MINUTES FROM THE SEPTEMBER 24/15 TAG MEETING

TAG stands for Technical Advisory Group. It does not stand for Truth Avoidance Group as is the intent of our local politicians (most not all) and world class polluters. There are I hope and believe a few good persons on TAG who will resist that. The problem is that they are grossly subservient to RAC which stands for Remediation Advisory Group which combined with TAG produces the Really Awful Chemtura Truth Avoidance Groups. RAC are the big problem. They are a bunch of political hacks appointed by other political hacks to the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) who view their purpose as putting a green spin on development in the watershed. Don't get me wrong here. Not all GRCA employees are ill intentioned. Many believe in what they are doing and planting trees, studying phragmites, emerald ash borer and purple loosestrife are all admirable and worthwhile activities. Regarding the voting members tell me how a bunch of self serving municipal politicians can possibly be transformed into doing the best for the citizens simply by being appointed to the GRCA? Former mayor Todd Cowan was a member as is current mayor Sandy Shantz. He lied to the GRCA stating that CPAC had no objections to Chemtura's alleged remediation of GP1 & 2 on their south-east corner in 2012. Mayor Shantz immediately upon becoming mayor jumped into bed with Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. and attacked CPAC's credibility, competence and integrity. She then replaced them with her curling buddies and much worse.

Page 2 of the Minutes states that "...TAG members indicated that they had no pecuniary interests to declare and therefore that no conflicts of interest exist.". This is false. Their lack of a declaration simply means that there are at least two liars on TAG.

Page 3 speaks to Chemtura's discredited by CPAC and MTE east side work plan. Allegedly the analytical data from the soil samples is available by now yet no sign of it being released publicly. The original plan called for Chemtura's usual horse manure sampling methods; namely avoid at all costs actually sampling where it needs to be done and if there is no other choice then collect composite samples from numerous locations and dilute the really bad ones with less contaminated areas.

The method of written public input to TAG stated on page 4 is unacceptable and frankly insulting. We are advised that a "technically sound" one page document to the Chair for his sole discretion as to pass it along or not is the only acceptable method. The former CPAC has extraordinarily qualified technical persons on it and yours truly as well has been submitting "technically sound" documents to the M.O.E., Uniroyal/Chemtura and local governments for 25 years plus.

Seriously Mr. Jackson if TAG is not allowed to accept in person Delegations then at least have a sensible and reasonable process by which the informed and honest public can submit written documentation.

MEETING OF THE MAYOR'S CURLING BUDDIES, CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS & OTHER CHAIR WARMERS ie. TAG

The absolute truth regarding TAG is both better and worse than the above title indicates. They are scheduled to meet next Thursday November 5, 2015 at 6:30 pm. in Council Chambers. There are two technically competent individuals namely the Chair Dick Jackson and I believe Mr. Hofbauer is a hydrogeologist. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach is currently in France but is a proven, honest voice. The rest are the mayor's buds including a proven pair of manipulative individuals with gross conflicts of interest.

Being a bud of the mayor is not an absolute dealbreaker. She has long practiced the politician's art of smiling and getting along with the voters. I like many others was fooled for years. It is simply interesting that she got rid of the best CPAC there had ever been simply to replace them with campaign supporters, acolytes and curling buddies. Kind of tells you exactly how much serious effort she really wants from TAG ie. zero.

Speaking of gross conflicts of interest as well as hypocrisy, I notice that all the Township meetings speak to 1. Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest rather than Disclosures of Conflict of Interest. Is this how two Tag members, MECAC (Compliance Audit Committee) and RAC members soothe their consciences? Three MECAC members at a minimum had no business making decisions, regarding mayor and regional councillor Shantz, yet they all claimed they had no Pecuniary Interests.

Appointees to boards, commissions and committees of councils are rarely the best qualified. They are political friends of friends. They can also be patronage appointments ie. payoffs for past favours with hopes for future favours. This once again is Canadian style corruption at which Woolwich Township flourishes.

MECAC STUNG BY PUBLIC INPUT, WOOLWICH OBSERVER IGNORE SAME

Monday morning, as I have already posted here, MECAC took a thumping from involved Woolwich citizens. While perhaps Rich Clausi and I hit them the hardest, Lisa MacDonald, on behalf of Dr. Dan Holt did considerable damage to their image and reputation as well. Dr. Dan was attending a medical procedure but provided Lisa with a written document asserting that MECAC have been usurping the courts authority by refusing to send cases along to the courts for their review and possible charges. A fourth citizen also spoke although she referred in more general terms to issues such as everyone needs to follow the rules (election act).

CKCO-TV, K-W Record and the Observer all attended on Monday in Woolwich Council Chambers. The K-W Record also attended yesterday at Provincial Offences Court where I chatted with reporter Paige Desmond. She has another article in today's paper. I have also been advised this morning by the Woolwich Observer that they had a reporter present in court yesterday.

Today's front page article in the Observer is best described as yellow journalism. Steve Kannon quotes five MECAC members' critical comments towards myself but zero of the comments from the previous four involved citizens. As I said: yellow journalism. I am very disappointed in Steve Kannon especially as I have expressed my respect for his overall stand regarding both past and present Woolwich councils as well as his world view of politics, corruption etc..Many of MECAC's comments are just outrageous especially the ones dealing with "minor mistakes". Any suggestion that Mayor Shantz's mistakes were minor in her original filing for the March 27/15 deadline only come from biased and or incompetent persons. She fudged both the Income (Donations) and the Expense side of her Financial Statements by thousands of dollars in order to keep her totals below the magic $10,000 threshold requiring an audit. Anybody can look at the Woolwich Township website under municipal election 2014 and read these numbers for themselves. Those errors are serious but many more have since been discovered, some serious, some less so. All are legal contraventions and I give the K-W Record credit in that they carefully include in each of their articles the ones that Mayor Shantz has admitted to so far.

My hope and expectation is that MECAC will be publicly humiliated via the Provincial Offences Court process. Yes to date the prosecuter has not seriously reviewed the case and decided whether or not the Crown wish to carry it forward or not. Regardless MECAC gave the mayor a clean slate back on July 2/15 only to have her removed from office six days later courtesy of the Municipal Elections Act (MEA). Contrary to Paige Desmond's statement in today's Record she was not removed for admitting her contraventions plural but for one MAJOR contravention namely failing to file an audit. That is an automatic forfeiture and yours truly had to pressure the Woolwich Clerk in order to get her to do her duty, namely issuing the Notice of Breach which precedes the removal from office.

If these charges go forward, the Mayor already has either implicitly or tacitly admitted to about six of them. They have all been listed here in the Advocate previously. These are serious and the Woolwich Observer are doing the public no service by pretending otherwise. While nothing is guaranteed it is quite possible that both MECAC and the Observer may be dining on crow down the road.

