"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

Thursday 13 June 2013

Deja vu

We have seen it before. 

It has happened again recently.

A resident took  the microphone, courtesy of council and prattled  about  personal real estate matters in her neighborhood , the vicinity of the newest of twenty-one  celll towers erected within the municipality.

 I heard my name. Then the word disrespectful. I glanced at the Mayor to ensure he was on top of the situation . Later I asked the Councillor nearest the speaker what exactly was said. 

Apparently the comment, addressed to myself was that I should  not  speak if I was going to be disrespectful. 

I said all I had to say about the Bell Cell tower erected in a field on  King Twp. side of Bathurst Street during Council's debate on the issue. 

Later, putting the dots together, I made  the connection. 

During the  controversy involving about fifty homes, Councillors received a flurry of  e-mails.

I didn't do my usual thing of responding to each. Town staff ,other Councillors and the Mayor  were all engaged running around like chickens with heads cut off trying to make the problem disappear.

I did speak to the issue at Council.  I had no interest in spending $150,000 of taxpayers money on a futile  gesture. 

I don't live within the distance that made me eligible for notice of intent to erect a tower .The resident at the microphone was one of the ten who did and  failed to use the  opportunity for input prior to the cell tower erection. . 

After the initial  furious flurry, I received a late e-mail from a resident who posed several questions for me to answer. 

I acknowledged  his communication and  posed several  questions to answer to himself. 

An e-mail campaign generally has a lengthy circulation list. The late  e-mail to me must have been on the list and the  e-mail from me was likely  returned to the entire list. 

I received a response from Councillor Gallo requesting that I remove his name from the list because he did not want to be associated with insults and disrespect to residents. It was promptly followed by one from Councillor Ballard echoing the sentiment. 

Both  reflected the oft-expressed philosophy of Councillor Gaertner that a Councillor's job is to give 
"the people" whatever they  wish. Kind of like a Fairy Godmother. 

It's a philosophy I do not share. 

I e-mailed back  if they knew how to remove themselves from someone else's circulation list they should do so immediately.  I would not be offended.

I sit alongside Councillor Gallo at the Council table. He sits next to Councillor Ballard. Afterwards, no hint was given to the exchange .

I figured  it wasn't on the record for my benefit. But  instead for the people on the circulation list.To make  the right impression. To ensure the residents knew who their real friends were. 

And  that's what prompted the resident  with the cell tower problem to come to Council , take  microphone , courtesy of Council, and blow a  fart in my  general direction. 

Like I said a couple of weeks ago. Councillors are just people the same as everybody else. It's functioning in the fish bowl of politics that makes them behave in  weird and ludicrous fashion. 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...


Both Ballard and Gallo should remove themselves from the Council table unless they have something positive to contribute. Their constant negativity is like the corrosive drip of acid from a leaking battery.

Gaertner might as well go and live in Lewis Carroll's fictional world. There she might find creatures with whom she feels at home and who can understand what she is saying.

Anonymous said...

I am befuddled by councillor Gallo. Simply cannot get a handle on his thinking. There is a twit from him to councillor Ballard once more moaning about the Code of Ethics lacking ' teeth '. Why is he so determined to find a way to ' punish ' fellow councillors? It is just a little bit sick.

Anonymous said...

It amazes me - even in 2013 - how most people have absolutely NO knowledge of how to use email effectively. Even in the corporate environment that I work in I see endless stupid things with email. I think the fact that you can respond to something with a click of a button prevents people from thinking.

Anonymous said...

Like small children, some councillors seem capable of saying the most peculiar, even hurtful, things & then forgetting about it in the next moment. Most people grow out of that & discover that such moments are not forgotten by the targets.

Anonymous said...

You reap what you sow...

Anonymous said...

Canadian Press
Senators Brazeau & Harb get 30 days to repay disallowed living expenses.

Anonymous said...

To 10:36 AM
Do you believe that those e-mails that were supposedly destroyed by the Ontario Liberals are truly gone? I don't know enough about how they work.

Anonymous said...


Dalton McGuinty will receive $313,000 in severance pay from 23 years spent in Ontario politics.

The formula for this calculation gives MPPs with more than eight years' service 1.5 times their average annual salary for their highest three consecutive years.

Apparently provincial legislature members do not have a pension plan, unlike federal MPs.

But there would be nothing stopping Justin Trudeau from appointing McGuinty to the Senate if the Liberals win the next federal election.

Anonymous said...

"But there would be nothing stopping Justin Trudeau from appointing McGuinty to the Senate if the Liberals win the next federal election."

So???

There would be nothing stopping Justin Trudeau from appointing Phyllis Morris to the Senate if the Liberals win the next federal election either. That is one of the roles of being the PM.

Anonymous said...


9:13 am

Do you take us all for idiots?

Anonymous said...

10:20 AM... No, just the ones that respond!

Anonymous said...

@ 12:55 PM
Your arrogance is unchecked. No wonder you were not elected. Are you planning to ask us for votes again?

Anonymous said...

9:56 AM

I have never ran for office before and probably never will. I don't know who you think I am.

Anonymous said...

7:57 AM
Sure, sugar.