Tag Archives: Riley Murphy

What’s the Rush?

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Some members of Caledon Town Council are in quite a rush to pass a new fill By-law for the Town. However, those same Councillors are not so keen to have legitimate public understanding of or informed input into the final version of that law. It is but another example of “developer influenced” democracy in the Town of Caledon.

Consider that a public meeting and Open House to review a new By-law dealing with procedural issues is being given five hours for presentation and discussion time. The new fill By-law, which will impact the health of Caledon for decades, is being given a two hour Open House presentation and discussion window. Someone is stacking the deck.

The Town has admitted that the urgency to pass the new By-law is being done “to accommodate a prominent developer.” The same developer for whom Premier Ford was going to change the route of the proposed 413  highway to benefit one of the developer’s projects. It seems that the philanthropic developer from Vaughan, Mr. Nicholas Cortellucci is the driving force behind Council’s rush to change the fill By-law.

The object of  his desire, in this case, is the property known locally as Swan Lake located at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad. Despite Ontario policies protecting water bodies from receiving waste soil, the developer and some members of the Caledon Town Council think it’s OK to change Caledon’s fill By-laws to allow this to happen quickly.

No, it’s not OK. It is a perversion of democracy and a betrayal of promises made to protect Caledon’s environment and greenspaces, to reduce dangerous truck traffic, and to listen to the voices of your constituents. The very successful and wonderfully philanthropic Mr. Cortellucci does not deserve to have his name dragged through the mud just because some members on Town of Caledon Council picked the wrong Lake to try to fill with waste soil.

Increase the Open House time, increase the question and answer time for this By-Law, and bring back participatory democracy.

Once upon a time our Strong Mayor, Annette Groves, said: “As part of Pits to Parks, the town would like CVC (Credit Valley Conservation Authority) to consider investigating the potential acquisition of the property at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad given this property’s proximity to the Pinchin Pit,”

Yep, time to reconsider. The way I see it.

Stand on Guard?

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The formerly petulant, provocative, partisan, populist Pierre Poilievre is back, and the leopard hasn’t changed its spots. Ridden on a rail out of Ottawa for his support of the insurrectionist Truckers’s Convoy and its occupation of the Capital, Mr. Poilievre was banished by Ottawa voters.

Enter the good ultra Conservatives from Alberta, who gave up a justly won seat by Damien Kurek, a well respected member of the Battle River-Crowfoot community, so that Poilievre could win a by-election. Yep, not even the Long Ballot could stop the shamed Poilievre from winning a seat in rural south eastern Alberta. He has now earned the moniker Parachute Pierre.

In the U.S.A. they would call him a carpetbagger, and it didn’t take him long to revert to the same populist Republican playbook that cost the Conservatives the last election. Sloganeering, innuendo insults, the blame game, the staged photo ops – nothing has changed. Prime Minister Mark Carney could have held off the by-election much longer, but he acted with integrity. Poilievre has responded by thanking him with populist slogans like “Axe the Carbon Tax 2.0”  and “Jail not bail”

Parachute Pierre used to blame all of Canada’s ills on Justin Trudeau. With Prime Minister Carney in charge, Poilievre now simply targets “The Liberals” as the source of all evil. At a recent photo op in Brampton, close to the riding of Brampton North-Caledon Liberal MP Ruby Sahota (the actual Secretary of State for Combating Crime) Mr. Poilievre announced his “Stand on Guard” law.

While gaslighting a Brampton family as his backdrop, Poilievre announced “After ten years of Liberals, the system treats victims like criminals and criminals like victims.” Nonsense. This all relates to a home invasion where the perpetrator, the criminal, was incapacitated by the homeowner, the victim, who was subsequently charged with assault. Note, None of the details of the assault were released, which leads one to wonder why Parachute Pierre leapt to the defense of the homeowner.

The police made the assault charge, indicating that they thought the amount of force used to stop the intruder was unreasonable. Mr. Poilievre finds this offensive. Under Canadian law we are allowed to stop any intruder/attacker with reasonable force. That means that once the attacker/intruder has been neutralized either through a de-escalation talk or by a physical response, that you stop applying force. But Parachute Pierre wants no limits to the force you apply to stopping an intruder. “The use  of force, including lethal force is presumed to be reasonable against an individual who unlawfully enters a house and poses a threat to anyone inside.” This is a close copy of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law that allows you to shoot and possibly kill anyone “invading” your property.

Think of Rodney King. Think of Dudley George. Think of the death of Sammy Yatim by police officer James Forcillo – way beyond excessive force. Now think of the North York van attack by Alek Venassian, who wanted “death by cop” but was calmed down by Officer Kenny Lam. There are choices.