PROVINCIAL OFFENCES COURT THIS MORNING

Well I am slowly beginning to think that perhaps our judicial system is going to positively surprise me. I know, I know, deep down, somehow, despite everything I've seen and heard, at heart I'm a silly optimist. There I said it!

I met and spoke with the prosecuter, Mr. Alex Andres, briefly prior to court. He had just finished having a chat with mayor Shantz's lawyer, one Randall Martin. Mr. Andres explained to me what was to happen this morning and indeed court did follow as he had explained. I was called to the front in order to identify myself to the judge as the complainant. Also I advised Mr. Andres in front of the judge that Wednesday December 2, 2015 at 9 am. in Provincial Offences Court was fine with me as well.

Mr. Andres advised the judge that the adjournement was necessary in order to determine if the Crown wished to pick up the case and proceed with its' prosecution. Also Mr. Andres used a legal term I have not heard before and to my ears it sounded like "chatecum". Quite frankly I am guessing at the spelling and even at the overall word. A friend with me in court suggested that she thought the word was in reference to whether or not Provincial Offences Court was the best location for all the charges. Now my friend while not a lawyer nevertheless has more on the ball legally than I and she thought it might be referring to a couple of the charges perhaps needing to be heard in criminal court. As you can tell this is all Greek to me.

The good news is that if the Crown decide to go with this then for the first time we will have professional authorities, without an axe to grind, actually seriously looking at the merits of the case. Afterall they need to know prior to trial whether there is a reasonable prospect for conviction. To that end Mr. Andres advised me privately that he and I will need to have further discussion regarding all the evidence currently available.

I WILL BE POSTING TODAY AFTER THE 9 AM. PROVINCIAL COURT APPEARANCE REGARDING TEN ELECTION ACT CHARGES

MECAC NEED TO RESIGN FORTHWITH

MECAC Chair Carl Zehr is a piece of very bad work. The fact that he managed to last as a local politician for so long in Kitchener indicates to me that slimy and scheming apparently works well. As MECAC Chair he has presided over three absolutely horrible meetings in Woolwich Township in which politics and deception triumphed over transparency, accountability and honesty. He professed great umbrage with comments from Lisa MacDonald, Richard Clausi and myself which could have been inferred to be questioning both his and MECAC's integrity. The fourth speaker while speaking to following the rules etc. was less harsh in her take on MECAC.

It's all about manipulation. This is how "good" politicians take meetings in the direction they want. If they hit resistance from one speaker then as they have control of the agenda and process they simply move on. If one party or Delegate at the meeting either states a very embarassing fact or asks a difficult question then they ignore it. Over the course of a meeting there is so much said and so many highlights it is impossible for everything to be remembered by the public except the items which took up most of the time.

Of great interest to me yesterday was the alleged "urgent matter" that kept one of the MECAC members from attending. This "urgent matter" was most likely their conflict of interest in making decisions regarding mayor Shantz. I actually give them credit for not attending. Chair Carl Zehr through his link to Metrolinx (Board of Governers) is in a similar conflict of interest position but attended anyways in order to ensure that Sandy did not have a Compliance Audit ordered.

While my Delegation was powerful and highly critical of the MECAC process, Richard Clausi really put it to MECAC. He described the "trickery" that has been underway throughout the process both from MECAC, mayor Shantz and Woolwich Council. This included the mayor "ambushing" myself and maybe MECAC with 30 pages of documents on July 2/15, ten minutes before the meeting. It included no counterpoint evidence or position from Woolwich Township at Superior Court both for Councillor Bauman and mayor Shantz. Also MECAC's flimsy excuses in not sending the Councillor Hahn case on to a prosecuter including their prejudging the judicial system's possible non conviction and using that as an excuse not to send him on. Sandy's admitted submission of a sworn untrue statement to Superior Court has not been followed up by any authorities. Finally the acceptance for convenience of late and legally unacceptable Financial Statements by Woolwich Township, MECAC and even Superior Court.

Yesterday's improper decision contrary to case law and evidence submitted to MECAC was totally expected. A leopard does not change its' spots. Richard at the end of his Delegation worded it nicely and suggested that MECAC if they knew they had failed badly should do the honourable thing by resigning. Obviously doing the honourable thing is not a high priority for MECAC.

MECAC: APOLOGISTS FOR LAW BREAKING POLITICIANS

Well things went precisely as expected this morning. Of interest was Chairman Carl Zehr making it clear that MECAC asked for a Legal Opinion from none other than the Township's lawfirm (Smith Valeriote). They of course take their directions and instructions from ...Mayor Shantz and Council. Therefore the adjudicaters (MECAC) at today's hearing took legal advice from one of the parties (Mayor Shantz) advising them as to what their mandate and jurisdiction is. If you think that that is both ridiculous and a gross conflict of interest, then indeed you are right and MECAC wrong yet again.

MECAC yet again blabbed on ad infinitum about rectifying her mistakes, no new information presented, no criminal activity etc. by the mayor and a host of other totally irrelevant excuses. They as the title above indicate are nothing but apologists for our local law breaking politicians. MECAC are themselves breaking the law by their intentionally refusing to abide by case law which indicates the extremely low threshold for ordering a Compliance Audit and which also states they have but minimal discretion to refuse an Application for a Compliance Audit.

Mayor Shantz betrayed her nature with her personal attack upon myself. I did not in my Delegation make any personal comments about her integrity and in fact I focused on MECAC and their failures to date to uphold the Municipal Elections Act. The mayor ridiculously dredged up irrelevant and false information even from twenty years ago while accusing me of having a personal agenda. Wow is she ever upset with ancient, irrelevant history. Odd isn't it that she didn't mention my support of her during the election campaign over a year ago? Also odd that neither her or MECAC want to clarify her untrue, sworn statement she submitted to Superior Court for their July 23/15 court date.

As Richard Clausi advised me afterwards if anybody wants to break the law then be sure to have MECAC on the jury because everything is forgiveable. That's fine when all the facts are presented with due process in a court of law but that is exactly what MECAC, the Township and the mayor are desperate to avoid. I also mentioned the significance of the March 23/15 date (4 days prior to the filing deadline) on the mayor's second Financial Statement but no one on MECAC or the mayor cared to answer or respond to it.

I WILL POST TODAY AFTER THIS MORNING'S 9:30 am. MECAC HEARING IN WOOLWICH COUNCIL CHAMBERS

CORRUPTION : THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

I've slowly come to realize that corruption is so much more than direct, illegal acts. It is more than merely intentionally breaking laws and commiting overt "corrupt" acts. It is much more than has been defined to date.

