Not much this Monday morning

CobourgBlog has a very interesting opinion about the Community centre study and wonders if it may not subjective rather than objective because it relies so much on a minuscule response to a survey. A good point. But Cobourg Council has a peculiar bent to it. They decide on what they want (usually a position impressed upon them by special interests) and then they go for it. The CB brings up a good point about the numbers game, if 2,000 people on a petition wasn't representative in the frink debate then how can 300 drive a $30 million dollar project? But don't forget these people (Mayor et al) have a history of using phony figures. The Harbourfront has been converted into a playground for the affluent because the Mayor pushed through his vision of "greenspace" based on that concocted survey, Oh Brocanier was fond of quoting it too.

So Iggy wants to do something with EI. A goodplace to start would be to undo the changes that the Libs implemented in the 90s. This story explains that changing EI is a "Priority". "People are shedding jobs like crazy," Mr. Ignatieff said on CTV's Question Period. "We've got to have a government that steps in and says 'Let's put some floor under this. Let's give people an employment insurance system that allows them to get training for new jobs.' "
Question for Iggy. How do you train the older worker with limited education. Talking to a service worker this week about this very issue she told me there is not much for those folk, factory workers with long-term attachments - in the system. besides training for what. Does anybody know what jobs are going to be needed in the next fifteen years? We don't have a national jobs inventory or a succession planning policy. besides does anybody share my scepticism about the need for wholesale post-secondary education. The only use for a degree these days is to be used as a screening device to reduce the number of applicants for any vacant job!

Randy Hillier (who's he?) may want to be the top dog PC. Randy Hillier a person that scares the living crap out of the Toronto pundits is mulling a run at the vacant PC leadership position. Bring it on! All it will do is widen the political spectrum to its natural environment in a three party Legislature. PC on the right, Dalton on the centre-right and the Dippers on the left. A good pole position for the next election.

Monday evening the Cobourg Council will move to establish the D'Arcy St. location for the Community Centre. This is the last piece of the puzzle that needs to fall into place for the application for "stimulus (shovel-ready) funding". This $30 million dollar plus project is going to be sold to us as the biggest bargoon of the Century and as taxpayers we would be foolish to speak against it. Hey it's a gift from the recession gods. 33 cent dollars falling from the sky. Never mind the questions: why pay for the lawn Bowling Club to be there, how much will it cost to compensate the Cobourg Soccer Club for its lost pitches, why no swimming pool when there is demonstrated demand, etc? We will be informed in due course and asked for a stamp of approval and you can all be present at the opening of the Peter Delanty Community Centre at about the time of October 2010 (next election campaign and woe betide any candidate that doesn't support the magnificance!).

When has this guy won?

Peter McKay has lost again. This guy gives losers a good name - he keeps on going just like the Duracell Bunny. First the PC leadership, then Belinda's heart and now the post of head of NATO. Last week's shoo-in lasted as long as the US was on his side and that's not long. A story here tells of the US shifting positions. Poor Peter.

First point to George

Here is the story of George Galloway from the UK. GG writing in the Guardian says some colourful things about Jason Kenney. He also says that the ban be will challenged in the courts. We will follow this one.

I love the words being used in this dispute firstly Kenney's spokesman Alykhan Velshi (the xenophobes would have a field day with that name) said, 'We're going to uphold the law, not give special treatment to this infandous (*'infandous: too odious to be expressed or mentioned) street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving 'financial support' to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada. I'm sure Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won't be one of them.'

It should be noted that the financial support given to Hamas was humanitarian aid.

Then the response from Galloway, "Kenney is quite a card. A quick trawl establishes he's a gay-baiter, gung-ho armchair warrior, with an odd habit of exceeding his immigration brief. Three years ago he attacked the pro-western Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, for being ungrateful to Canada for its support of Israeli bombardment of his country. Most curiously of all, in 2006 he addressed a rally of the so-called People's Mujahideen of Iran, a Waco-style cult, banned in the European Union as a terrorist organisation. On one level being banned by such a man is like being told to sit up straight by the hunchback of Notre Dame or being lectured on due diligence by Conrad Black."

The war of words can only get more florid and entertaining to lovers of prose!

People who don't like Arabs should not apply

I have kept very quiet about the influence of the Israeli lobby - Bnai Brith, JDL and the Canadian Jewish Congress. Allowing people to voice their opinions about Mid-Eastern affirs is not a matter of taking sides. That is why the BurdReport is apalled by this decision - to bar George Galloway from speaking in Canada. It is obvious to me that this federal Government is taking sides and not only taking sides but doing it with gusto. Jews in, Palestinians out. This story in the Star is only going to get louder.

