RESIDENTS & CITIZENS SPEAK TRUTH, M.P.P. MIKE HARRIS LIES & BSs FOR HIS POLITICAL MASTER

 

I must say that it is a pleasure reading almost every day about the Region of Waterloo's incompetence and negligence regarding our mutual water systems.  Today I will be mentioning the hot air and absolute stupid comments from M.P.P. Mike Harris regarding the Region's water crisis as well as more first hand evidence from rural citizens living on the west side of Kitchener whom I may carefully compare to frogs in a pot of slowly, increasingly hotter water. No offence is meant by this metaphor. 

Mike Harris Jr. Jr.'s comments are published in great detail in this week's Woolwich Observer newspaper. The residents and citizens knowledge has been passed on to the public both in today's K-W Record by Terry Pender and in previous days and is straightforward and clear. Some of Mr. Harris Jr. Jr.'s asinine comments include "These infrastructure challenges are not a reason for critical infrastructure builds or housing projects to stall,". He also suggested that "  We expect the Region to continue to provide clear updates on how additional capacity will be delivered and timelines for when it is brought online." Clearly Mr. Harris Jr. Jr. isn't worried about how much water is left in our aquifers. Maybe he will reassure us by stating that God is a Progressive Conservative who would never let our aquifers run dry.

Two longtime local residents of Wilmot Township have spoken of their personal experiences with the falling water table for decades. This has included sinking multiple new wells and going deeper for the water that they need. The Waterloo Moraine is an incredible resource and it certainly appears that it has been abused and taken for granted by our authorities. 

There are two options. Firstly serious investigation into the groundwater levels throughout the Waterloo Moraine. Maybe the data is already available. Secondly if the water levels are better than expected and that we've been led to believe, then  I would question what was the motive for this scare, this alleged crisis.  Are our provincial and regional authorities so corrupt that they would attempt to manufacture a crisis in order to promote a multi billion dollar pipeline from Lake Erie to here? Somebodies will make millions of dollars profits on any such pipeline that we the taxpayers will pay for. 

So if there is a legitimate water supply crisis than our regional councillors (and some staff ?) need to get the boot and quickly for incompetence and negligence. If the crisis is a fake then some of the above along with provincial politicians need some long term rest and relaxation in a provincial institution (i.e. jail).

    

WHO'S LYING: STAFF, REGIONAL COUNCILLORS OR BOTH?

 

Well, well, well the mud is starting to fly. Today's K-W Record has a story by Terry Pender titled "Regional councillor wants probe into water crisis".  Reporter Luisa D'Amato apparently also attended last Wednesday's Waterloo Region council meeting and spoke about it in her Opinion piece titled "For some of us, the water crisis has already arrived". The good news is that both reporters picked up on the same strange occurrences at that council meeting.

The biggest and baddest is the announcement that both the public and regional councillors have been misled factually regarding water taking from Wilmot Township.  I was aware of the 1980 agreement between the Region and Wilmot Township that the township's water would not be unilaterally diverted by the Region towards other parts of the Region in particular to the tri cities. That appeared to be changed when the mayor of Wilmot, Ms. Salonen recently gave agreement in principle for the Region to take 30 litres per second from her township for use in the water short areas of K-W and Woolwich. That agreement appears to need to be ratified by her council (Wilmot) as well. Last Wednesday's regional council meeting had a major revelation. In fact the Region indeed did divert Wilmot water to the cities six or seven years ago and it's been ongoing! Nicely done Region of Waterloo. You've now admitted to lying to the public, Wilmot Township and presumably to most of your own regional councillors. WOW !!!

That betrayal and worse will take decades to live down if ever. Meanwhile councillor Doug Craig wants an independent probe into the causes of the water supply crisis. He's not the only one but skeptic that I am I have to ask is this for real or simple politics? Mr. Craig has also appropriately condemned the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). What I am left wondering and unclear from both these articles is whether regional staff actually were going to divert and pump an additional 30 litres per second to K-W and Woolwich or were they simply gilding the lily about the diversion they did back in 2019 ?

