Additional Thoughts

Here is some more food for thought to go along with your morning coffee. It makes for some appetizing reading

TAKE-OUT MEALS

I really cannot get too upset if taxpayers pay for meals for Council members and Administration who have to work late on Monday nights. And let them eat some hot food. We ought not to be so petty. After all, if they were in private industry, that would happen too.

It works out, if one includes Administrators, to about $20-25 per person per meal so what's the big deal. Catered sandwiches don't come that cheaply either and they get boring after awhile.

But I find the story interesting from a different perspective.

How can anyone accuse the Star now of being a mouthpiece for City Hall with this giant expose on the front page with the massive headline. Wow, that is real investigative journalism. No one can accuse the Star of being soft or being a cheerleader for City Hall with this kind of revelation. I wonder if this will win the Star another ONA nomination.

After a Henderson column and a few Letters to the Editor, I would not be surprised to see Councillors brown-bagging it from now on. That will demonstrate how responsive our Council is to the needs of citizens in this time of budgetary cut-backs.

And don't you like the open and transparent attitude of City Hall too. I wonder if the Star got this information without a Municipal Freedom Of Information application. Why the Clerk and CAO are so open that we even got a peek into the menu selection too.

Remember my BLOG on September 12, 2006, "Haligonian Style Open & Transparent Mayor?" I wonder when Eddie will have such a webpage on the City website so we can learn how he is spending taxpayer money. Check it out for yourself. http://www.halifax.ca/council/mayor/Mayorsoutoftownexpenses.html When also will Chris Schnurr's request be answered http://chrisschnurr.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/nickle-and-dimes-lets-see-all-the-expenses/

TIME FOR THE MAYOR TO BE "SCRUBBED"

Come clean Eddie. What's going on with Alinda and the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel, if anything.

An Alabama newspaper claims that "Alinda CEO Gordon Jarvis confirmed that the company has been working with Fine & Geddie, an Alabama-based lobbying group for the past year on state-related business."

Has Alinda been involved in discussions with the Tunnel for a year too? If so, that may explain what the Joint Councils meeting with Detroit Council was really about a year ago. It was a Windsor sales pitch rather than a meeting between two legislative bodies.

WINDSOR IN THE FLAHERTY BUDGET

So the Premier and PM met for 90 minutes recently. I wonder if Windsor was part of that discussion the way that Toronto was. That City got a ton of money for a subway, transit and roads.

Didn't Minister Cansfield say that "I want to assure you that increasing border capacity at the Windsor-Detroit Gateway is the McGuinty government’s number one economic infrastructure priority."

So don't you think it odd that Windsor was not mentioned? After all, in Stephen Harper's website there is a reference to the Province's MOVE ONTARIO program:

• "The province’s role in the partnership builds on its commitment to infrastructure, as first announced in the 2006 provincial budget under Move Ontario, a major, one-time $838 million investment in the province's public transit systems. The Ontario government has allocated an additional $400 million under Move Ontario, which municipalities may use for improvements to municipal roads and bridges."

So something has to be announced in the Federal budget and the Province has to match it.

Ok, Ok. I already have it on good authority through usually reliable sources that there will some goodies for Windsor. No the Finance Minister does NOT have to resign for a budget leak. I was told by Brian Masse via the Windsor Star about 2 months ago what would happen.

There will be some money:

• "Ottawa needs to start budgeting funds now to help pay for the planned new bridge and border crossing feeder roads in Windsor, MP Brian Masse (NDP -- Windsor West) warned Monday.
  
  "I want to see some budget allocations to slowly increase the amount of capital required so there is not sticker shock at the end of the day," Masse said."

Clearly, since Harper and McGuinty are now friends, the announcement has to do with something under Provincial jurisdiction AND it will be about the border road:

• "there hasn't yet been much discussion surrounding the feeder road, where the province is likely to have ownership of the new border highway."

But don't get too excited. The announcement does NOT mean anything will start soon. In fact, the Liberals claim the transit stuff was something that they announced back in 2005:

• "The federal Liberals in Ottawa accused Harper of reannouncing transit and climate change funding originally committed by their government in 2005."

So dear reader, forget about the Budget, forget about the border. It's all election politics. Nothing is changing!

THE COUNCILLOR FORMERLY KNOWN AS COUNCILLOR BUDGET

Wow, he got out just in time to salvage his mayoral aspirations (Even though he said he was never going to run for mayor ever!)

Imagine how shocked I was to see on Councillor Halberstadt's BLOGsite that he was now "newly appointed chair of the operating budget committee." Poor Alan, he can take the hit for the big tax increase while THE COUNCILLOR FORMERLY KNOWN AS COUNCILLOR BUDGET can go smiling in the sunset saying it did not happen during his watch!

See, it did not take me long to find a new name for the former Councillor Budget.

FORMER COUNCILLORS NEED NOT APPLY

I understand that former Councillors Wilson and Cassivi both applied for positions on Boards and Commissions of the City--Enwin and WUC respectively I believe-- but neither was successful in obtaining an appointment.

Apparently ex-Councillor Wilson was elected to the Enwin Board and then unelected.

How can this be? I would think that this may be a "Corporate Governance" issue since "[Enwin] Powerlines (now merged) also adopted new rules for Corporate Governance, consistent with TSX rules for public corporations." We should expect clarification of how someone could be elected and then shortly thereafter no longer be on the Board. It gives rise to serious questions that need to be answered forthwith.

We probably need a corproate governance expert to help out Enwin with this one. Fortunately there is someone close by and involved with the City already who can help.