Category Archives: Politics

Posts relating to the politics of a greener planet

A Government Lacking in Maskulinity

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MASKULINITY: the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of an intelligent, empathetic personRestore the Mask Mandate! – CUPE 3902

This week in Ontario it was announced that we had a perfect viral storm sweeping across Ontario. The flu, which had already swept across the southern hemisphere, arrived here early. That, combined with the continuing spread of COVID-19 and the reappearance of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) created this perfect storm. It is  particularly affecting the health of our children. Paediatric care centres at our hospitals are swamped trying to deal with the surge in respiratory illnesses.

Doctors and Medical Officers of Health across Ontario are asking us to do one simple thing: WEAR A MASK!  They are even asking for the province to reinstate the mask mandate. But Dr. Kieran Moore takes his marching orders from Premier Ford. And the good premier, sadly lacking in maskulinity, is making wearing a mask in public settings optional. The reason? Fear of the rabid 30% of the Canadian population who are aggressive and intimidating anti-maskers. Yes, a recent Nanos Research poll found that 70% of Canadians would support a return to the mask mandate in order to calm this perfect storm.

I would hazard a guess that these 30% also support the misguided Freedumb Philosophy of the Ottawa  occupation terrorist Fruckers, anti-vaxxers, anti-science, anti-community health mob. Possibly also some of the crowd who painted their trucks and protest signs with slogans that they wanted to have sex with our Prime Minister.

And so this populist government will respond as it always has to a crisis. It will keep Ontario Open for Business until  perfect storm peaks in the winter of 2023 and the health care system is overwhelmed. It will wait until parents and children start to die, Remember that old adage: “A stitch in time saves nine.” It would be important for this government to remember it’s better to solve a problem right away, to stop it becoming a much bigger one.

A return to a mask mandate is that stitch in time. The resistant 30% need to up their maskulinity before we all pay the piper for their selfishness. The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

* image from CUPE 3902

Doug Ford and the Children

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford, 9:00 a.m. Monday November 7, 2022:

“As a gesture of good faith our government is willing to rescind the legislation, are willing to rescind section 33, but only if CUPE agrees to show a similar gesture of good faith by stopping their strike, and letting our kids back into their classrooms.”

 

The following Q & A is a satire of the press conference that followed that statement ….

Q: Premier Ford, have you changed your position on your use of the notwithstanding clause because of the threat of a general strike across Ontario?

A: No, no, not at all. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. Those poor kids, their little psyches scarred from staying at home, their marks falling, my popularity plummeting. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, is it true that you were receiving pressure from business and labour leaders across the country that your use of the notwithstanding clause was a really, really bad idea?

A: No, no, not at all. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. Those poor kids, their little psyches scarred from staying at home, their marks falling, my popularity plummeting. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, has pressure from this political protest, coupled with the public outcry over your broken promise to never open the Greenbelt to developers, placed your leadership in jeopardy?

A: No, no, not at all. All these little children I love will need homes one day once they graduate, or drop out like I did. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. These kids will get jobs and buy homes in the former Greenbelt one day. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, are the developers who want to build homes in the former Greenbelt under pressure from their labour unions to get you to reverse your stance on the ill-advised use of the notwithstanding clause.

A: No, no,not at all. The construction guys and gals love me. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. Those poor kids, their little psyches scarred from staying at home, their marks falling, my popularity plummeting. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, some have criticized the content and tone of your speech this morning as insincere. What is your comment on that observation.

A: Hey, it worked during the last Ontario election, We’ll just keep numbing and dumbing Ontario down until we win another majority. My marketing team can take toxic manure and spin it into sentimental mush faster than you can drain a wetland. Once we shift all the blame for this disruption to CUPE, the public will be back on our side. Those poor children, those suffering parents. After this great speech, everyone’s gonna believe that I do it all for the kids. Really.

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UPDATE: Within hours of the Premier’s announcement, CUPE announced that their workers will be back in the classrooms on Tuesday. Now let’s see how long “as soon as possible’ is for the Ford government to repeal Bill 28 in its entirety, as promised.