Who has this guy POd

Local businessman Dave Tredree tried to get a rezoning amendment through Hamilton Twp council and failed again. DT owns a patch of land on Hwy 45 just north of the ramp, a great big piece of open dirt space. He has spent the last few years trucking in and levelling dirt from 401 remodels. He intends to make the land drainable and useable. But he has been stymied in every way by neighbours. Last night was no exception. He asked for permission to park U-Haul trucks on the larg site. But neighbours fearing "grow-ops" (really read about it here) asked to be heard and asked Council to refuse the rezoning. Council agreed and now DT has to keep his land, his money and hopes for further development on hold. Of course Hamilton Twp doesn't put the taxes down. But this decision will probably cost the Twp as it will enevitably end up at the OMB. I can't wait for the application to build a Holiday Inn to come in.

Special interests always seem to prevail

As the Community Centre plans get to be examined some things jump out at you. Why is there no aquatic centre, why is the emphasis on hockey when it started off as a Seniors project and why is the Lawn Bowling in on it?
In every large scale project something slips in that may not be part of the mandate of the project. In the last 'big dig' - the Library, which coincidentally was handed off the GillBrocanier to stickhandle through the process (even when he decided not to run in the next election he kept the job as chair of the building committee) there is a question of vested interests being slipped a quick one. The original concept of the Library build (also called the Cultural Centre) it was thought the Library, Art Gallery and Archives as well as other unnamed cultural entities could have a home on a controversial site (where it is now but the Town had to move a Tee-Ball pitch much to the chagrin of parents and the Legion). In the end, because of cost and design restrictions (As usual the most innovative designs were left on the cutting room floor) the Art Gallery was excluded. The building went ahead as a Library, and the Historical Society, with its subsidy, was moved into rooms at the Library.
This time the CCC has moved forward without an aquatic centre, despite the fact that 54% of those surveyed use aquatic facilities and the only one in Cobourg is maxed out and the other one is in Port Hope, but the Lawn Bowling Club is included - why? Does the Town want the existing land for more grass cutting opportunities? Does the LBC want to move? All questions to be answered as the steamroller moves inexorably forward to its conclusion - hurry up the design to make it shovel ready for the stimulus funds and get on with it in time for the coronation of Mayor Brocanier in 2010. All we have to do is finance another $10 million on the local taxes (1/3 of the total)

More on Kraft

Well the rumour guy appeared to have it half right. The new buyer is not a scrapman but a person who understands the intricacies of the scrap market as part of his own background as Owner of TrentFab, a Trenton based manufacturing company. Having walked past the plant last night I can say that there is a lot of scrap that has to cleaned out before anybody can go in as tenants. Still it is encouraging that a person with a fabricating background has purchased the place even if he stands to make his investment back in months, and the job promises are tenuous, if the steel market goes back to the highs of last summer.

The Readers are always right

When I asked the question who was GritGirl and the subsequent followup about ToryBoy1 it was pointed out to me by the readers that, quite rightly, I had overestimated the cost and technical expertise needed to produce such videos. Now it has been confirmed by Warren Kinsella that this is a fact. "I am excited by the vid below because someone calling themselves "OneTenGrand" did it. Why is that exciting? Because it means what Grit Girl started is spreading - Liberals (likely young Liberals) are using their acquired computer skills to defeat the discredited Harper regime." To see an example of the latest that Kinsella has posted go the video page.

A rumour confirmed

Earlier this week I heard that the Kraft property has been sold. The way the story goes is that two smart businessmen with a background in Scrap and Salvage, had bought the place to strip it out. Apparently Kraft sold it the way it is complete with some forklifts, the rumour said over 40. Anyway these guys allegedly have already leased out the Lab area to the County, presumably for the Land Ambulances who were looking for a home. The rest of the area has a fortune in scrap metal and raw inventory. Good luck to them but in order to remain less critical than normal we will have to wait and see just what other businesses these guy will put in there. I guess any sale would be deemed a success to a Council that is so "laissez-faire" it gives the French a bad name. Can't wait for the Town Crier to welcome the first Rolloff truck on its way to do business into the community! Another opportunity wasted. The Town could have done this months ago. Just put that "play money" into action, hire a project manager and we could have made money for the taxpayer.

PS I stand to be corrected if this rumour doesn't pan out.

Love those conservative editorials. I read a lot of online stuff and it runs the gamut. Here is an editorial from the las Vegas Review and Journal. It details some background to the AIG bonus outrage. BTW I feel that the rage is all phony designed to make lawmakers look good in a very embarrassing situation.

Who said journalism is dead, we still have backgrounders amongst us. How about this one describing just who got what in the AIG mess.

He's back in the public eye

Mike Harris, remember him? Well he's poked his head over the trenches at the law firm he's bunkered in and is back here Reputedly to be working his rolodex and calling party members to support the leadership hopes of Tim Hudak. Well the TO Star acts as though this is a big surprise - duh. Why would MH support anybody else? Hudak is married to the wicked witch of the revolution - Deb Hutton, Harris's righthand hatchet person. If these are the people on Hudak's team Christine Elliot doesn't stand a chance - never mind who her husband is!


In another vein here is a interesting piece written by Jo Cruddas MP for Dagenham entitled new socialism it is a new take on an old problem - dogma.