I've often in this Blog defined corruption as "being riddled with errors". That is actually one dictionary definition of it. Slowly and painfully having paid much more attention over the last five years or so I've come to the startling conclusion that corruption starts in the mind. It even starts in the minds of those who had never considered corrupt practices before. Corruption is a shortcut. It is both the dishonest person's tool but also the lazy person's tool. From a tool it can also transform into a weapon. It can be a method of silencing critics and dissent as well as political opponents.

Corruption becomes a state of mind for those in power or authority. They begin to believe that they are the "chosen" ones; that election results have proven their inherent superiority over their fellow man. What they often lose sight of between elections is how fleeting power is. Just ask Todd Cowan, Steven Harper, Richard Nixon and decades of politicians unceremoniously given the heave ho by the electorate.

This state of mind leads them and their accolytes to believe that the end justifys the means. If the mayor, premier or prime minister decide on a direction then opposition from either other politicians or ungrateful citizens must be deflected, distracted, sideswiped, crushed and or removed by any means possible. Perhaps these people in power directly or indirectly by serving the powerful, would never think of committing crimes of bank robbery, break and enter, assault etc.. In their minds however "bending" of rules is not only O.K. it's standard operating procedure. Where in criminal law does it say that you can't stack committees with your friends? Where does it say that you can't gild the lily in selling your position or direction to the public? What law expressly forbids politicians and their supporters from lying to the public?

What law is Woolwich Council and senior staff breaking when they knowingly permit members of MECAC with gross conflicts of interest in favour of mayor Shantz to sit on that committee again this Monday to make an important decision for or against a Forensic Audit? What law are they breaking when they allow a lawyer who takes direction from the mayor and her council to give an allegedly impartial legal opinion to MECAC telling them what issues they can and cannot discuss? What law are they breaking when they limit the Applicant, myself, to a mere ten minute Delegation with absolutely no opportunity to rebut or clarify testimony and Delegations from others?

What law did the mayor break when she ambushed me and allegedly MECAC ten minutes before the July2/15 MECAC meeting with 30 pages of new financial information? What law did she break when she submitted an "untrue" sworn statement to Superior Court last July 23/15. Ahhh! Now hears the rub. All the rest was likely mere unethical, immoral behaviour. At what exact point do those in authority after years of unethical, unfair and contemptible behaviour cross the legal line? Did the mayor cross it with her abuse of process at MECAC on July 2 or did she cross it when she submitted an untrue sworn statement to Superior Court? Or did she cross it when she submitted her initial sworn and now admitted false Financial Statement (Feb.2/15) to the Woolwich Clerk and let it stand past the March 27/15 deadline?

Corruption is insidious. It starts with self serving lying and grows from there. Obviously those in power are far more likely to become slaves to it.

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP CORRUPTION & HYPOCRISY COMBINED WITH BELL'S PALSY

What on earth does the malady of "Bell's Palsy" have to do with Woolwich Township? Several years back a federal politician made a crack about then Prime Minister Jean Chretien speaking out of both sides of his mouth. As you may recall Mr. Chretien had a minor facial abnormality in which one side of his mouth almost appeared immobolized. That is Bell's Palsy. Getting back to the title of today's posting I am referring to the three page letter purporting to be a legal opinion written by Mr. Thompson of Smith Valeriote. It is a classic legal opinion which says an awful lot on both sides of an irrelevant issue. After categorically telling MECAC exactly what they can't do during Monday's hearing he then in his very last paragraph reverses himself and says that he "cannot offer any opinion with regard to the merits of the Application in that regard (the Legal Test), and that question is solely for MECAC to determine ...".

Three pages of verbal diarrhea boiled down to three sentences indicating that MECAC's only decision namely Yes/No regarding a Compliance/Forensic Audit is totally theirs alone. His entire speech is simply meant to allow MECAC to ignore if not indeed interrupt this Applicant from speaking to the real issues in mayor Shantz's four Financial Statements. MECAC will embrace this red herring with open arms. They will piously tell me, the public and the media that they are bound by this legal opinion when they absolutely are not. They will pretend to give it's overall nonsense undue weight and respect. The purpose is to once again avoid actually discussing, debating or examining the mayor's multiple, ridiculous violations and contraventions off the Elections Act. Township Staff, Council and mayor do not want discussion of how she originally included the nearly $700 of Thank You Notices published in the Observer and Independent in her election expenses and then removed them using a misinterpretation of the 2014 Candidates Guide. This removal reduced her Expenses below the $10,000 threshold for an Audit, the same way her manipulation of her Contributions with a bogus subtraction did.

At the end of the first paragraph above I didn't finish the quote by Mr. Thompson. It goes like this "...that question is solely for MECAC to determine, subject to review by the Ontario Court of Justice.". According to the Ontario Bar Association's 2013 report submitted to MECAC and the media, any appeal to the courts of a decision to merely investigate via a Compliance/Forensic Audit is an abuse of the entire MECAC process. It may be legal but is intended solely to waste everyone's time and run out the clock on the mayor's term of office. There are appropriate appeal methods available if the courts for example were to find mayor Shantz guilty of violating the Elections Act. MECAC's decision for example in favour of a Forensic Audit on Monday would not be remotely any determination of guilt, bad intent etc.. It would be a proper response to her multiple admitted and unadmitted Election Act violations and would finally have a fully independent, third party expert delve deeply into her election financials. This has not remotely occurred to date. The other thing this reference to the Ontario Court of Justice is, is a threat. MECAC are on very thin ice with two very bad decisions to date. The last thing they want is their behaviour being examined in a forum (court) over which they do not have control. Their decision in favour of a Forensic Audit would look good in court whereas the exposure of their overall behaviour to date, here in Woolwich, would be an embarassment to them, Woolwich Township, the mayor and even the Region of Waterloo.

A FLURRY OF LAST MINUTE (& LATE) SUBMISSIONS

It just gets weirder by the minute. I received two e-mails last evening from the Township Clerk, namely at 5:19 pm. and then again at 10:16 pm.. These e-mails received to date are dozens and dozens of pages and yet three of the ATTACHMENTS sent me I've already advised Clerk Hummel that the data did not come through. Aside from what is on some of these documents is the bizarre fact that they are all past the Township Clerk's deadline of 4 pm. Wednesday October 21/15. Now keep in mind this deadline was for sending submissions to MECAC. Commonsense would indicate that as a Party to the proceedings that I should also have received them at the same time. Apparently not as I'm still waiting. Also keep in mind that my mailbox is a 1 1/2 minute car ride from the Township building. A phone call or e-mail advising me of the hand delivery would have been appropriate if the Township Clerk was too busy to e-mail what she had by 4 pm. or if she was having computer problems. As I said bizarre.

