"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

Sunday 16 November 2014

Seeds of Turbulence

Years ago, when Marjorie Andrew was librarian and some books were kept behind the counter so the kids couldn't get at them, we could buy books through the library.

Didn't do it often .

Nowadays books are purchased in a different format. All kinds of tasks  are completed by suppliers that used to be done at the library.

Things change.

Speaking of which; John Tory  has changed slightly since his election. On Friday he reminded a reporter he was not yet Mayor.

That's a change from a couple of weeks ago in response to a police budget statement in the news.

The  Chief was reported to request a percentage reduction in the budget .It meant reduction in  police complement.

Police Association President McCormack had something contrary to say about that on the basis of the police contract.

Mayor-elect Tory said the budget should be negotiated, preferably in private.

Exactly what one might expect from someone who doesn't know what he doesn't know.

Police administration is separate from city administration. The Chief was obviously not asking the city to cut his budget.

That he was not yet Mayor was clearly not understood by Mr. Tory. Forty-five Council members  elected in their own right, were not acknowledged. The suggestion of "private negotiations" undoubtedly brought forth an evil grin in some quarters.

Rob Ford is still Mayor of Toronto. His brother Doug still a Councillor. For all intents and purposes Rob Ford has been  elected  to the new council?

Days before Mr. Tory confided to the Toronto media he had asked the Chief Administrator to withdraw his resignation.

One can never know precisely all of the various reasons for timing of a top public servant's decision to retire.

After the tumult of the previous term, it may be a simple matter of getting out while the going's  good.

Whatever the circumstance,neither time nor opportunity and certainly no authority existed to consult with Council-elect  before Mayor-elect made the  request. Sharing it with the media may not have been wise.

The Province has scheduled second reading of a Bill to put municipalities under jurisdiction of the Ontario Ombudsman.Andre Marin.

The flap is on. The cat is among the pigeons. The fox is in the hen house.

Oh Lordy..Lordy!!! The pot is boiling and splattering all over the stove.

Andre Marin is not perceived with great affection in municipal circles.... political or administrative

The out-of-the-gate statement by Toronto's Tory Mayor- elect Tory of preference for private dealings would  undoubtedly be music to his ears and Grist for the Grinding.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

And in Vancouver, voter turn-out was UP

Anonymous said...

I think Tory plans to bore Toronto silly. Which might keep the electorate quiet. But not the councillors who are all anxious to have their say. He only has the one vote,

Anonymous said...

It's easy legislation for the Liberals.They can point to TO, London & Brampton & claim they are examples of the need for Mr Marin's " expert " touch.

Anonymous said...



Does anyone really care about what happens in Toronto?

We have our own top-heavy fire and police costs.

They all negotiate on the basis of the highest existing contract in the country and try to better it by a couple of percent.

Anonymous said...

16:14
Check out what's due on the budget re contracts. It is impossible to accomplish anything when you use such a broad brush. Specifics are needed for that and I am too lazy to do any work until at least the swearing in of the new council/

Anonymous said...

"We have our own top-heavy fire and police costs."

True dat. When people - and councillors - complain and nitpick about Town expenditures, looking to cut those of their hobby-horses, you never hear a word about the ginormous, uniformed 'elephant in the room.'

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Mr Marin has probably been on the sunshine list for years.

Anonymous said...

16:14- Have a look at the Regions debt and budget. It's unfortunate that the Region is never under the microscope. I hope Mr Marin will have a good hard look at that racket.

Anonymous said...

The Vancouver election was interesting. They do not seem to have wards but if you know a candidate is going to be always on one topic, you can aim them in that direction. The Greens were mostly elected to parks related posts.

Anonymous said...


From: WORLD ORDER by Henry Kissinger

"Quoting from T.S. Eliot in his "Choruses from 'The Rock'"

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

Facts are rarely self-explanatory; their significance, analysis, and interpretation - at least in the foreign policy world - depend on context and relevance. As ever more issues are treated as if of a factual nature, the premise becomes established that for every question there must be a researchable answer, that problems and solutions are not so much thought through as to be "looked up." But in the relations between states - and in many other fields - information, to be truly useful, must be placed within a broader context of history and experience to emerge as actual knowledge. And a society is fortunate if its leaders can occasionally rise to the level of wisdom."

I don't see too much knowledge, as defined above, and as for wisdom it doesn't seem to exist today.