. But be aware that this could be a giveaway to a developer with an inside connection or a move for the public good. Either way Cobourg taxpayers are giving away tax money!

When the smoke clears

Will a real discussion about the riot yesterday take place? I doubt it, the 'law and order' types will defend the peculiar and sometimes brutal tactics of the security people and the 'free speechers' will decry the influence of the "Black Bloc" and carry on to the next demo. But there are people willing to start the discussion. See here where a correspondent is questioning the design of the event. I too watched the CBC newsworld wall to wall coverage of the happenings and wondered why the last police car to be set ablaze was just left there, in the middle of Queen St with the police not 50 yards away just watching; probably as bait for the Black Bloc guys. Still the whole deal made the right-wing radio stations happy, Arlene Bynon of 640 AM was almost orgasmic in her anticipation of someone getting punched out. At least Mansbridge was statesmanly in his approach to the feeds and reporters. Susan Ormanston will need a couple of days off after the feeds she was involved in.

Here is another conspiracy theorist story about the way the protest may have been encouraged to justify the outrageous costs of security.

A "Rabble.ca" report of a journo who was arrested in a rather rough fashion for disobedience.

Follow the comments in this thread to see more opinion about the theory that the police encouraged the protest by their inaction and dereliction of duty.

It takes a brave, or really stupid, person to say this stuff

In many conversations taking place this week in the wake of G20 security procedures and the recent local hospital AGM, more than a few people are questioning both the tactics of the State, and institutions, in their quest for control. Using legal means and zealously enforcing the regs on the books one is forced to conclude that the perception here is that Fascism is alive!
Whoa Nelly! before you go off at the messenger and look at the fascists in the past context and immediately make the leap that all who accuse others of Fascism are equating the leaders of today with those bad guys - you know the usual supects - Pol Pot, Idi Amin and the worst of all - Adoplh himself, just look at the measures being upheld by our leaders today. Search and seizure rights,suspended for the G20 exclusion zone, the ability of a 'rentacop' to arrest citizens for failing to produce ID in that exclusion zone, overwhelming police presence for seemingly routine building checks and the chicanery of procedural rules to eliminate opposition at the NHH AGM. What does it add up to? A weary opposition, a jaded electorate and an apathetic population which is reflected in a bunker mentality and a reduced voter turnout at elections. Throw in an unappealing list of people to vote for and one can be depressed very easily if you think about this stuff for very long.
Still there are better days ahead and if you make the drive to "la belle province" beer is on sale at a buck a bottle at the corner store, one way at least to take your mindsoff these things - sit on the back porch and have a brewski!

Do they know more than they are telling?

"'Allo, 'Allo, 'Allo what have we got here?" and visions of the bobby on the beat come to mind when reading this story from NorthumberlandToday An open door was found at the GoodYear building on Thursday morning. It took up to fifteen police people, a canine unit and a SWAT team to investigate. Wow what were they expecting, what snippet of police information had been discovered to cause this amount of policing and how much will it cost as the majority of the exercise would have been pursued with cops on overtime and help from the Durham Service (not cheap). So if anybody on the inside wnats to comment we will pass the information to a breathless and waiting audience.

Races appear

Brighton and Port Hope are going to have an election for the mayor's job. It appears that in these towns some people actually want to be Mayor, perhaps some one will want to be Mayor of Cobourg sometime before September 10th.

In Port Hope Linda Thompson was handing out strawberries and tea as well as announcing that she wants to Mayor for another term. What can we say about the term that is coming to a halt and why does she want to be Mayor for another term? Not much, except to speculate that the accumulation of power is heady and pays well.




This handsome fellow is Mark Walas, he runs a funeral home and now wants to be the next Mayor of Brighton. Challenging Christine Herrington may be easier than she thinks, at least he must have met most of the folks in Brighton already as he buries most of them. What a captive contact list!

0845am Ooops this just in - a correction: Hey Ben,Just a point of clarification: Mark Walas sold his funeral home about three years ago. He works full time now as a land and housing developer. Mark is a sharp guy, if sometimes perceived as being a little "slippery" around the edges.

