"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Codes Of Conduct And Other Acts Of Monumental Stupidity


I watched Newmarket Council last night.

Oh My Sweet Lord!

I had no idea .

I watched a grown man weep.

I watched Councillors disclaim authority  to hold another Councillor accountable.

The principle was stated  only the electorate  has  power to pass judgement on  conduct of a Councillor.

They who give shall take away.  Maybe.


I watched  the virtuous one  deny the tenet completely and   continue to heap coals of fire on the head of the weeping Councillor.


It was a scene from Dante's Inferno.

They debated the Code of Conduct. They have never had an Integrity Commissioner. They were calling upon  resources of the Chief Administrative Officer to handle complaints against Councillors.

How appropriate is that?

Last night, they decided to scrap that part of the Code that allows Councillors to attack Councillors at no expense to themselves.

They agreed,  if  a Councillors have disagreements with another Councillor,  they should duke it out at their own expense.

 Taxpayers money should not be used.

What a novel notion.

So another Code  bites the dust. 

A reliable source has informed me ,Councils all over Ontario are chucking Codes. Think of the litter aand the broken dreams.

It  means of course  corruption  and unseemly conduct will run rampant in  the ranks of  municipal elected officials all  across the land.  No longer will fat documents, full of fatuous rules, by plump lawyers for  fat fees, be written  to guide  nitwits in their conduct. 


What  a shame?  The sky is falling. The world must indeed be coming to an end.


Just when  genius in charge of  Aurora Farmers' Market have composed  their own Cof C  to deal with whatever evil  lurks beneath  mounds  of tomatoes and potatoes that appear on Wells Street stalls on Saturday mornings..

Well what else are we to think?

When  the jam lady, who makes jam, is compelled  to form  an edict whereby potato and tomato growers must be alerted to where the devil lurks and  how to avoid his evil coils.

Nigel Kean started the Market. But  it was massive knife-wielding moustachioed Granger who chased little girls selling iced lollies from a bicycle cart,  who  gave them their constitution..

Now look how far they have come from  humble beginnings.

         To  market, to market, to buy a fat pig,
         Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.

   



9 comments:

Something Fishy in Aurora said...

Well, at least the Newmarket Farmers Market isn't that far away....

Anonymous said...

We always tried to use the Aurora Market despite seeing when we went to the Fairy Lake Artisans event that Newmarket's have a much better stocked and set-up out-fit. It would be a shame of the local one condemned itself internally because people genuinely liked to meet and talk there. But the feeling of uneasiness of vendors may pass along to purchasers. It is certainly not the fault of individual booth operators but they may pay the price for the stupidity. We will have to see if this Code thing makes a difference.

Anonymous said...

The Farmers' Market should be evicted from the park in the centre of town to a distant field.

And if this stupidly childish Code is continued they should be shipped out of Aurora altogether.

Anonymous said...

It would appear to me that the latest Code of Conduct to surface in Aurora is in direct conflict with Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Council should direct the Town Solicitor to demand that the Farmers' Market code be scrapped or the Executive of this group should be prepared to face the full majesty of the law.

Anonymous said...

Don't know what their Constitution allows but if they voted Jan in, surely they can vote her out? Unless she is 'appointed for life' ? I suspect most vendors are concerned as well they should be. It will be up to them and their families to deal with her. We cannot help them.

Anonymous said...

"Don't know what their Constitution allows but if they voted Jan in, surely they can vote her out? Unless she is 'appointed for life' ? I suspect most vendors are concerned as well they should be. It will be up to them and their families to deal with her. We cannot help them."

You cannot vote someone OUT. You can not re-elect but we do not have a mechanism to recall.

What hyperbole.

Anonymous said...

I have only lived in this town for a few years and have never ceased shaking my head in disbelief at the way business is conducted. This town is run by a few little Hitlers who, because of their bloated perceptions of their own self-importance, believe they have the right to dictate how everyone should behave.
Never have I lived in a place like this. If it were an individual, it would have been referred to a psychiatrist long ago. This town is in serious need of help for its mental health. It's about time that the town collective put a stop to the megalamaniacal few.

Anonymous said...

to Anonymous 9 May, 2012 1:25 PM...

Just who are, in your opinion, the "megalamaniacal few"?

I have lived in this Town since 1994 and the council then seemd to be just as F'd up as the council now. Maybe it's the water or the air.

The council then consisted of a lot of old "farts" that could not come to grips with the fact that the Town was becoming the bedroom community that it is now.

I knew one of the then councillors and I remember him telling me that everyone around the table were really nice people, on their own and outside the chambers. Once they sat around that table, he said they turned into a different group.

Anonymous said...

The "megalomaniacal few" area those little Hitler-types who feel who feel that they have the right to dictate what others do or how they should do it. They insinuate themselves into positions where they feel thay have the power to do this. The reference was not restricted to any particular faction, council or otherwise. It refers to self-important individuals who band together to dictate to others and thereseems to be a disproportinate abundance if thos in this town, unlike all other places I have lived.