Should WEDC Be Woundup

I finally figured it out. It must be near the Budget deliberation time of the City and County as well as the Credit Union who are the financiers of the Windsor Essex Development Commission.

How else to explain the big story about 125 new jobs that may be created in our newest call centre. How else to explain the waste of money for a two page advertising spread in last Saturday’s Windsor Star.

The Development Commission has to pretend that they have done something over the past year for all the money that taxpayers and the Credit Union have poured into that organization. They have to be afraid that their budget will be cut or that Baord members will be replaced or even their organization woundup!

Let’s take a look at the ad and see what they have done.

• There was a nice picture of Mike Burton, their former Vice President who just announced that he was leaving


• There was no picture of their new CEO because no one has been hired yet for almost a year after the previous CEO was terminated


• There was a picture of the Chair who told us that after all this time “the new WEDC is still taking shape, growing and changing to effectively serve the needs of our Region.” His mistake however was telling us that they have been around already for 24 months. I would have thought that by this time the Commission should have taken shape already.


• I’m so glad to see that our Commission is winning prizes for creating websites and new marketing material. So that is how they spend their time at work.


• Under “Major Accomplishments” I did not see the word “jobs” or “new businesses” attracted although we were told quote “the WDC has close to 20 projects in the pipeline… Details on potential projects must necessarily be held in confidence.”


• There was a nice kiss up to the Credit Union and to the Windsor Star. Mind you, the advertising department of the Star must be pleased with two pages being sold right at the beginning of the year or is that part of their donation to the Commission.

It is all fluff, no stuff. If I was on the Development Commission of another jurisdiction whether in Ontario or Michigan, after reading this material, I would not be too concerned about Windsor/Essex being a significant competitor for any new business investment.

Given the e-mails that have been circulating around about what is going on at the Commission, our politicians have the obligation to try to discover what is really happening. I have no idea if what is being said in the e-mails is true or not nor do I care. What it tells me however is that there are serious problems at the WEDC that must be investigated.

For the money that has been invested in them so far and the time during which they have been around, their accomplishments are minimal. I have no idea why it was necessary to have trade missions overseas to the UK and to Germany. What did they accomplish? What happened after the train trip to Toronto to get all of the movers and shakers there interested in coming to Windsor? Has there been any follow-up on anything that they have done? Are they being held accountable for all of the money that they have spent?

Before another penny of taxpayer money is put into this organization, serious questions must be asked and the appropriate answers provided. We cannot afford at this time of economic crisis for the region the luxury of pretending to be doing something when in fact little is being accomplished.

It may well be that the decision has to be made to windup this organization and start again. While that would be a tragedy, it would be worse if the WEDC was allowed to carry on as it is now. It is nothing more than a revolving door for senior executives while spending millions and achieving little with the nerve of telling us that it "is still taking shape" after all of this time.