"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

Monday 23 July 2012

Legislation Not Worth a Hill of Beans

Much as I would like to, it would not be wise to publish your comments on the status of my legal action against the former Mayor and followers
They are a dodgy lot for sure. 
At the time of notice of the action , Evalina MacEachern was quoted as assuring the others the whole thing was a joke. 
Al Wilson was quoted , in his judgement ,
" She'll be dead before the case ever gets to court".
It has been an interesting journey and an educational process.
When it's over, I will share the entire experience. 
It might be useful to  municipal  Councillors who find themselves, despite being citizens of  a country with a Charter of Rights , and a Province rife with rules and regulations to guarantee integrity in municipal government, as part of a Council  with a majority who   recognize no limits to their power.
I hear Codes of Conduct are no longer popularly regarded as a guarantee that those elected to office will conduct themselves in an honest and straightforward fashion.
What a ridiculous notion that people given  trust and confidence 
at the polls require  a document to spell out what exactly what is required of them  . 
Remember how it started:
Spending on computers in  Toronto  escalated to millions,while the salesman wined and dined and romanced a finance official. Mysterious payments appeared in bank accounts, mansions were purchased and expensive Disneyland family vacations were enjoyed with no obvious means of payment. Furtive comings and goings came and went  in the underground parking at City Hall. 
Madam Justice Bellamy carried out a Commission of Inquiry and uncoverd the  whole seamy,degrading mess .for all the world to see at a cost of $13 to $14 millon dollars. 
The Province played a lament on  the fiddle and drew up permissive legislation for municipalities to create Codes of Conduct compleat  with a means of punishing  recalcitrant  Councillors guilty of such reprehensible conduct.
Former municipal lawyers exulted at the new found source of easy money  and  taxpayers groaned under the burden.
Years passed . No notable benefit resulted from the legislation. 
So...what else is new?.  

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fair enough. Since I do not know anything about your case except that it seems to be taking an excessive amount of time, I will risk a generality. Due process is a Crock.

Anonymous said...

You are right, of course. But it seems weird that an entire town watches what they say and write for years because of the actions of a few nut-bars with delusions of power.

Anonymous said...

It is like at the Olympics where everything is being ' dumbed down ' for business reasons. You can only pay with Visa and only eat McDonald's french fries. One pub had to take the first initial from their sign and be called Lympic for the duration.

Anonymous said...

In London you won;t likely get shot in a theatre. But your odds on getting smacked by a cab when you look the wrong way stepping off a curb are awesome.

Anonymous said...

We might not do too badly in tennis. Of course, Serena is a slight problem on the ladies side.

Anonymous said...

6:36 PM If you stick to central London, they have the intersections marked with ' Look Left " in big letters on the pavement and crosswalks. It helps a bit.

Anonymous said...

No! No ! No ! You have to look RIGHT! RIGHT? RIGHT!