One other major point. To date I have only seen reporter Luisa D'Amato twice reference wells being taken offline due to contamination.  That is a huge element to the alleged Quantity only (i.e. Supply) problems in our water systems.  Do not most reasonable people understand that shut down wells due to industrial contamination in Elmira and Kitchener affect the Supply of water available? Then there is the reality that there are also operating wells in both Waterloo and Cambridge with toxic trichloroethylene (TCE) in them that are still operating thanks to dilution and mixing with the rest of the water supply. Can that go on forever? 

Whether self-serving or not Doug Craig's asking the right questions as did councillor Joe Gowing recently. Councillor Huinink just got added to my regular e-mail list due to her published skepticism about agreeing to allocating water for growth at this time. Meanwhile Melissa Durell, Mr. Puopolo and other self-serving developers and builders can go suck on a raw egg at least until both the public and the Region really know where we stand on water supply.  

NDAs TO HIDE WORKING GROUP DISCUSSIONS ABOUT PUTTING CONTAMINATED WELLS BACK INTO OUR DRINKING WATER SYSTEM

 

DISCRIMINATORY NOT TO INCLUDE ELMIRA'S NDMA WATER INTO THE MIX

If Kitchener and Cambridge are allowed to put their trichloroethylene (and more) contaminated water into the big regional Integrated Urban System (IUS) drinking water pot then why not Elmira as well? Lanxess Canada have been moaning and groaning for the last couple of years about wastefulness as they dump somewhat treated groundwater into the Canagagigue Creek. If the Region are seriously planning on using retread wells (Woolner, Pompeii, Greenbrook & Parkway Wellfields)  with long histories of contamination then how dare you discriminate against our fine, Mennonite, contaminated water. Is our chlorobenzene, NDMA and maybe even dioxin contaminated water not good enough for you? Who knows, the state of knowledge whether toxicity or health related is so limited that maybe the various contaminants might cancel each other out.

I see two possibilities here. We could develop a two tier water system whereby our politicians, developers, builders and real estate folks are serviced from the industrially uncontaminated wells and the rest of us can drink from the leftover, retreaded and refurbished chemically enhanced wells. Hmm maybe we might want to include doctors, hospital staff and  police in the favoured status, unenhanced wells. Certainly we shouldn't charge the unsophisticated masses a premium for the extra additives that they will receive.

The other plan is to begin deporting older, useless retired citizens like me who are no longer contributing to the general good. Now by "deporting" I only mean to kick them out of Waterloo Region in order to make room for all the vibrant, hard working newcomers that Doug Ford and the Region are set on.  Just think of the advantages. Bringing in an additional 300,000 people by 2051 is a piece of cake if no upgrades are needed to our wastewater treatment systems (sewage treatment plants), our hospitals and health care and our drinking water systems. Furthermore if you squeeze your eyes, just so, you can see that we might actually be increasing the lifespans of our older, more health challenged citizens by not making them drink our NDMA, dioxin, chlorobenzene, trichloroethylene, benzene etc. mostly low level contaminated water. Talk about a Win-Win !

Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are not everybodies cup of tea. There will be shouts of hooliganism, lying, non-transparency and non-accountability but that happens every time when elites (smarter/richer)  focus on who really matters which is them not us. For progress to happen you can't let the majority (non elite masses) run the show and it is so much easier to control them by keeping them in the dark. Hence the huge advantages to NDAs keeping difficult information from the uninformed public who wouldn't understand it anyways.  Or as Jeff MacIntyre (builder) stated in today's Record article titled "Region pushes NDAs for water talks";  he likes NDAs because he doesn't want to sit by the door like a Golden Retriever (the public) waiting for a report. Right on Mr. MacIntyre !

P.S. Just because Elmira water isn't good enough for us right now doesn't mean it's not good enough if a little diluted for the rest of the Region of Waterloo. Afterall wouldn't you drink a really fine wine from a jug just because someone peed in it the night before, emptied it and then filled it with a vintage beverage for you?   