Some of what I received includes an opinion by a lawyer for Smith Valeriote on behalf of the Township. Yes as indicated here yesterday this law firm both by my opinion as well as by the Clerk's opinion "....only takes their instructions from Council, and where appropriately delegated, senior staff.". Essentially their lawyer has provided glimmers of clarity surrounded by expanses of fog.

There are also submissions from mayor Shantz which can best be described as more of the same, namely excuses. They are irrelevant at this stage. It is not MECAC's mandate to determine why or how a candidate has messed up their original February 2/15 Financial Statements so badly. This Statement is the one that was filed prior to the March 27/15 deadline and is the only one upon which MECAC must determine whether the mayor contravened the Municipal Elections Act. Everything following may indeed be further evidence of all her contraventions, such as greatly increased Total Contributions as well as increased Total Expenses above the $10,000 threshold requiring an auditor's report. For example letters "explaining" the differences in her expenses are irrelevant. Letters "explaining" advice she did or did not receive from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs is also irrelevant. The only relevant information for MECAC is exactly what they had (and more since) last July 2/15 when they improperly denied a Compliance Audit of the mayor's Two Financial Statements plus other evidence.

She contravened the Elections Act both by my undisputed evidence as well by her own admissions. That is the only relevant information and it requires a full Compliance Audit (Forensic Audit) of the mayor's campaign expenses and donations. This Compliance Audit is not punitve it is investigative. Only after it is completed does MECAC then decide whether they wish to send mayor Shantz on to the courts or prosecuter for further investigation and or charges under the Municipal Elections Act 1996 (MEA).

LIFTING THE WOOLWICH ROCK AND LETTING THE SUNSHINE & AIR IN

As mentioned it's all about framing the process and the issues beforehand. To date there has not been any serious or honest examination of any of mayor Shantz's Financial Statements. All four of them have been shunted to the sidelines by the mayor with the direct help of senior Woolwich Staff, council, MECAC and the Township's lawyers. It is all their intent to do the same thing this Monday in Council Chambers. There will be no intelligent debate or questions of me regarding specifics of her multiple contraventions of the Elections Act.

I have been going back and forth with the Township Clerk and CAO on the issue of the Township's lawyers speaking to MECAC and advising them of what their jurisdiction is. On the Agenda it is referred to as "Scope of MECAC Review by Township Legal Counsel, Smith-Valeriote". Having a partisan group (Township) providing allegedly nuetral, non partisan "legal advice" to MECAC is ridiculous. A both hilarious and revealing written quote from the Township Clerk yesterday to me is as follows : "Contrary to your statement that Smith Valeriote act for Woolwich Council and Senior Staff, it must be clarified that Smith Valeriote acts for the Corporation of the Township of Woolwich, and only takes instructions from Council, and where appropriately delegated, senior staff." Honest to God that's what she wrote to me after I indicated that the lawyer speaking to MECAC was going to partisanly steer them in the direction that the mayor and her council want. That direction is firmly away from any public, transparent examination of the mayor's election expense contraventions.

The issue is are there contraventions of the Elections Act (Yes) and therefore should MECAC order a Compliance Audit (forensic audit) to get to the bottom of those contraventions. Again yes. MECAC are just as guilty as the Township. They are looking for an out to avoid ordering this Compliance Audit. If they can get a lawyer hired and paid for by Woolwich Council & Senior Staff to advise them to either limit their review to only part of the Mayor's four Financial Statements and or advise them that they don't have to order an audit; they will take that out as they have already proven that they are biased and dishonest on two occasions recently here in Woolwich.

Val Hummel's (Twn. Clerk) last three sentences also speak volumes: " Township staff and Smith Valeriote cannot and will not in any way influence MECAC's decsions, which are in any event, reviewable by the courts. I trust this matter can be put to rest. I will disregard further e-mails from you on this matter."

If that is true then why is your lawyer addressing MECAC in the first place other than to influence them, Val? Her comment about MECAC's decisions being reviewable by the courts is hilarious. Will Woolwich township pay my legal bills the same way they are paying Sandy's and Mark's? I think not!

CHEMTURA CANADA SEPTEMBER 2015 "PROGRESS REPORT"

Firstly Chemtura's off-site pumping is achieving their current pumping targets. That is of course their constantly changing target pumping rates. Three years ago they promised to triple their off-site pumping. Since then they've fudged and claimed that they will double it. Well talk is cheap. Three years later they are holding steady albeit they are allegedly upgrading their treatment capacity as well as installing a few new wells. This is why I know they aren't remotely capable of achieving success by 2028. The turnaround time for upgrades is just too ridiculously long.

Figure D.1 is typical of CRA/GHD (new name) horse manure. It purports to be groundwater contour lines for the surficial aquifer in the northeast corner of the site. In fact it is but part of their continuing misinformation campaign pretending that groundweater has not flowed off the east side of their site onto the Stroh property. A careful look at the data points reveals the ridiculousness of their contour lines allegedly showing flow only to the west.

Table C.2 shows surface water sampling in the Canagagigue Creek. BEHP (a pthalate) shows higher concentrations at the upstream end of the Chemtura site than the downstream end. This has occurred before indicating possibly issues from the former Bolender Landfill. Toluene however has higher in stream concentrations of Toluene at the downstream end than at the upstream end. This is hardly a surprise looking at the massive quantities of Toluene still on Chemtura's site.

I have great skepticism in regards to Chemtura's Upper Aquifer 1 and 3 groundwater contour maps in Appendix D. UA3 shows a very large area of allegedly "static" (i.e. non moving) groundwater and UA1 allegedly is not discharging to the creek even in the north-western quadrant which is not hydraulically contained. It all seems conveniently self-serving.

Table F.1 shows the thickness of NAPL (non aqueous phase liquid) around Building 15. It varys from .18 of a metre to nearly half a metre thick. Funny how by not aggressively removing it over the last twenty years it hasn't been reduced very much. Excuses flow a whole lot faster than this NAPL apparently.

Table G.1 also shows the direct results of not removing hot spots on the Chemtura site. It also shows their spokespersons dishonesty. Petroleum hydrocarbon groundwater results are ridiculously high in the south-west area (OW 10-6) as are other chemicals including NDMA and so much more. Jeff Merriman has publicly advised at past CPAC meetings that Chemtura do not have petroleum hydrocarbons on their site. Such rubbish!

Table H.1 shows still high groundwater results for NDMA at several off-site wells that have been so for decades. These include CH38 near pumping well W3 (now W3R) and beside the old Borg and Varnicolor sites on Union & Howard Avenue.