Skid Crease, Caledon

 

The Morning After Pill

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Last night, at 8:00 p.m. when the polls closed on our 2022 Ontario municipal elections, I dutifully removed all my election signs from my lawn. The party was over, the votes had been cast, the people would have chosen, and we awaited the results. I had selected my candidate for Mayor based on her qualifications, track record and lifelong defence of the Town of Caledon. But sometimes the best person for the job doesn’t always win. Sometimes the person with the most signs wins.

This morning I woke up early to find an illegally placed “Annette Groves for Mayor” sign on my front lawn without my permission. There are only a few people in Town stupid enough to ever put that name on my lawn. It was one of those low-life vindictive touches that only the bottom of the barrel can deliver. I burst out laughing. That gesture said it all: this is what we can expect in Caledon for the next four years, so we might as well get a good chuckle out of it.

When I was asked for a prediction for the election last week. I replied, “In a world that could elect Donald Trump president of the USA, Doug Ford as premier of Ontario, Pierre Poilievre as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and Danielle Smith as leader of the United Conservative Party of Alberta,  anything is possible.” 

The people are a little crazy right now with pandemic weariness, economic pressures, and populist fake news that has made our minds numb. In that state it is easy to fall prey to the most aggressive predator, to take out our frustration on “the other”, to be swayed by misinformation.

And so we make bad decisions. There is no morning after pill for this one. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ve got four years before the next report card is delivered, and we’ll be using the new “full disclosure”  curriculum to evaluate this Council’s progress. It’s hard to beat honesty and integrity. The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon 

 

Partisan Politics

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Does anyone know this man? (photo taken by neighbourhood security camera) The papers in his hands are third party advertising “report cards” on candidates in our municipal election.

Last week in Caledon, this man was reported to be handing out “report cards” on the two mayoral candidates. He claimed to be a non-partisan citizen volunteering for an “independent” third party. A homeowner noted that  the material being handed out was totally biased towards one mayoral candidate. The homeowner, concerned about the man’s aggressive behaviour, shared his concerns in a letter to me. The full text of that letter is printed below.

The report card on candidates that the “volunteer” was circulating appear to be the work of Third Party advertiser Kathleen Wilson and her Facebook page “A Better Caledon” which is promoting the mayoral bid of only one candidate, 

The homeowner recognized the bias and asked the volunteer to identify himself. The man said his name was “Mike” but no last name was given. If anyone can identify “Mike” from that security camera  photograph, please respond to this post.

Skid Crease, Caledon

***

Anonymous Concerned Citizen’s letter, as sent to me on October 19, 2022 The letter actually names names, but I have replaced the mayoral candidate’s name with an “X” until verification of the identity of the man in the photo is confirmed

“Last Friday I was at home and heard the doorbell ring and I proceeded to open the door. I figured this was a candidate lobbying me for his support for the upcoming municipal election. Being a person who supports our democratic process, I always listen to all candidates and allow them to elaborate on their platform.Instead, I was greeted by a very aggressive man that presented me with what he said was an unbiased third party report card* on the current council. I allowed him to speak and present his points, however the more he went on the more I realized he was actually campaigning for “X” and defaming other candidates. When he finished I let him know that it seemed that he was biased and I asked him if he was working with the ‘X” Campaign because of the way he was speaking so poorly of the other candidates? He was very adamant that he was not working with “X”and that was working with an independent 3rd party to share this report. I knew something was off with his story and when I asked for his name he responded, “Mike.“

The conversation went on for about 5 minutes and I asked this man 3 times if he was supporting any candidate and he always replied that he was not campaigning for any candidates and he wanted to share the truth. We eventually ended our conversation. He left.

I know well enough that these types of reports are supposed to be objective. However I found this report to be very subjective, leading readers to false assumptions by not telling the whole story.

I was puzzled by this interaction and it left me feeling very uncomfortable. I reached out to a family friend who has been a citizen of Caledon for years and I explained this usual interaction. As I started to describe the individual, my friend immediately said that this was “X’s” Husband. I sent a photo of the individual and he confirmed that it was indeed the ex-husband of “X”.

