"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 15 December 2014

There is no mystery

Friends are still wondering about the election

 I'm not in the habit of doing an autopsy.

It is what it is.

Life goes on.

Of course  there's a story.

It's relevant to why  Cabinet Ministers are compelled to resign when things go awry. When a seed is cast it always takes root.

I knew it the night of  the Sport  Aurora all-candidate meeting at the Legion And the  one before at the Town hall.

Gayle  McIntyre ,a former Councillor and not overtly hostile, confronted me with the statement
 I  was suing the town for $90. million.  Gayle is many things .Subtlety is not one.

"Add another ten why don't you". I said.  "And make it  a nice round figure"

I had an opportunity to speak to Gayle  again and perhaps make the correction.  I felt  it was already too late.

There were other signs

Bruce Walkinshaw laughed  easily and said he was still supporting me but no, he would not put a sign on his property again.

Another past supporter made a point of speaking to Councillor Pirri at his table and turning his back on me.

At a second presentation from a Vice President of the town's insurance company in September , Mayor  Dawe made the statement " people are  talking about the obscene amount of money being spent on the litigation"

The figure of $845,000 was  revealed for the first time at that meeting. He said the normal process

was to seek a settlement but failed to disclose why the normal process had not been followed.

He was asked.

Councillor Abel endorsed the Mayor's comment and added the action was to obtain millions of dollars in damages.

It wasn't hard to make the connection to  Gayle McIntyre's  expression of outrage.

It's five years since six members of Council retained a lawyer and instructed him to write a complaint
for  the newly appointed Integrity Commissioner.

Mascarin's report was published in two newspapers and the town's web site

It was read by Councillor Gaerner into the formal record of  Council proceedings.

The complaint was DISMISSED. by the  Integrity Commissioner as PURELY POLITICAL mere hours ahead of the decision of the same six individuals to strip him of his authority for not following the procedures they had set down for him.

Five years is a long time for people to remember.

When a  Mayor and Deputy Mayor make a joint statement,  people have every right to expect it to be true.

From my perspective, there really was no puzzle about the outcome of the election.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...


In today's world any utterances by politicians, singly, in pairs or in groups is automatically suspect.

It is only when iron-clad truth is presented by an impartial party that has both the credentials and the credibility that you should even begin to believe.

Anonymous said...

We simply do not have access to the information needed as legal matters are discussed behind closed doors. I suspect all the councillors are not even in the loop about how many court actions are being paid for by the town. Only when an issue reaches the press - & thank heaven's for the Auroran - do residents get an idea. sometimes it can be the wrong idea.

Anonymous said...

That hike in Aurora's insurance rates had nothing to do with your action and everything to do with the ones of the previous council. One of them might still be suing for more money.

Anonymous said...

Considering that only 1/3 of the voters turned up (pathetic), it wouldn't have taken much to turn a few voters. If people don’t already know….campaigns can be quite strategic. When looking for council members that can be on board and on the same page as the rest…well strategic games are usually played out, and they did.
The amount of work and care you put into this community Evelyn for all these years has always amazed me, and quite frankly to have only 1/3 of the eligible voters turn up for all that work….well the residents of Aurora and council, don’t deserve you. An example of this is; a neighbor of mine sent a letter to everyone on council for a matter that concerned them. It was sent to all council members a few weeks AFTER the election. You Evelyn were the only one to respond. The Town will reap what it sows.

Anonymous said...

The town had spent gobs of money fighting Westhill and other failed OMB appeals. Add the lengthy defamation mess and the insurance people were going to pay attention to their costs.

Anonymous said...

11:52
You are right. Once the case is settled however, look for another increase.

Anonymous said...

You are in a unique situation. Those being hounded by the former had each other to commiserate along the way.

Anonymous said...

I think the mayor might have been deflecting the fact that the town continued and continues to pay for representation for councillors and a mayor most of whom have been out of office for years,. This, despite the fact that residents were led to believe that funds had been cut off.

Anonymous said...

We will likely never know how Mr Ballard voted about continuing to support the former's on-going [ Are they still on-going ? ] claims against the town but we WILL know how he votes when the proposed anti- SLAPP legislation reaches the floor.

Anonymous said...

13:50
During the budget debate the spokesman for the insurance company made a hash of his presentation.
We are in insurance & some of what he said was simply untrue.

Anonymous said...

No, we cannot always expect the truth. It is a shame but just the way thing are and especially during an election.