The pumping tests and corresponding groundwater testing are still showing surprisingly high NDMA results off-site to the north-west around well OW60. This is discouraging as Chemtura have claimed that it is a localized source. Literally weeks of pumping and the NDMA is still over 20 parts per billion (ppb) in the groundwater with a drinking standard of .009 ppb.

I have long advised that these "Progress Reports" would be better named "Failure Reports". They are all about puffery and satisfying the Ontario Ministry of Environment's face saving requirements rather than about remediating this grossly contaminated site.

CORRUPTION CAN BE BAGS OF MONEY OR SIMPLY "RIDDLED WITH ERRORS"

Am I in this Blog exposing particularly nasty polluters, politicians, government departments and other assorted anti social elements or does it go deeper than that? Am I by challenging misbehaviour, illegalities and lying by both private and public persons actually challenging the moral authority of the state? Am I exposing the hypocrisy of governments, municipal, regional, provincial and federal who pretend to be the possessers of some higher moral authority and righteousness than the citizens who put them there?

While the citizens reading the Elmira Advocate may be focused on the nitty gritty here in Woolwich Township I know that the professional politicians out there are not happy. Think about it. Is mayor Shantz particularily influential anywhere but in Woolwich Township? As a rookie regional councillor representing one small township within three other townships plus three large cities does she have any particular influence at the regional table?

I think not. What is of concern to those with real power is the example and precedent being set. Actually, publicly holding politicians to account is not good for political business. It also isn't good for every lying, cheating, polluting business hiding behind the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Similarily all the smaller businesses whether manufacturing or construction who routinely take safety shortcuts knowing they will not be audited or examined by the Ministry of Labour but once every five or ten years at most; they fear exposure of these ministrys incompetence and ineffectiveness.

Business and government wash each others hands of dirt. It is to their mutual advantage to promote confidence in the public that everything is under control. Crises like the Elmira water crisis in 1989 expose the ugly truth that our governments are essentially an expensive facade going through the motions, far more concerned with appearances than with reality.

Governments preach accountability and transparency while actually doing everything in their power to remove individual citizens from sucessfully being able to do so. To date we have seen the MECAC disgrace and the intended disrespectful of citizens time and effort Superior Court process around the Municipal Elections Act. Only holding what is known as Intake Court one day of the week (Fridays), handing out the wrong forms and then assigning the case to the wrong court (Superior versus Provincial Offences) are pretty blatant examples. Surface incompetence often hides institutional bias and lack of training of staff.

This folks is what I am all about. Does the alleged process protecting citizens from either health destroying pollution or from corrupt politicians actually work? Or is it all for show?

JUSTICE MUST BE SEEN TO BE DONE

I have long wondered as to why governments spend so much money on education. I have also wondered why they waste so much money in the same area. So many government education initiatives are simply flavour of the month fads and unproven theories. One needs only follow the SQE (Society for a Quality Education) website to understand why our students are falling further behind the rest of the world.

Whatever the quality our young people receive, credentialism is at an all time high. Soon you will need a high school diploma to operate a cash register. A Bachelor's degree will be mandatory for most office jobs of the most menial kind. Education like health, justice, labour, environment and more is all about appearances. The public need to be convinced that Canada has world class capabilities in all these areas. In other words puffery is what it is all about. Our Justice system in particular relies not so much on results as on perception. Are we locking up rabid terrorists? Are we making the streets safer for citizens? Do citizens charged with crimes really receive fair trials and are only convicted when proven beyond a reasonable doubt? Does the rule of law really apply in Canada or do the wealthy and influential receive preferential treatment?

I, based on having watched our judicial system both from afar and up close and personal, have very little confidence in it. My favourite saying is that here in Canada we have the best judicial system in the world; that money can buy. This opinion is based upon decades of watching, reading and paying close attention to newspapers, television, books and first and second hand accounts by citizens. If you are wealthy you will have every possible means available to you in order to defend yourself from any and all charges with possibly a few exceptions on terrorism charges.

For something as relatively simple as Municipal Election Act charges I have detailed here in the Advocate the difficulties I have had following the process set out to lay a private Information. Ten charges have now been laid and in theory at least will be heard one week from this Wednesday (Oct. 28) in Provincial Court, Kitchener. Why do I doubt that the system will follow through honestly, transparently and fully? Why do I expect last minute procedural bullshit to triumph?

Justice must be done but more importantly it must be seen to be done. Otherwise citizens will lose faith in their government and in all its' institutions. Councillors Hahn and Bauman essentially walked, up here in Woolwich, despite their gross election campaign contraventions. Councillor Hahn did have a Compliance/Forensic Audit ordered and produced yet despite stunning evidence calling into question the authenticity of some of his produced documentation, the Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) refused to send him on to the courts or a prosecuter for examination.

The mayor Shantz case has gone further despite our judicial system, not because of it, so far. Perhaps I will be ultimately pleasantly surprised. There are however certain minimum required elements that must occur prior to October 28 for me to have any confidence in the outcome. To date they have not occurred. They include such simple and obvious things as communication ahead of time. Has the mayor Shantz case at least reached the level of public knowledge that our authorities will feel the need to at least put on a display of judicial attention and concern or will it be yet another dog and pony show of the five minute variety put on by MECAC on July 2/15 in Woolwich Council Chambers?

THE WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP / MECAC DANCE CONTINUES

Yesterday I sent a two page written response (10:02 am.) to the Township Clerk as well as another Township employee named in the Clerk's 100 page package of the previous evening. My response was later sent to Woolwich's CAO, four Councillors, the media, colleagues and to a prosecuter in Kitchener. The reason for this is that the Township do all their best stickhandling and obfuscation behind closed doors, in the dark and out of hearing. Also I do not expect honest results from MECAC based upon their history in Woolwich. The only real accountability for the mayor's multiple, false and inaccurate Financial Statements is here and hopefully in the media. Pardon the pun but the jury is still out on Provincial Offences Court.

The 100 page package sent out has numerous inaccuracies, some of which I mentioned in my two page 10:12 am. response. The page titled MECAC HEARING is a purported list of "Statements Submitted by Sandy Shantz". It is inaccurate and misleading regarding what was sent to Suoerior Court for their July 23/15 hearing to restore the mayor's chair to Sandy. The appearance is an attempt to hide the moral, legal and commonsense significance of Sandy's second Financial Statement (March23 & June 16/15) submitted to me, MECAC and finally Superior Court.

This second Financial Statement is the one which really destroys a lot of Sandy's credibility and claims of good faith and honest mistakes. It has the March 23 date which is four days PRIOR to the March 27 deadline. It also has her first (of three) completed auditor's reports dated June 16; the very same day I submitted my Application for a Compliance Audit. It also has her Spreadsheet which clearly shows she originally included the costs of her Thank You party AND newspaper Appreciation Notices and then dropped most of them out.