Why would this man lie about who he was? Why did he give me a different name? Why wouldn’t he just tell me that he was out campaigning for his ex-wife? At least I would have understood his motives for knocking on my door.

Is this “X’s” strategy? Having her ex-husband lying about who he is  to manipulate and misinform citizens. Is this not a contravention of the Election By-law when an individual misrepresents their candidate affiliation to the electoral public.

This incident has me questioning “X’s” motives and integrity. Elections should be about going door to door listening to the community and their issues while promoting your campaign platform. Instead “X” is  using misinformation and bashing the other candidates.

I’ve attached a photo of “Mike” going door to door and a photo of the ex-husband wearing a shirt promoting “X” and I’ll let you be the judge.

The citizens of Caledon have the right to know that “X” is not playing by the rules. I believe you are the means of getting this out to Caledon public.

I am available to answer any of your questions but I would like to remain anonymous if you don’t mind.

Kind regards,

Concerned Citizen

 

Bolton’s Trojan Horse

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Before we begin this cautionary tale, remember the name MJJJ Developments.

Trust me.

Trojan Horse - 44168726

There are very few people who are not aware of the famous story of the Trojan Horse. It harkens back to the days of Greek legends when their army was attacking Troy but seemed unable to breach the walls of the great city. One morning the Trojans woke up to see that the Greek army and ships had disappeared, but standing outside the gates of the city was a magnificent huge wooden horse.

The Trojans thought that this was a tribute to Troy and they dragged the great horse through the gates into the city centre. Victory celebrations ensued with much drinking and carousing until the victorious Trojans eventually passed out for the night. Little did they know that in the hollow belly of the horse a group of Greek soldiers were hiding. Under cover of darkness, they climbed out, opened the city gates for the returning Greek army, and sacked the city of Troy. Thus was born the expression, ”Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”

Legend has it that the surviving Trojans fled to Italy carrying their mythology with them and became the foundation of the Roman Empire. That was then. But the hard lesson learned by the Trojans still holds true today.

Here’s a modern version. Imagine that a local company wants to build an asphalt processing plant in the prestige industrial area of your town. The problem is that the Town Council and the citizens of the Town and the other businesses in the prestige industrial area are opposed to the idea of petrochemical pollution fouling the air of their community and endangering their health. So the clever company enlists the help of a local community “leader” to help drag a Trojan Horse into the Town. It is disguised as a bocce centre, a “gift” to the Town, for which the Town will pay thousands of dollars in perpetuity for the upkeep of the “gift.” The “leader” who brought the “gift” into Town repeatedly acclaims the health and recreation benefits this “gift” will bring to a minuscule portion of the town’s population.

However, hidden inside the belly of the Trojan horse bocce centre is an asphalt processing plant. And last week the belly of the beast opened up with the approval of the Ontario Land Tribunal. That interim approval did not come easily. Someone must have facilitated a lot of coaching in 2018 and 2019 to help the company navigate the environmental requirements of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. That coaching paved the way for the company’s successful appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. The asphalt processing plant will now be built and the town will be sacked with petrochemical pollution for generations to come. Not just a tiny portion of the town’s population. Everyone.

***

Remember that name MJJJ Developments? That’s the company whose lawyers successfully argued against the wishes of the Town and its citizens and its businesses. You can read part of the story in the October 13, 2022 edition of the Caledon Citizen. I am always intrigued when a company slides its brand name under layers. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Ozark. In this case, MJJJ Developments is Dig-Con International Ltd is DiGregorio International Paving & Construction Ltd.

Bocce anyone?

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

On a more positive Note: “Boccia Canada is the boccia delivery arm of the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association focused on providing athletes and individuals of all ages with the chance to play a unique Paralympic sport.

Boccia Canada is committed to supporting boccia athletes, coaches, partners and volunteers to achieve their potential. We strive to offer opportunities for individuals to participate at all levels and encourage people to get involved in boccia in any way possible.”