What You See Isn't Neccessarily

I worked with a person on the Social Assistance Review Board. Members spent a lot of time on the road driving to and from Hearings. With nothing to do but talk, we learned a lot about each others' lives.

The member's family was down-sizing from a multi-million-dollar mansion in Monarch Park to a condo in Rosedale. The house was so big, the teen-age son's girl friend was living with him for months before his mother knew there was another person there.

They had a condo in Spain and a farm in the Caledon Hills. My colleague used phrases like
"Marvelous ,darling" and "simply divine" But she was a nice person and had her share of troubles.

Their lifestyle was changing. In the move, a lot of stuff had to be unloaded. Place settings for a hundred dinner guests, for example; crystal, sterling flatware, fine china. It was being appraised for transfer of ownership to the feds for use, possibly in the Governor-General's house, in consideration of tax relief in the amount of its full value.

I had read about storage vaults for hundreds of valuable art pieces owned by the government.It occurred to me that's probably how they came by that treasure.It was exchanged for tax relief.

It also occurred to me, if the stuff isn't needed and it costs money to store and maintain, why don't they just down -load that to bring down the deficit.

We are seeing shades of that.Susan Walmer was at Council in Committee a couple of weeks ago telling us how wonderfully fortunate we are to have thirty-nine acres of environmentally sensitive land transferred to the Oak Ridges Moraine Trust and commending Council for the agreement we have made for the privilege of maintaining and paying tax arrears on the property.

The Oak Ridges Moraine Trust had a celebratory event to mark the transfer of ownership at the beginning of the term. It was referred to as a donation.I think. The land is out there on Leslie Street. Not of much use for current recreation purposes.

At Council last week, Ms Walmer was back again to fill in a few details she had left out the week before, when no cameras were present.

Councillor MacEachern felt it would be useful to provide more for the benefit of people watching at home. The Mayor added a bit as well.

It's funny how cameras are a good thing when they want to convey information. When I state a preference for debate with cameras present, the Mayor deems that to be a "modus operandi".

So, we did acquire more information. We learned when the land title was transferred in consideration of tax relief to its full appraised value, there was a condition. No public access to the property for a period of ten years.

Essentially, the owners received full value of the land and continued to enjoy private ownership for a further ten years.

The thirty-nine acres is part of a parcel. The rest will be developed in time. Being environmentally sensitive, the piece may very well have been designated to the municipality at the time of site plan approval.

Ownership and stewardship would have been ours. The town would determine use . It would have become a town asset.

As it is, the Oak Ridges Moraine Trust, Executive Director Susan Walmer, has ownership.
They decide the use . By a "marvelous,darling" agreement, we get to pay tax arrears and costs to maintain the property.

Further, we have not for the past four years, and will not for another six, even get to take a walk in the woods in that thirty nine acres of "simply divine " environmentally sensitive woodland.

Councillor MacEachern and the Mayor both feel that's cheap at the price.

The Mayor says there's a financial advantage of $85ks to the town but wasn't able to explain how the figure is calculated.

Town Treasurer couldn't come up with an explanation either.