Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A deal with the DND":
You do know that the Queens York Rangers are more than an Army Cadet unit right?
QYR (both in Toronto and Aurora) are unit's in the Canadian Army reserve force.
The RCAC (Royal Canadian Army Cadets) are affiliated with the QYR but are not the same thing.
The whole "kiddies" thing makes me mad. The reserves (which I was a member of a number of years ago) is an integral part of the Canadian Armed Forces. Members of reserve units are called upon regularly to deploy overseas. Just have a look though those lost in Afghanistan and see how many were members of a reserve regiment that had been deployed.
They are not kiddies nor is their job "to play soldier".
Only thing worse than the "kiddies" comments is the disrespect to these men and women that have volunteered to serve.
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And you do know I hope ,the "Kiddies" comment was fiirst coined by the town;s former Mayor.
It was how she publicly expressed her satisfaction when she announced the lease of a town-owned and needed facility to the Department of National Defense.
Your suggestion of disrespect to forces serving in Afghanistan does not sit well. It;s exactly the kind of emotional blackmail and spurious allegation that makes Aurora Council fearful of taking care of the interest of the people they were elected to serve.
QYR have occupied the corner of our town park for ...maybe close to a century ...and were always welcome in the town.
I have personally enjoyed many social occasions in the mess and represented the town at numerous pass out parades in the Community Centre.
I do not now nor have I ever considered the well-being of QYR to be the financial responsibility of any institution other than the Department of National Defense .
Aurora taxpayers should certainly not be carrying any part of the load of the Federal Government. Quite the opposite
Your comment is a passionate defense of the Queen's York Rangers, their action and sacrifice in Afghanistan and elsewhere our government chooses to send them.
I respect that. I know how that feels.
I still have to fulfill my commitment.
For the town to incur millions of dollars of needless debt because a town- owned facility , under-utilized by Queen's York Rangers , was secretly leased to the Department of National Defense ,at a rent that doesn't cover resources spent on the building , while the federal government's facility sits idle and empty more than three years after it was vacated , is utterly ludicrous and an insult to our intelligence.
Monday 24 February 2014
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7 comments:
There has never ever been disrespect shown towards the Armed Forces from Aurora. On the contrary, many of us have family members' who are serving or have served.
That comment was a red herring and has nothing to do with the current situation.
The reason " kiddies " resonated in Aurora was because it was so disrespectful & ignorant. It summed up one individual's dismissive attitude. It is not to be found elsewhere in town.
Evelyn,
Thank you for posting my response. There was no intent of "emotional blackmail". My intent was to make sure that you and your followers understand who and what the QYR are.
Comments in your previous post like:
"I don't know how long they've had a bus bringing cadets down from Sutton ,Keswick and Sharon.
Of course it would depend on how many cadets there are up there.
Maybe all of them.
Maybe that's where QYR should be located.
By the way, it's not Aurora Armouries any more.
It's Colonel John Graves Simcoe Armouries.
I didn't see anything in the program to indicate why they needed to relocate from the drill shed at the corner of Mosely and Larmont.
They teach cadets to drill, shoot rifles , polish their boots and iron a shirt."
This indicates to me that you feel that the QYR is a Cadet organization. RCAC Cadets occupy the building one evening per week with some weekend events (usually off-site at another DND facility).
The "meat" of the QYR is the reserve force regiment that I mentioned the link to Afghanistan. I know full well who coing the "kiddies" comment, but no one here - you included - has done anything to set the record straight on that so the bulk of your followers somehow believe that the building is used as a some form of day-care centre.
I am not expecting you to consider the well-being of the QYR in anything, that is what the Minister of Defence and his Generals are for.
The DND negotiated a lease with the Town and it's leaders at the time - both elected and appointed.
You cannot hold the QYR to blame for "needless debt". The only ones guilty of that is the Town, as it is the Town that entered into that agreement.
Why do you blame the QYR and the DND for bad decisions made by Aurora? Seems to me that the blame is being misplaced.
12:06
Thank you for your follow-up comment.
I do apologize if you got the impression that anyone considered the Ranger occupancy to be like a day-care facility. Or that such a claim had any part in the discussions about the former Hydro building.
The DND is cutting back across the board.
The US is closing bases & shrinking their military to historically low levels.
Aurora is expanding and increasing spending in land and development without providing an increase in revenue.
I've never thought for one second the DND or the QYR made a bad decision. I don't think Evelyn did either. On the contrary. They made a great deal. Wish the Town had whoever negotiated that deal on the Town's payroll. We wouldn't be in the mess that we're in now with all these "great" leases and real estate deals that the Town has completed,in the middle of negotiating or looking into future deals.
It is encouraging to see the mayor say that our town is booming, but I don't see too much of this.
Actually, a good deal of the building permits being issued are to ourselves.
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