Caledon MP Kyle Seeback appears to be echoing the same sentiments when he recently claimed, “Soft on crime Liberal laws are having Canadians living in fear.” Whoa, slow down there, Mr. Seeback. My family is not living in fear, except for the truck traffic in Caledon. You seem to forget that the “soft on crime” bail system in Canada is a partnership between the federal and provincial governments. Bail rights are protected by the Canadian  Constitution. I am not living in fear, YOU are creating a crisis.

In the press statement from your website, you added that “Under Mark Carney’s Liberal Government, repeat violent offenders are being released onto our streets, families are paying the price while the system keeps giving second third and even fifth chances to dangerous criminals'”  I think you need to slow down a little Mr. Seeback and first talk with fellow Conservative, the Honourable Zee Hamid, Ontario MPP on bail reform, as well as your your colleague in Ottawa, neighbour Ruby Sahota, our “Crime and Punishment” mentor.

You are right about one thing – Canadians do need to feel safe in their homes and secure in the knowledge that the reasonable use of force to defend one’s self and family from uninvited intruders, will remain protected by our Constitution,

Sadly Kyle, based on your ten years of blame game chatter, and Mr. Poilievre’s lifetime spouting of prickly propaganda, I doubt if the Conservatives will be much help.

The way I see it.

 

A Brief History of the 413

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Once upon a time in Ontario, way back in 2002, a Premier named Michael Deane Harris was promoting what he called “A Common Sense Revolution.” Part of that common sense was recognizing that very wealthy and influential developers have lots of money to grease the wheels of industry and fill political war chests.

So, in order to help them boost the value of their lands in north Brampton and south Caledon, Mike and his friends came up with the concept of the GTA East West Economic Corridor. This was the birth of what would become the proposed 413 highway. The original concept morphed into the GTA West Corridor, until the plan was canned by the Kathleen Wynne Liberal government.

Enter Doug Ford and his cohort of developers who still want to boost the value of their lands. Now we have the proposed 413 Highway and extension that originally was intended to connect to Guelph, and Kitchener-Waterloo with their universities. That was shortened to become a route that would link Vaughan to Caledon through Brampton to Halton Hills.

The most recent “developer influenced” request to reroute the 413 in order to boost the value of  his lands came straight to Premier Ford and he said, “Yes.” Then he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar (AGAIN) and in a recent press conference had to admit to his misdemeanour and go back to the pre- developer influenced plan for the proposed 413. And right beside him, in his public admission of the developer influencers, was the Mayor of Caledon, “bang on” in agreement with the Premier, according to him.

Also witnessing this spectacle  was Conservative MPP Sylvia Jones, she who was an absentee landlord during the Covid epidemic, claiming that this would provide more time for families to be together. Well, the studies are mixed on whether or not the proposed 413 extension will provide any gridlock relief whatsoever. Sylvia, your warm and fuzzy family time stories may make good optics, but they have no basis in reality. Your story has no plot. You are selling a pipe dream, and no dream catcher in the world will help you when the public wakes up.

Dear constituent, you are being fed one of the biggest lies of the decade, next to Donald Trump being the Second Coming. “We are building this highway to help reduce your travel time, and increase your family time, and prevent gridlock. Actually, if I must be truthful Ontario, we, your government, are promoting this proposed highway so that friends of mine can make a whole lot of money.” Quote from an unnamed Ontario Conservative politician who can neither  confirm nor deny that they were part of this interview.

And that’s just the tip of the “developer influenced” iceberg. The way I see it.

 

UPDATED … The Why Before the What

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Often in education, dealing with discipline problems, we avoid the WHY question and concentrate instead on WHAT did you do? It’s the Barbara Coloroso school of classroom management. And it worked.

The WHY question leads to, “My father drinks,” or “My mother beats me.” None of that solves the behaviour problem. The WHAT is simple: “I hit Jasmean.” If we had asked WHY did you hit Jasmean, we could have had a myriad of answers. “Is it acceptable to hit someone else in a discussion?” “No.” “How will you avoid this the next time you and Jasmean have a disagreement?” “We will talk it out or I will come to see you.”

Problem solving 101. It’s easy in the classroom with fresh minds. It’s not the same in civics with ambitious politicians. If you need to track down the root of an issue, you have to go to the WHY first. Why is Doug Ford pushing a housing crisis? Why are all of his developer friends supporting this push to unaffordable housing? Why was Bill 3 attached to cash incentives for municipalities to build more homes? Follow the money trail.

This isn’t just a Caledon  issue. This is a southern Ontario issue. Wherever there is liveable real estate available, someone is going to make a bundle. Unless you get kicked out of messing with Niagara-on-the-Lake. So, why re-route the 413 extension? WHY? Who stands to benefit from housing close to smooth transportation in those areas? Could the requests to reroute be coming from the the influential developers who flock to Ford’s fundraisers?  From one hand to the other.

