Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ombudsman .....Integrity
Commissioner":
I think that you will find that Ombudsman and Interigty Commisioner are NOT
the same thing.
OMBUDSMAN
1. a government official who hears and investigates complaints by private
citizens against other officials or government agencies.
2. a person who investigates and attempts to resolve complaints and
problems, as between employees and an employer or between students
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 11 July 2014 07:39
*******************
My little separate keyboard for the iPad has no power.. The keyboard of IPad does strange things that mystify me completely.
I copy comments in my own ham-fisted way to remove stuff that doesn't need to be there. This time the comment itself was reduced. I can't bring it back. But it still makes sense ....I think.
Toronto has an Integrity Commissioner an Ombudsman and certainly an investigator if there's a
complaint about matters being discussed behind closed doors that shouldn't.
Municipalities exist at the pleasure of the Provincial government.
In the beginning, they were the only government. Now a municipal council is easily made to vanish.
In Bill Davis time and before, the attitude of senior level was respect and appreciation for work done at the lower level. Local Councils were seen as little brother doing the work of government but more efficiently and economically because they were closer to the people.
No new municipal legislation was passed without full consultation with local councils and staff.The Minister of Municipal Affairs visited County Councils to hear what they needed to hear.
Meetings in high school auditoriums were arranged for the public to attend and have their say.
Provincial politicians in the main, came from the ranks of municipal councils.
Regional Councils replaced County Councils. Property assessment was changed to market value.
Tax equalization factors vanished from political vernacular.
Regionalization was halted in mid-stride because of public opposition. York Region.like others, was done in haste to complete the circle around Metro.
It was not as it should have been and would have been,given more time.
Theoretically the intent was to stop urban sprawl. Done in haste mistakes were made .
Ontario cities were not to become megalopis. The lessons had been learned.
The Province knew what needed to be done for best and most practical use of public investment in transit and hard services.
The role of York Region was to be agricultural and recreational.We like that.
It was all planned.
But it was hard. And it was not achieved.
I think failure took the heart out of the best and the brightest
They left.
They were not replaced.
People who should be offering to serve don't.
The cost is too high.
Things have gone steadily down hill ever since.
No Ontario government ever made such calamitous decisions for such paltry purpose as the last.
It wasn't a grand experiment that called for courage and failed.
It was just stupid and incredibly venal.
It cost $2.1 billion.
Stupid never self- acknowledges It's what makes stupid hard to excuse.
Someone else is always to blame .
So....mediocrity rules and municipal Councillors are the ultimate villains who need to be severely policed to keep them honest.
Friday, 11 July 2014
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14 comments:
It is called " displacement ". By directed the anger at local councils, it deflects it from the bigger players.
Or scape-goating, 12:54
Evelyn, your posts become more poignant and more salient as we head towards the polls in October.
I can't agree more with:
"Stupid never self- acknowledges It's what makes stupid hard to excuse.
Someone else is always to blame .
So....mediocrity rules and municipal Councillors are the ultimate villains who need to be severely policed to keep them honest."
This term of council has embraced mediocrity. It's one thing to right the ship but 4 years? There has been a complete absence of leadership to move the town forwards. Dawe has been asleep the entire term, replacing him with Gallo isn't a solution as much as switching from one pair of smelly gym socks to another. Both have demonstrated they are unfit to hold office. Where are the real candidates?
The few that get nailed are involved in small amounts of transgression. I cannot recall a big one,
Premier Davis attended council meetings throughout the province during his tenure - even when it was not an election year. Most of those who replaced him stay safely in TO.
17:54-Dawe has made some mistakes…some pretty big. That being said…I think he’s done a fair job considering the disaster that was left for him. He became Mayor without ever serving in a council. As a Regional representative…well I think that was probably the biggest learning curve. The fact that Vaughan, Markham, and Richmond Hill together have the strong hold on York Region, his voice at that table is surely unheard along with the other northern regional reps. He is a real candidate! And he’s the best we have right now. He deserves our support.
Christopher:
Why don't you go for it, with or without socks?
"Both have demonstrated they are unfit to hold office."
What a ridiculous statement. What has been demonstrated is that the title of this post could be applied here.
21:20
Your second last sentence is correct
Piffle, 21:20,
A learning curve is only of use if the mistakes made along the way are acknowledged and cease to occur. The best the Mayor can hope for from me is indifference. He blew it early in the term and shows no sign of changing anything about the way he operates.
The next council mtg will not be shown on Rogers until the following am
I think Mayor Dawe has done a decent job, particularly for a newbie. I didn't envy him trying to lead a Council with three recalcitrant Morrisites, as well as having to deal with other obstreperous and dimwitted members.
9:56 – You may be right, but Gallo is not an alternative. Unless another candidate comes forward, 21:20 is right.
21:21
He won't because it is too easy to be a critic. When you have to actually "put up" reality takes over.
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