Can we have it both ways?

A mighty fine comment:
"This site is packed top to bottom with complaints about Council, yet now it is discussing giving Council a pay raise."
This comment appeared as #25 in response to the post of yesterday wherein the BurdReport argued for some truth in the matter of Cobourg Council's workload and the attendant plea from Councillor Mutton to pay the council more money.
This site has faithfully chronicled the failings of the current Council and its members, as well as congratulating them from time to time on good stuff. But perhaps the last post, about the plea for more money failed to show one of the underlying complaints about the issue, the way that incumbents whine about those who consider the job should be paid more and self servingly play to ignorant electors. Jeff Lees in Port Hope did it this week by suggesting a pay freeze for Council, causing Councillor Turck to wryly observe, "It must be an election year!".
Another commenter made the point that perhaps, because all those who tell the public that they are serving the public want us to believe that then there should be no honorarium - let them serve for nothing. Another commenter made the point that because there are people on Council of independent financial means the pay should be set at $50,000 and then all other income be deducted from that - innovative.
The BurdReport's position is very clear - both the system of governing; the coordinator system, and the composition of Council is faulty. So here is the plan:

• Council should be restructured into committees of the whole for three of the four weeks in a four week cycle. Planning, Financial and Operating committees should meet weekly and feed all the issues into a Council meeting that meets every four weeks.
• The Councillors should be paid at the rate of $30.00 per hour for every hour spent on Cobourg council business. This is meant to compensate councillors giving up their evenings.
  
• The meetings should take place in the evenings to allow the public to attend, This comment was emailed to me, by a sitting member of Council, and is very telling,"Consider that to reduce staff overtime, advisory committee meetings are more and more being moved to day time or reduced in number. This directly impacts the ability of citizens to participate." Perhaps less staff should be assigned to meetings then the public and council could make their own decisions, after all aren't they supposed to set policy rather than take direction?
• The Mayor should be actively seeking new members of the public to sit on Council, most incumbents see newcomers as a threat to their existence.
• Term limits must be imposed, A successful councillor needs to regenerate, and I will promise you if the unseated councillor is introspective they will look back and see their faults.
• The Council term must be reduced to two terms of four years
  
• Elect half of the members of Council each election
• Elections must be held every other year

These suggestions may not satisfy those readers who complain that all everybody does is bitch and fail to make constructive criticism but they are a start!


The latest comments that Blogspot will not accept:

Wally Keeler has left a new comment on your post "Can we have it both ways?":
Wally Keeler disses the Northumberland News Report Card on Cobourg's town councillors.

More G20 opinion

Last week, on a CBC radio show it was revealed, by a protestor from Montreal, that she and many others were photographed by undercover police at the Toronto Bus Station as they dismounted. These mugshots were then used by snatch squads to pull suspects from the crowd by the police.
In a related story here, details of Police surveillance by the authorites in the UK are outlined and decried. It appears that the Police all over the world are using the same script and as such we must be aware of them, just as they must be aware that their efforts can be curbed. The County of Kent, again in the UK, has just been ordered by the courts to pay three protestors damages for unauthorised bag searches. It can be done here but first of all a reliable and impartial Inquiry must be convened. Bill Blair's kangeroo court will not suffice.

A wail from the inside

Councillor Mutton raised a legitimate concern on Monday evening and after a smidgeon of discussion was ruled out of order. She may have been out of order but the topic wasn't. Filed under the category of "if you pay peanuts you get monkeys" MM wanted to talk about a pay raise for Council. Noticing that the rest of her colleagues were earning fat pensions or married to a rich spouse she rightly asked, "What about a raise?" (paraphrased).

Ploughing old round is always tough and the last people you want to debate the topic of Council pay is the Council, for as we know each one of them will tell the public, "I don't want a raise - I would do it for nothing after all I am serving the public!" - Bollocks, each one of them is pandering to an ego or is one of the 10% of the population that likes going to meetings and opining, knowing that their opinion is being heard - they like the sound of their own voices. It is exhilerating to know that what you say is considered as important.

The problem with the present system is that there is a preponderence of the same kind of people sitting on council - retired white men who are superannuated. There are exceptions councillor Macdonald for instance was a househusband and in the past working people have served John Lindsay of the School Board and myself, who had an understanding employer. Working people are, and have been, few and far between when one looks at Council composition. One past Mayor told me that it cost her $26,000 a year just to replace her in her business when she was on Council business.

