Windsor News From Afar

It's a good thing that we have the Internet. It has made it so easy to find new stories that are applicable to this Community.

Actually, I find out a lot about Windsor not from the Windsor Star but from out-of-town newspapers.

Let me give you an example with respect to the Mayor's idea about sending Windsor workers out of town to get work and then having them come back on weekends. It is his idea of long-distance commuting which is to allow people to take advantage of big salaries out West but to keep the family (and property taxes) at home.

My recollection is that the Mayor was working on a plan that he was going to reveal at some time about the logistics of his brilliant idea. The one obvious flaw in it is the cost of transportation and accommodation out West that could eat up most of the salary earned. I had forgotten how long it is that the Mayor has been working on this plan but we have seen nothing about it yet.

I blogged on here previously that Saskatchewan Enterprise and Innovation Minister Lyle Stewart was coming to Windsor to talk to Eddie about his

• "'fine idea' worthy of more discussion as the demand for workers grows in Saskatchewan."

I did not recall seeing anything in the Windsor Star telling us what the outcome of the meeting was but I did read about it in the Regina Leader-Post. Here's what I learned:

• Not only are Saskatchewan officials looking to Windsor for workers, they are also looking to the Ukraine. This is just after a trip to the Philippines. (Things must be good in Windsor because our Development Commission is going to spend a few days in London, England)
• Stewart did meet with Eddie but unfortunately "the two didn't address the logistics of how that might work, Stewart said." I guess that the Mayor's report still is not completed after all this time and those people who have been waiting on him for job opportunities out West are still going to have to sit around while he puts together his Master Plan. They are just plain out of luck.
• Unfortunately Stewart's objectives are not the same as our Mayor's. "we hope that many of those people will decide to move here and continue to work in Saskatchewan." In other words, Saskatchewan wants the families and the property taxes.

In another story in the National Post, I learned some new information that I found quite startling. When reading the first paragraph of the Story, I thought that Eddie was going to get panned but the author seemed somewhat sympathetic to the Mayor:

• "When Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis proposed last March that unemployed autoworkers should commute to Saskatchewan and Alberta, some people thought that his political career, like his troubled city, was running on fumes."

The story was actually about innovative ideas that need to be developed in hard-hit communities to help them survive.

The shocker was what the author described as Eddie's vision for Windsor:

• "Even Mr. Francis's grand commuting plan is only part of a greater, long-term vision that also involves a casino, a convention centre and turning Windsor into a retiree hot spot."

Oh my goodness... is this the best that Eddie can come up with for our future! I know that when he discussed our revitalized downtown it was based on a franchised restaurant, a funky bus terminal and some students coming downtown. I must admit I didn't think that was very impressive but it is head and shoulders above what he just outlined as his vision for our City. Frankly, who needs a Development Commission for this!

I will bet you that Eddie will flog this project for whatever it's worth as the forerunner of a massive new industry here so he can pretend to be doing something for high-income seniors as the basis of our new health industry based on the Medical School:

• "The Mady Corp. has partnered with Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc. to build a $36 million, 155-unit senior' residence on Riverside Drive East near Pillette Road...
  
  
  the Amica residence will feature a home theatre, English-style pub, dining room, spa and wellness centre."

Now if he can figure out how to get doctors here, a requirement for seniors, so that we are not the most under-serviced area in the Province, we might actually get somewhere.

With the destructoon of the manufacturing sector since he has been Mayor, is the Mayor trying to turn the City into a totally services oriented work zone? Is our future to serve people food at the Casino or Convention Ccentre or to spin roulette wheels and deal cards? Or are we to be the butlers and maids for the rich retirees from out of town who come here to take advantage of the longer golfing season and cheap housing prices?

What happened to our City becoming a centre for technology development, our desire to become the intellectual R&D centre for the automobile industry in North America, our logistics and distribution future centring around our border crossing and our Intermodal hub. Why are we bothering wasting money at the Airport and developing "shovel ready" land there for industry?

I was so confused but I thought that the author was even more confused since it appeared that he bought into our Mayor's plan for sending people out of town to work. The poor fellow had obviously been suckered into believing Eddie's THINK BIG JOB CREATION PLAN.

A Casino and old folks homes represent the following to Eddie:

• "All of this goes to the essence of building a city, an ability to maintain a quality of life for people who want to live, play and work in a community," said the Mayor, a former lawyer who also ran his family's pita-baking business before taking office five years ago at the age of 29.
  
  Despite all the heat Mr. Francis drew for his commuter proposal, he surely felt vindicated this week, when the government of Saskatchewan dispatched a high-level delegation to Windsor.
  
  Both sides now describe the idea as a win-win scenario: The resource-rich province would enjoy a boon of skilled labourers and would not have to worry about housing them or building costly amenities such as schools; meanwhile, Windsor's families can stay put and spend those fat pay-cheques at home, pumping money into the local economy. Already there is talk about corporate sponsors and charter aircraft."

It really is a shame that the author had not read the Regina newspaper story first. Moreover, his praise for the Mayor seemed rather strange when he also stated:

• "Tourist traps such as casinos and convention centres might produce hospitality jobs, but they cannot replace a healthy, industrial tax base."

What is really very troubling in the story is that Eddie called us the "canary in the coal mine." As you know, when the air ran out in the mine, the canary died and that warned the miners to leave immediately. If this is the best that Eddie's vision is for this City, then I just wonder how we can keep on singing.

After all, as the author may unknowingly suggested, when he talked about Oshawa autoworkers saying that they didn't want to become the next Windsor, this City is becoming under the watch of Eddie Francis, the Flint of Ontario.