THANK YOU TERRY PENDER, JIM POLING, BRENT JOLLY FOR YOUR CORRECTION IN TODAY'S K-W RECORD

 

Gosh that wasn't so difficult now was it? Your CORRECTION on page A2 with the title "Re: Councillor wants halt on new water-taking permits in Waterloo Region" was clear and concise. I certainly didn't need any thanks or applause or public adulation for doing what I've been doing here in Dogpatch (Elmira) for the last 36 years plus. My volunteer work has always been in the public interest and yes besides environmental failures that also includes picking up on mathematical failures that have gotten by reporters and editors. Based upon Record Editor Jim Poling and National Media Council Brent Jolly's pathetic mishandling of my polite and courteous request for a Correction/Retraction on the Lanxess Canada/Elmira Water Crisis story in late November 2025 written by Terry Pender; I decided this time to be a hard a*s about it. Instead of approaching initially only Terry Pender and Jim Poling and later Brent Jolly as I did last November, this time I sent out my Blog posting immediately to Woolwich Council, Waterloo Region Council, TRAC, MECP,  Lanxess, Woolwich Observer, and the K-W Record plus maybe a few more. Gosh I wonder how pissed all your developer friends were when they figured out that the Record instead of downplaying or minimizing the crisis you were actually (unintentionally probably) artificially increasing it with your sloppy mathematics. Now after that slap to the back of your heads just let me say this: WELL DONE! Your series on the Region's water crisis has been terrific so far. I am however still wondering when you are going to publish the truth about the retread wells the Region want to put back in service in order to supplement the volume of our water supply.

Today's Record article titled "Third-generation Wilmot resident has witnessed the water table drop" certainly casts doubt upon the demands and claims of developers and builders suggesting that this Region wide water crisis is an engineering problem only. I have no doubt that our friends at the University of Waterloo who have been studying groundwater recharge, discharge and elevations for decades have a good idea whether or not putting more straws into the communal milkshake will continue to lower the water levels to dangerous levels or not. Personally until I see peer accepted, proven and verified data on the Waterloo Moraine Aquifers in particular, I am very skeptical that those who have personally made tons of money through development and building are speaking for the public interest.  

K-W Record I applaud your Correction in today's newspaper. I really don't believe that your readers will hold it against Mr. Pender that he made an honest mistake. I expect that they, like myself, will be more impressed that the Record quickly acknowledged and corrected that mistake.  

      

SPEAKING TO THE INTENTIONALLY DEAF, BLIND & STUPID: i.e. PROVINCIAL, REGIONAL, & MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES

 

Clearly conflicts of interest are front and centre. All the above groups have been offered incentives not to be reasonable, responsive and honest in their dealings with myself and others still advocating for a proper cleanup of the downstream Canagagigue Creek, the former Uniroyal Chemical site and the Elmira Aquifers. These incentives may very well be worded as benefits to the local community that would otherwise not be forthcoming. Of course citizens and residents have never been invited to comment on this possible tradeoff. For example would you undermine your physical health in exchange for a tiny bit more financial security? Some might, some might not but none of us have been given that choice thanks to our non-transparent and non-accountable politicians.

So why do I continue? Simple. One most of them are not well informed and feel they have no need to be . Their direction and decisions have already been made for them and it's easier and safer not to rock the boat. So they need to be informed whether or not they act upon that knowledge. Secondly I'm producing documentation that in the future will condemn at least some of the worst offenders. All of them will scuttle like rats when the whole scam collapses. Whether it's slowly or with a bang they will be looking for cover and for excuses. The more written documentation and facts that they clearly have received the more difficult that will be. That is why I continue. The future (& present) need to know the truth and our elected representatives are not providing it.