Once again the Township are trying to sell the falsehood that both MECAC and Superior Court have reviewed Sandy's first two Financial Statements and accepted them. I hammered the Clerk (Val)and the Township on this point advising that they can't both ambush me and allegedly MECAC with the second set of Financials (30 pages) ten minutes before the meeting and then claim that they were "reviewed" much less read by MECAC. Superior Court relied on this same falsehood thinking that Mayor Shantz's semi illegible March 23/15 Financial Statement had been reviewed properly by MECAC. Afterall mayor Shantz has since publicly (August 25 in Council) admitted that her sworn statement to Superior Court claiming that MECAC had three days (June 29-July 2) to read them was untrue.

TOWNSHIP & MECAC CONTINUE THEIR ABUSE OF PROCESS, CITIZENS AND THE ELECTIONS ACT

Last evening I received a huge package of steaming hot horse apples from Woolwich Clerk Val Hummel. This e-mail consisted of well over a hundred pages of lies, deceptions and manipulations with but one single purpose apparent. That is to deny any kind of honest review of Mayor Shantz's constantly expanding web of nonsense by MECAC thus allowing them to wiggle out of the clear duty amd responsibility to order a Compliance/Forensic Audit of the mayor's FOUR Financial Statements.

As expected Woolwich Council's already tainted legal Counsel will attempt to bullshit and bafflegab MECAC into limiting the scope of their review. Council's legal Counsel were roundly ctiicized and held up to public condemnation by Richard Clausi at the August 25/15 Woolwich Council meeting. The information I have received from the Clerk indicates that while it will be discussed on October 26/15 as Agenda Item #3 by Smith-Valeriote, lawyers; the decision will be made unilaterally beforehand and so distributed. This is contemptible and reprehensible behaviour. In other words par for the course for Woolwich Township.

Keep clearly in mind that to date MECAC have shown little inclination for either independent decision making or even a basic understanding of their duties. Hence I believe that they are simply looking for outs and excuses provided by anybody with an aura of either respectability or authority to show them the way. That they are willing to believe that in-house lawyers for the Township provide either, is laughable and pathetic simultaneously.

Woolwich pulled even worse process at Councillor Hahn's last MECAC meeting. There they held a closed session allowing their biased, non nuetral counsel to give "legal advice" to MECAC in private, dealing with their powers and authority. Obviously based on MECAC's decision not to send Scott Hahn on to the prosecuter for consideration of Election Act charges, the Township's lawyer told them they didn't have to. In other words he gave them plausible deniability for their improper and contrary to case law decision. If it had been done properly in public at least some minimal opposing opinion could have been presented publicly to MECAC even under the stilted Agenda.

Further outrageous errors and omissions abound in this package. They will be addressed shortly in writing by myself both here and directly to Woolwich Staff/Council.

GOTTA LOVE THE MAYOR'S STICKHANDLING, WORDSMANSHIP & OBFUSCATIONS

Politicians become masters of the message. They learn how to massage the truth and always put themselves in the best light possible, no matter how bad the facts actually are. Today I'm going to give but one example of mayor Shantz's skilful manipulation of the facts and of the media in the process.

On-line I found an interview she did with CBC News one week after her July 2/15 MECAC (Compliance Audit Committee) meeting in which by skilfully ambushing me while fairly obviously obtaining MECAC approval ahead of time to do so; she avoided their ordering of a routine and absolutely mandatory, under the circumstances, forensic audit. This July 9/15 interview occurred the day after Township Clerk Val Hummel finally issued Sandy a Default Notice for her failure to provide an Audit by the March 27/15 deadline.

Hence mayor Shantz forfeited her mayor's position. She claimed in detail to the CBC that she only needed $9,400 in contributions as her expenses were lower than the $10,000 threshold which demands an accompanying Audit. Sandy used expressions such as "strict wording" and "technically in default". She claimed that in reality both her Contributions and Expenses were below the $10,000 threshold thus she was only guilty of technical violations. Pretty good stickhandling there Sandy.

In fact as of that date and as of her most recent Financial Statement given to myself on July 2/15 and MECAC allegedly on the same day, it was true. Trouble is that Financial Statement was also false but that apparently is less important than giving the media a good spin. Sandy's first Financial Statement (February 2/15) has Total Contributions of $9,475.39 .

Sandy's second Financial Statement (March 23/15) submitted on July 2 has Total Contributions of $11,858 .

Sandy's third Financial Statement (ie. "Amended" Aug.6/15) has Toatl Contributions of $ 12,472.92 .

Sandy's fourth Financial Statement (ie. "Supplementary also Aug. 6/15) has Total Contributions of $12,472.92 .


Now let's look at her Total Expenses which she piously advised CBC News were $9,400 .

Her first Financial Statement they were $9,475.39 .

Her second Financial Statement they were $ 9,475.39 . Looking good.

Her third Financial Statement they were $ 10,717.46 . Oh Oh !

Her fourth Financial Statement they were $ 14,898.46 . WHAT!!!


Now there are both exacerbating and mitigating factors with her last Total Expenses. The mitigating factors is that they include audit fees from her accountant. The exacerbating factors are that there is still evidence that needs to be examined via a forensic audit that may increase her Total Expenses even higher. That said currently her Expenses far exceed her Contributions thus the so called "Surplus" that she returned to herself is now a Deficit. The title of the on-line CBC News story is "Woolwich Mayor "not fulfilling mayoral duties" after campaign audit confusion". "Confusion" my butkus.

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Former CPAC members, current TAG members and current MECAC membership all embrace voting members with interests which conflict with those of the committees upon which they serve. In the case of TAG it is the same pair who I've written about here before who have benefited from their association with Chemtura Canada both when they were CPAC members as well as currently. Whether employment by Chemtura's consultants or expense paid trips around North America courtesy of Chemtura's membership in the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC); this pair continue to bring shame to the very idea of public service, volunteering and public consultation. Nevertheless their buddy Mayor Shantz appointed them to the TAG committee this summer with full and detailed knowledge of the personal benefits they have received to date.

Currently this same mayor Shantz is receiving the fruits of her own twisted perception of what constitutes a conflict of interest. Back on July 2, seven members of the Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) made only the slightest pretense of making a sober, thoughtful decision as to whether or not to order a Compliance /Forensic Audit for the mayor. They totally and blatantly ignored the spirit and intent of the Municipal Elections Act by refusing to order a forensic audit of mayor Shantz's two Financial Statements (to date) despite her obvious multiple errors as well as her admissions to several of them.