So what's next in Cobourg, for starter's it's about time that the folks at the Homelike Inn get off their duffs and continue the election ritual of many years - that is to select someone who will appear in front of the press and announce that "I don't believe on acclamations and want to give Gil Brocanier a run for his money!"

Anyway good luck to all the contestants.

Another one in the game

Councillor Bill Macdonald will try to perpetuate the Peter Principle once more. Announcing that he will try for his seventh term as a councillor. Enough said, but if the only reason for him running is to provide experience all we atrthe BurdReport can repeat is the HR mantra - "twenty years experience is only one year's experience repeated twenty times."
We will be watching just how up the ballot he goes, after all he has only squeaked in in every election he has run in proving to be a fourth or fifth choice every year. We can only hope that he doesn't make it again.

OK the last word

After three days of rumination, driving 3000 kms gives you plenty of time to chew the cud, here is my opinion on the hospital affair. Basically the opponents took a knife to a gunfight. Not knowing the rules, were they going to be King & Kerr (WTF were those?) or an imposed Robert's? It turned out to be neither. The membership, living in the past hadn't realised that time had passed them by and the Association had morphed into a Corporation, complete with the rules that allowed Conrad Black and other corporate tyrants to maintain power. It is obvious that this community has lost its Community hospital and now members will only have the right to vote on bylaws. The Board now will do what they want - braunnose the LHIN and hope like hell that they stay off the shitlist. Because now the LHIN controls the hospital sector by making all the Hospitals "compete" for funding. tTose not big enough, smart enough or compliant enough will lose out. In addition there is a LHIN requirement for funding that each hospital complete an "integration" process. When one looks at this an "integration activity" can be a removal of service so look for more lost services.
[Hey hasn't all this been tried in the NHS in the UK and found to be wanting? - ed]
What does this mean for the average person in the catchment area - diddlysquat as the perception that paying $10 for a membership allows participation is shot all to heck, these moves at the AGM just confirmed that, but as one emailer to me commented, "the board has been confirmed as a bunch of thugs and goons in the public eye!" the public has noticed.
It will be hard slogging to fundraise this year. But then they are only funding equipment not services so who cares if we have the best equipment but no services to use them?

My advise next year read this book after all this is the bible that did us in, but it comes with a $600 per hour pricetag.

So this is what $600 per hour can buy you

In this article, found on the Osler (the lawyers the NHH Board bought and paid for with our money which was according to John Hudson "is not much money") website: Contentious AGMs: 10 Lessons Learned | News & Resources | Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Business Law in Canada there is to be found the formula for defeating "special interests" at contentious Hospital AGM's. Why didn't anybody find this before the meeting, the gameplan is all here.

Plenty of copy to write but so little time

3.30am
Back on the road for a few more days but will be posting as time allows. There will plenty to write about especially how as decent polite and civil canadians got snookered last night at the NHH AGM. The meeting was run by a Chair that ignored rules and flouted the law citing legal precedence. At one time he said, "If you don't like this ruling go to court!" Frank Farago was especially tenaciou,s courageous and very civil in his attitude toward such rulings - thanks Frank.

Suffice to say a point was made, the community doesn't like what went on and the Province has seized our hospital and the current board members have aquiesced to that putsch. Not quite quislings but possibly Norwegian, and definitely Swedish - the Stockholm syndrome.

Tonight's the night

Often bandied about by randy young men this phrase is ominous, gleeful and full of anticipation. The Northumberland Hills Hospital will be holding its Annual Special Meeting to do a couple of things and not to what the majority? of members want, and the meeting is tonight!

At a meeting last night some members of the public, 50-60 all told, listened to members of the Citizens for Alternative Solutions as they explained procedures in conducting meetings and how to behave and handle questions at AGMs. "It's your meeting, it belongs to the members. It is not the Board's meeting, and as such you (the members) determine what goes on." You are not allowed to make business motions but you can control the way the meeting goes by moving questions of procedure." John Morand, a consultant and a lawyer versed in corporate law said.

The group also laid out their priorities, the major one being to force the Board to revise the Bylaw package being offered and to have an election that would allow members to vote for all of the candidates not just a selected slate. How these will be achieved is subject to speculation and the signs point to an interesting and levely meeting.

7pm at the Best Western, upstairs in the Ballroom.