THE PRICE OF WHISTLEBLOWING

 

Polluters don't like you.  Ministry of Environment doesn't like you. Municipal councils don't like you. Regional councils don't like you. Co-opted citizens don't like you. Fellow travellors of polluters don't like you. You get blacklisted from local jobs especially in a place like Elmira. You are discriminated against even by local groups desperate for volunteer assistance. Slander and bad mouthing occur behind your back. Others take credit for your volunteer work that you have done. Negativity and skepticism need special care and attention. Trust in strangers diminishes in direct proportion to the manipulative liars you meet, confront, console or get stabbed in the back by. 

The plus side of whistleblowing: You develop one hell of a sense of humour. You learn dozens of euphemisms for the word "liars". Irony and hypocrisy become much clearer. You see the humour in everything. Double entendres, synonyms, puns all leap out at you. Your newly found wicked sense of humour is coiled and ready to spring at any opportunity. Eventually both your lie and liar detection skills do improve. You begin to understand people's weaknesses and why they do what they do. You learn the various shades of good, bad, evil and sociopathic. 

Despite everything: Hope Springs Eternal

WELL DONE JOE GOWING DESPITE THE K-W RECORD LOOKING LIKE IDIOTS

 

Oh my God but it's so sad , so pathetic and so incredibly funny all at the same time. First of all I will be sending at least a few of my recent Blog postings to regional councillor Joe Gowing not because his saying one good thing is going to convince this political skeptic that he's an honest man but because it's the first intelligent thing I've heard so far from any regional councillor. Go suck a lemon Barry Vrbanovic. I will also of course be sending this one to the usual guilty parties but also to Brent Jolly of mediacouncil.ca. He's the twit who apparently decided that reporter Terry Pender shouldn't have to make corrections and or retractions after writing his story last November about Lanxess Canada and the failure of the groundwater cleanup here in Elmira, Ontario.

So why am I laughing so hard? Well when you in writing advise a newspaper (Waterloo Region Record) that their reporter (Mr. Pender) has written and had published a story with multiple inaccuracies in it and neither that newspaper nor the governing body for newspapers' accuracy (National Media Council) make even the slightest attempt to learn about, clarify or rectify those errors; and then the same reporter shortly afterwards makes some incredibly blatant (and public) errors in another story; well you just have to break out with the belly laughs.

So what did the divine Mr. Pender do this time? More importantly will the K-W Record actually publish the corrections or retractions? Should I really rub their noses in it here and now or should I wait for the corrections/retractions to appear. Or not. The thing is it's really not a bad article overall. It's title in today's Record is "Councillor wants to halt permits for gravel pit to draw groundwater". It's just unfortunate that the nasty and guilty parties will likely exert even more pressure on the Record to do their bidding. Bidding such as no longer publishing quotes from me for example. Bidding such as intentionally undermining knowledgeable citizens credibility when they are told to do so. Sorry K-W Record but you've been asking for this for a very long time. Just like the Woolwich Observer in Elmira I've tried very hard to be friends but you've behaved like ass*oles and clearly I'm fed up with you.

I'll give readers a very strong push in the right direction here. Do the math. Yes Terry Pender, Joe Gowing etc. are correct in that it is asinine to continue issuing new Water Taking Permits for industry, gravel pits and golf course until we know that we've absolutely got enough water to cover current  permits plus commercial and residential needs. That said however Mr. Pender is undermining his story by pretty egregious and blatant mathematics failures. For example is 9.7 million litres per day, ten times greater than Toyota's water useage at 24 litres per second? I don't think so.  Also is the 9.7 million litres a day water taking actually the same as 240 litres per second that he claims? Again I don't think so. Do the math folks. Apparently it's hard for both politicians and reporters to do math and certainly the former doesn't surprise me at all. Just look at M.P.P. Mike Harris Jr. Jr.. We all know that there are no qualifications required to be a parent (in his case five times) and we know the very same is true for politicians. That makes him a double winner. Newspapers' mathematical failures do surprise me somewhat.  I'm more interested in their integrity however. Will they publish a correction or retraction???