After that July 2/15 meeting I learned of the connection through business/employment of one of the MECAC members. Recently it has become obvious that the chairman, Carl Zehr also has a conflict of interest. I will be sending to the media this morning public references to Mr. Zehr's appointment to the Board of Governers of Metrolinx. Metrolinx have a multi million dollar contract with the Region of Waterloo for rail cars to be used as part of their Light Rail Transit program. The conflict arises as mayor Shantz is also a member of Waterloo Region Council.

Interestingly the hypocrites at Woolwich Township have a written policy on conflict of interest both for TAG membership as well as specifically for MECAC. The examples I have given all clearly contravene the definitions and examples within them. Furthermore it states that "A conflict of interest may be actual, potential or apparent." "It is important that Members be sensitive to appearance and perception and err on the side of transparency. In case of conflicts, whether actual, potential or apparent, Members are expected to fully disclose the conflict as soon as it arises and before the Committee makes any decisions in the matter where the conflict exists."

Well that horse has already bolted not once but twice (Hahn & Shantz). Closing that conflict of interest gate right now would possibly prevent another grotesque decision by MECAC. Unless of course there are still other undiscovered conflicts of interest. Ahh politics in Woolwich at their finest!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY TO ALL

MECAC PROCEDURAL CONCESSIONS CONTINUE or FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON YOU, FOOL ME TWICE SHAME ON ME

Well according to Woolwich Clerk Val Hummel, all I needed to do was ask. In an e-mail yesterday she advised that "It's reasonable to move the deadline for written submissions up to Wednesday instead of Thursday.". Now of course I had asked that I and MECAC be given three business days at a bare minimum to avoid another "ambush" by Sandy as I sufferred on July 2/15 and as allegedly MECAC also sufferred. Instead we now have two business days (Thurs. & Fri.) prior to the Monday October 26, 9:30 am. MECAC meeting.

Secondly the amount of time in which I get to address MECAC has risen from five minutes to ten. Wow! Of course what is more significant for any kind of remotely honest process to occur is if each party to the hearing (mayor Shantz & myself) are allowed to respond one to each others comments, alleged facts or questions as well as to those from any of the MECAC members or for that matter from anyone who makes claims or allegations allegedly relevant to the mayor's four Financial Statements. This especially includes the Township's lawyer who to date has been called upon to be removed from the process by citizen Richard Clausi back on August 25/15 at Council Chambers. This was due to Woolwich Council's orders to their lawyers to take a Do Nothing position at mayor Shantz's Superior Court hearing into reversing the Elections Act automatic forfeiture of her mayor's chair.

What I have learned over the last two and a half decades here in Woolwich is that it's all about the process set ahead of time. Issues are won or lost not on their merits but on the process set up to allegedly adjudicate them fairly. In fact most of the time the very last thing politicians want is any kind of fair process or outcome. They want what suits their purposes politically. Of course the very simplest method is to stack the committee, board or tribunal with political friends and sympathizers. Secondly strictly control the amount and ability of citizens to ask questions or even make comments or dispute others' so called facts. An honest process allows for a back and forth exchange of ideas, positions and most importantly the ability of each party to provide counterpoint opinions and facts to those raised by the committee or other parties.

There are still huge areas of disagreement process wise. Blatant conflicts of interest on MECAC are being ignored and denied by the Woolwich Clerk and by your Council. This is why the above title includes the second part namely "Fool Me Once Shame On You, Fool Me Twice Shame On Me".

BULLSHIT BAFFLES BRAINS - WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP CONTINUE THEIR ODIOUS BEHAVIOUR

If you can't win an issue based upon facts, commonsense and decency then hide behind process and the law. Better yet use the law inappropriately as a club in order to bias or slant the hearing or proceedings. This is exactly what Woolwich Township continue to do for mayor Shantz's benefit. The MECAC hearing is now scheduled for October 26 at 9:30 am. in Council Chambers.

This hearing gives MECAC an opportunity to right the wrong they bungled their way through on July 2/15. The only decision for them on the 26th is whether to order a Compliance Audit otherwise known as a forensic audit of the mayor's election campaign finances. The evidence clearly demanding such an audit include the mayor's admissions to date that she failed to provide an audit by the March 27/15 deadline, she accepted an overcontribution from associated corporations, she underreported her Total Contributions (donations) and via her four Financial Statements she underreported her campaign Expenses. I have provided MECAC with both the law and with legal opinions stating that the threshold to order this Compliance Audit is very low and only requires a single contravention of the Elections Act much less the multiple ones already admitted to.

Late yesterday I received another e-mail from the Township Clerk, Val Hummel. Appearances are that Woolwich are once again attempting to hide behind their own in-house legal opinions. The Township's lawyer does not represent me, you or the public interest. Unfortunately neither does Council or Staff on many occasions and this is one of them. Their lawyer represents Council and Staff interests only and they do not want mayor Shantz's honest or otherwise errors publicly exposed. To date absolutely zero authorities have either honestly or seriously examined her four Financial Statements. Superior Court allowed two parties namely the applicant (Sandy) and the Respondent (Woolwich). Woolwich took no position at Superior Court allowing Sandy to enter uncontested and in fact later publicly admitted untrue evidence. I was denied party status or the right to enter evidence by Justice Broad.

Woolwich's lawyer is once again going to be providing a Woolwich self-serving opinion to MECAC members. He will be raising a red herring legal doctrine known as Issue Estoppel. This is no more than a blatant attempt to deflect and distract MECAC from their very simple decision to order a Forensic Audit of Mayor Shantz's Financial Statements as they should have over three months ago. We the taxpayers are paying for this lawyer but he does not represent us or our interests. He is being used to coverup election campaign contraventions and improprieties. Nothing less.

EFFORTS ON THE MECAC FRONT

I received an e-mail late last evening from the Township Clerk asking if I would be available at 9:30 am. Tuesday October 13/15 to attend the second MECAC hearing regarding Mayor Shantz's election campaign finances. That of course is both immediately after the long weekend and the holiday Monday. While some families may be celebrating Thanksgiving on the Sunday we are attending dinner with family on the Monday. That said the Clerk was quite clear in her e-mail that she understands the timing is both last minute and right after Thanksgiving and if it doesn't work for me she will reschedule. I am making a few inquiries today regarding others who wish to attend before I can commit one way or the other.

I reread this morning my six page submission to MECAC dated September 25/15 plus the other two accompanying documents. The one is also a six page document from the Ontario Bar Association discussing the Election Act, MECAC and the very low threshold required for them to order a Compliance/Forensic Audit. The final document is my two page Delegation to Woolwich Council on September 15/15. It discusses both the Ontario Bar Association article as well as case law which makes it clear that MECAC must order a Compliance audit upon any failures and contraventions by the candidate of the Municipal Elections Act.