This issue isn’t about our little Mayor. This issue is about the Ford’s government’s passing of Bills that allowed this to happen. This is about the influence of private money on public policy. From Bill 3 onward we can clearly see the “WHY” and then we can get to the WHAT. What do we do about a system that is so corrupted in self aggrandizing greed that it destroys communities and ecosystems.

None of the developers involved are to be condemned. Most are hard working individuals who have struggled through immigration, from construction trades to large development projects, to building financial empires. They all give back generously from their profits to local groups, Especially at Doug Ford  events. And they put their names on medical facilities and just so we don’t forget how caring they are. I would have preferred The Vaughan General Hospital, but there’s no community adulation to a family’s name in that generic title.

If you want to know the WHAT is happening here, you have to trace the WHY. Follow the money trail. Billions are about to be made on the reroute of the 413, and our abandoned Science Centre is a sign of things to come – a symbol of Doug Ford and his Conservative government’ uncaring incompetence. Swan Lake is our canary in a developer’s coal mine.

Yes indeed, It’s like Leonard Cohen sings … “Everybody knows!”

UPDATE:     The Ford government has admitted that the rerouting of the proposed Hwy 413 was “developer influenced.”  Thanks to the astute questioning of  Caledon Citizen reporter Riley Murphy, he admitted it at a press conference on Wednesday, August 27, 2025. Premier Ford, with Mayor Annette Groves by his side, proudly announced the awarding of the first construction contracts in Caledon. Smoke and mirrors.

Ford went on to say about the developer’s request, “It was common sense; the Mayor and I are bang on with this.”

The Mayor of Caledon also admitted that “It isn’t unusual to have [developer influenced] requests, requests are made all the time.” Yes indeed, like the one made by the same developer to dump his construction waste into a freshwater lake in the middle of a fully rehabilitated greenspace. Common sense? I  think the cheese is sliding off your toast, Doug and Annie.

Remember this is a proposed highway. It is not a done deal, although the Conservative government’s photo ops would make you think otherwise. The TRCA has still not approved the route through the Humber River watershed. The construction contracts in Caledon are for the paving of Highway 10, and upgrades on the 401/407 interchange. There is NO construction beginning on the proposed 413 highway!

Ford’s talk of using the possibility of the 413’s construction as a tool for standing up to President Trump is ludicrous. Ford and Trump and Poilievre and Groves are all working from the same playbook. The good Premier doesn’t care about how many hours we spend trapped in gridlock with our precious family time being lost. The man who would have carved up the Greenbelt cares about one thing. Helping his developer horde make as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

Mr. Ford wants to be Captain Canada. Ms. Groves wants to be Queen of Caledon. Let’s just hope that our dumbed down constituents wake up in time.

The way I see it.

p.s. Stayed tuned for a brief history of the 413. It all started in 2002 with Mike Harris and his “Common Sense Revolution” that nearly ruined Ontario.

When the Fish Rots …

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One of the cornerstones of environmental literacy is the ability to detect and analyse patterns and understand how those patterns connect. Those can be patterns in the behaviour of animals and plants, weather and climate change, and the physical processes and properties of Earth. It can also be applied to politics and responsible governance.

In the natural world, for example, what is behind the connection between a decline of wolf populations in the North and a dramatic rise of the Canada Jay population? Turns out that when the wolf population is eliminated, the moose population booms. With all those moose around, the moose tick population explodes. In mating season, the male Canada Jay loves to offer a fresh juicy moose tick to his prospective mate, which leads to a lot of baby jays! It also leads to a severe infestation of ticks. More on this in a later post.

Applied to human behaviours, the search for patterns is equally revealing. Consider the old biblical adage from Timothy 6:10: “Love of money is the root of all evil,” along with the more modern observance that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Add a little lust into the mix and you have the Holy Netflix Trinity of sex, money, and power that makes the wheels of a corrupt government go round and round.

Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that we observe a pattern of powerful monied people donating to politicians’ campaigns and fundraisers, and then being granted the fast track to their projects without regard for the rules of law. Let’s say that those politicians claim that they are only helping their constituents move the projects along, and show little or no remorse when accused of breaking the codes of conduct for their office. Let’s say that they then publish glowing media reports about how happy their constituents are while also attacking any citizens who expose their questionable integrity.

That particular pattern would indicate a less than responsible state of governance. One in which money and power, rather than the voice of the people and the laws of the land, manipulate the decisions of government. If we introduce sex into that mix, consensual relationships between, let’s say, a Governor and a Land Baron, then we have a conflict of interest situation which would render any decisions made by that Governor suspect and invalid. Hypothetically speaking.

As Hamlet said, “More honoured in the breach than the observance. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. That one may smile and smile and be a villain.”

There’s an old saying that the fish rots from the head. It actually starts to rot from the guts and that rot spreads through the whole body. Maybe it’s time to get some fresh fish.

The way I see it