"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 5 August 2014

A Guest Post ........Liturgy of Mediocrity

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "When you sink that low...nobody wins": "For such a minor task to be undertaken without a smidgen of grace is not politics.

That is a total absence of political skill.

A shameful lack of intestinal fortitude.....an insult to public intelligence......and we are all degraded by it."

My intelligence is not insulted and I don't feel degraded.

This is what I have come expect, and with great disgust accept.

Politics seems to have become anything with which the human species indulges itself, there is no good behaviour, no bad behaviour, just behaviour. Thought is not a prerequisite, nor is common sense nor the maxim that one should treat another the way one would like to be treated.

The practitioners of this discipline are a disgraceful lot, parroting pithy words like transparency, accountability and VISION in their nascent campaigns to retain the office of councillor. What has been accomplished this term besides endless hours discussing "heritage trees" and "clear" garbage bags?

There are plans, studies, schemes, all involving consultants and costing several hundred thousand dollars, and nothing to show for these. Except to defer them to the next term, when they will no doubt be subject to more time wastage and the squandering of more taxpayer dollars.



Leadership is in very short supply these days, in all political forums throughout the world. Aurora is not unique. We don't even have decent followers.

And I really do not want to see the word VISION appear in any campaign advertising. The people who use this word wouldn't know it if it bashed them over the head with a wet cabbage.

Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 5 August 2014 1


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Aurora deserves the best.    I expect  the best. I am not prepared to accept less than the best.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing got done this term despite a few seriously whacky and costly attempted ventures. If the mayor wants to run on his record, he can do so. I bear him no malice but will not be of much assistance either.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile Canadian tennis players are getting clobbered & Rogers wants me to
' register " in order to get the streaming. We have been paying their bills for ages & they want to play their little games.

Anonymous said...


Two breaking news stories curtesy the Toronto Star:

"Brampton mayor breached expense rules hundreds of times"

"Candidates quit bitter Tory nomination battle in Oakville"

"Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell breached a number of the city's spending rules hundreds of times for expenses such as high-cost airfare, premium hotel rooms and personal expenses, a forensic audit has found.

The audit by Deloitte Canada, after a four-month investigation, also found numerous spending violations by other members of council.

The audit highlighted numerous instances of rules that were breached by Fennel and her staff over the past seven years."

POSSIBLY THE RULEES ARE TOO COMPLEX AND ARE NOT EASY TO COMPREHEND BY NEOPHYTE POLITICIANS.

Meanwhile: "Natalia Lishchyna has dropped out of the Tory nomination race in Oakville North-Burlington, just days after rival Eve Adams announced that she, too, was quitting."

In an email sent to Conservative supporters in the riding Tuesday, she says: "After almost a year of one of the most high profile and controversial nomination campaigns in Canadian history, I believe it's best that the Party re-start the nomination process to allow the grassroots to decide."

If the party FAITHFUL are at each others' throats as part of a candidate nomination process, what does that say about THE PARTY, THE PARTY FAITHFUL, THE ABILITY OF THE PARTY TO GOVERN? DOES ONE TRUST ANY OF THESE PEOPLE? Should they not be institutionalized??

I know - south of the border none of the above two stories would even draw a yawn, much less a press piece.

SO ARE WE BETTER OR ARE THEY?

Anonymous said...

Aurora does deserve the best. That being said...I really hope for a another candidate for mayor. I will be voting, but will not be choosing either one of these mayoral candidates. The reckless spending of money and time has to stop in this town and at the region.

This Isn't Brampton said...

22:52, "reckless" is a serious word. What you may deem to be unnecessary spending doesn't make it reckless.

Anonymous said...

Being at each other’s throats has always been going on. The difference is the media is all over these old theatrical performances, and money can be made. Some of these performances are internal political maneuvers. This is nothing new. Consider all this new media like a hearing aids. The noise has always been there, it’s not muffled anymore and we now hear it louder and clearer than before.

Anonymous said...

I am trying to figure out why the Brampton mayor blew $220. on 44 IQ tests. Was she requiring individuals to take them for her ? I always thought there was one standard test but obviously that is not the case.

Anonymous said...


Former premier of Alberta Alison Redford has bowed out of Alberta politics, having resigned her MLA position after previously resigning as premier.

Today's Globe and Mail:

"Ms. Redford had stepped aside as premier in March following a string of controversies. She held onto her MLA seat for Calgary-Elbow until it became clear she had damaged her reputation and that of the Tories. Critics and supporters were in agreement that Ms. Redford's conduct was going to sink the Tories after 40-plus years as the ruling power in Alberta.

The worst of them rocked the PCs last week, when the CBC reported Ms. Redford's staff making bogus bookings so they could be cancelled late and allow the premier to fly alone."

She obviously isn't a "people person."

It's too bad that there isn't some sort of test that would be obligatory for anyone in Canada seeking elected office, municipal, provincial or Federal. Part of this test would relate to general knowledge, familiarity with issues, an understanding of procedure and the rules relating to allowable expense claims, and finally a polygraph test, the contents of which would be held in the strictest confidence.

If, having been elected, it was proved that the individual had breached one or more of the rules, whatever these may be, public access to the test results would be permitted, and resignation by the offending member would be automatic.

How can you keep the floor clean when everyone who walks on it has first passed through a barnyard and picked up who knows what?

Anonymous said...

How about when “unnecessary spending” raises taxes higher than inflation? How about when “unnecessary spending” creates debt? I call that reckless, and Yes! That is serious.

Anonymous said...

13:18
T'is only the troll

Anonymous said...

13:18 You are indeed correct. Year over year spending above the level of inflation creates severe hardship for many.

It sometimes creates a situation where there are severe consequences when the spending must ultimately be controlled.

I hope everyday that a reasonable person puts his/her name forward for mayor.

Anonymous said...

May I suggest a compromise ?
Concentrate on bringing the tax rate down & do not add any new major projects that are not ' needed '. By needed, I would mean not in that awful Official Plan. So no new parks we do not require and no ' visions ' of Heritage when we have no space to store the heritage items received already.
Have a good evening - it is lovely out there.

Anonymous said...

15:48
Define " reasonable ", please.
I am concerned about any individual having visionary experiences.

Anonymous said...

@15:48
If you read the rhetoric of those who might decide to try for mayor instead of their currently declared council seats, most natter on about visions [ costly ] and specials projects [ costly, like sending artists to Europe and more soccer patches ]. No mention of reduction in taxes to an acceptable norm. No mention of the economy at all.