As a result this job is considered by ignorant people and the incumbents to be a part-time job. It may be, but part-time should still pay. Council members tell me that they can spend up to 20 hours a week in council duties, it should be noted that the Council meetings are only a small part of the job. Throw in dog-catching committees, police service boards and conservation authority meetings and it soon adds up.

So when the electorate looks at the elected Council after the election and mutters, "Is that all there is?' just remember there is one simple reason for this - good people want to be compensated.

Celebrating Canada Day

A Canada day rant!
Today's the day we collectively celebrate the country we live in. And as we chose it by default or purpose we must all like it here? Well I do but am perturbed by a couple of things that the Country has allowed to develop. These same concerns would be voiced if I lived in other western countries so Canada is not unique in these developments.
First of all let me define my version of Freedom. Simply put Freedom is the ability to live anywhere, behave within the bounds of decency and decorum, assemble anywhere on public property, not be subject to demands from authority to justify why I am where I am, not have to produce ID on demand and to be free from demands to open bags and be subject to search and seizure. Gee I guess I have just rambled on about the value of the Charter of Freedoms. What a wonderful document!
So why do we complain so much about these values? Because they are being eroded bit by bit and every time one of them gets chipped away the next one is at risk.
After three full days of a cacophony from the air waves about the behaviour of the Toronto Police at the G20 demos there are a couple of conclusions. One is that Proactive Policing should be examined. In other words can we allow the Police to charge into a crowd to 'snatch' suspects or do we allow the 'suspects' to put themselves into a position that proves conclusively that they are in fact perpetrators and them arest them. The other is to define just what basic rights we have. Are the bags we carry subject to random search or not. Can this basic freedom be abrogated by 'special conditions'? The classic example is that when we voluntarily go to concerts and ball games we offer our bags for search. But we also choose to be there in the first place. Walking on the sidewalk is no activity for a search or to submit to an ID check. Anecdotally I have been told, many times, that the local Police, when they stop young people at the dead of night that they are told to "empty your pockets" what justification is there for that? I am sure that the officer who demands it knows that the demand may be illegal but does it anyway knowing that few people will complain.
In this excellent essay, Murray Dobbin, writes that these events are part of a larger problem and that the Police activities are part of an effort to control the public not to contain them. In conclusion, without being dramatic all I can do is to quote Niemolle: "THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.........." - you know the rest!
So my message is be watchful and don't be afraid to speak against perceived injustice as you see it, we are allowed to do it - just don't be afraid to do it!

A postscript from another commentator here, it's about the orders, confusion and mayhem in Toronto.

Happy Canada Day

Well it's here - the HST that is. Nobody knows the impact of this tax except the consumers. they know that some goods not previously taxed will be now. And the taxes are going on the 'category-killers' of the household - utilities and gasoline. We have been told it is for our own good - the economic health of the Province needs it. Premier Dad has been primed with a report from a Professor Jack Mintz, of Calgary that if the amount of money transferred from the business side of the ledger is reinvested into the economy by retooling and keeping the money in all of the enterprises then 600,000 jobs will be created.
So there you have it folks the theory of reinvestment according to Dalton: transfer taxes from the business side to the consumer side and we will all be rich.
But here's the catch and where the BurdReport parts from the othodoxy. In order to see the theory turn into practise a couple of things have to happen: people have to be hired and prices have to go down. Because if those two things don't happen then we believe that business people, always out for a buck, will be pocketing the rebates produced by the 'input credits' and only they will have more money.
Perhaps i am being too cynical but when I see the Fraser institute and Buzz Hargrove lining up on the same side something is smelly.

If the citizens of Port Hope fall for this

They are dumber than we think. Sunbay Energy see this story, still trying to get the best deal from public money, has floated the idea of using 15 acres of land in the newly purchased Industrial Park. Wait a minute what is it that these guys do again? Deal in rubbish, any kind of rubbish and they hope to treat in with high heat to make good stuff. Does this sound like a prestige industrial plant and something to be sited next to 401, in full view of the world or even abutting residential real estate? Perhaps Curtis Chicks a longtime enterprise in Port Hope may have something to say about the number of garbage trucks coming and going. But then as an after thought CC may want them there to take there residue of good chickens**t as a feeder stock.

Just a couple of thoughts

2 hours to go

This story from the greatest Football writer alive two hours to go before the kickoff for the England Germany game, the biggest so far!
This story tells of the media war between the two rivals, interesting read.
And this classic prose from Rosie DiManno of the TOStar: "Last word goes to an English fan overheard in Durban:“The World Cup has turned out like World War II. The French surrendered early, the USA arrived late, and we’re left to fight the Germans.”

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!