Both my Delegation to Woolwich Council and my September 25 Application to MECAC pull no punches. My Delegation to Council occurred after their idiotic and disrespectful walkout during my earlier Delegation a few weeks prior. Contrary to the blatantly false and inaccurate Woolwich Observer article that followed, my conduct was not the issue. Both my written Delegation plus taperecordings indicate that Council came looking for an excuse, any excuse to walk. Chair Larry Shantz was interrupting me within the first or second sentence of my very calm and mild Delegation.

Hence it is ironic that a few weeks later I did indeed give Council and MECAC appropriate hell for their behaviour. Council were advised that the sports metaphor "winning ugly" should be revised in Woolwich Township to "winning illegally". While Council were not happy, this time they listened to the truth appropriately and kept their interrupting mouths shut and their butts in their chairs, exactly as they are paid to do.

SHAMELESS IN BRESLAU ..... IT WAS A DONE DEAL

Third Title: CITIZEN MANIPULATION 101

I do not live in Breslau nor do I know anyone personally who lives near the park. I have followed the "process" both in the media and at a number of Woolwich Council meetings including the last two. There has been an odour at times which worried me. Earlier comments from some Councillors made me think that they clearly had made up their minds in favour a long time ago.

Last week the majority of the Delegations clearly were strongly against parkland being sold to the Catholic school board for them to build a school there. Last night the majority of the Delegations were clearly in favour of the parkland being sold to the Catholic board for them to build a school there. Most especially the first ten Delegations were in favour and then oddly/cleverly it seemed to me Council permitted literally last second Delegations from some of the folks who spoke the week before in opposition.

I have no doubt regarding the sincereity and honesty of each and every citizen who spoke passionately whether against or in favour of the proposal. They were speaking from the heart and I truly would have been torn making a decision. Possibly I would have decided based upon the apparent split within the community. The poll of 300 plus homes did not seem to be called into question regarding its' accuracy or wording of the question. It was 36% in favour, 34% against and 21% undecided or no opinion. If my math is correct then there were approximately 9% who refused to answer or respond to the question.

Up until last week's vote I saw Mayor Shantz and Councillor Mark Bauman favouring a deal with the school board. Mark's negative vote last week sent off warning bells in my head. I knew that a Committee of the Whole vote did not bind Woolwich Council and yet even so I wondered. Councillor Martin I expected to stick with the Mayor as he usually did with former mayor Strauss. Larry Shantz surprised me both last week and last night. He voted against his brother-in-law Mark and against his distant cousin Sandy. I at first bought into his performance. I actually believed what he had to say.

This was no dog and pony show similar to MECAC's pathetic performance last July 2 in Council Chambers. I know first hand only to well the acting talents and abilities of Mayor Shantz and Councillor Bauman. This Breslau proposal was handled professionally and I do mean handled. Shantz, Bauman and probably Murray Martin wanted to sell the parkland for $1.75
million. They have plans for that money and I for one know them well enough to seriously doubt that the money will go where they have said. Some yes, all never. Councillor Merlihan last evening asked the ten Delegates in favour of the proposal where they've been for the last eight months. That is a good question. Had they and the yes side received subtle cues that it was a done deal a while ago? Or not?

For a professional handling and manipulation of citizens this was impressive. The gang who normally can't shoot straight were all over this one. This is absolutely no disgrace to the approximate 1/3 of citizens who honestly believe this project is in the community's best interests. Perhaps it is and maybe it isn't but based upon the long and odourous histories of three Councillors I believe they decided it long ago and in their interests not the communitys'.

MECAC ARE BETWEEN A ROCK & A HARD PLACE

MECAC or the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee aren't very happy right now. To date, besides myself, two media persons have been advised that they are attempting to set up a date to convene with myself and mayor Shantz to do their business. Funny how the last time when I applied to MECAC on June 16/15 they had the meeting up and going and concluded all within sixteen days (July 2). Mayor Shantz even had her spanking brand new (allegedly) audit from Tim Adams of MAC LLP in hand, dated June 16/15 along with her new Financial Statement dated March 23/15 which she distributed to me ten minutes before the meeting and allegedly to MECAC as well. Her covering letter was dated June 29/15 and that was the date she wrongly advised Superior Court (Justice Broad) under oath that we had all received it. Sandy has since admitted submitting an untrue sworn statement to Superior Court on August 25/15 in Woolwich Council Chambers. Superior Court relied on her untrue sworn statements including her untrue March 23 & June 16/15 Financial Statement-Auditor's Report to restore her to the mayor's chair. Can you the readers understand why I have been persistent in my demands that mayor Shantz be held accountable both for her bizarre multiple Financial Statements but also for her self-serving and less than honest journey through MECAC and Superior Court to date?

I reapplied to MECAC on Friday September 25/15. To date I've heard exactly zero from them and only verbally from the Woolwich Clerk when I approached her at a recent Council meeting. MECAC will obviously know that I've already laid a private Information which has resulted in ten charges under the Municipal Elections Act against Sandy. They also know that since their abysmal dog and pony show on July 2/15 in which they both badly acted and acted badly that mayor Shantz was issued a default notice and removed as mayor temporarily. All of this speaks very badly to their willingness not to have done their proper and legal duty on July 2 by not ordering a Compliance Audit (forensic audit).

Now with the benefit of hindsight plus two more Financial Statements-Auditor's Reports even those deaf, dumb and blind individuals can see that she has increased her Contributions (donations) and her expenses with every single new Financial Statement. Obviously what she submitted to them at the July 2/15 meeting was erroneous and a forensic/compliance audit would have picked up on that much sooner. Their other problem of course is do they dare give the mayor a second pass with election charges looming over her? Are MECAC willing to further expose their stupidity and corruption to the public?

CHEMTURA CONTINUES TO POISON FISH, WILDLIFE & HUMANS

Last week (Wed.) at the RAC meeting we were not presented with the copy of the most recent study of Canagagigue Creek. A M.O.E. tech person raced through a presentation while we strained to see what was on the overhead screen. Last Friday we received via e-mail the actual report for the 2014 study, dated September 30/15. It is not good news for the environment in general nor especially for life in and around Canagagigue Creek. It also adds to the growing body of evidence that a disproportionate quantity of the Dioxins/Furans and DDT ending up in Lake Erie sediments and fish are courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical aka Chemtura Canada.

This study confirms the very bad news from the 2013 study and the particularily nasty news from the 2012 Canagagigue Creek study. These three confirm that the remediation done on the Uniroyal site after the groundbreaking Jaagumagi & Bedard M.O.E. study of 1995-96 was inadequate. Inadequate but not unnecessary. In fact if anything all three studies clearly show that excavation and removal of contaminated creek sediments and creekbanks are indeed worthwhile in the long run. They do remove the source areas. The problem of course is that you need to remove all the source areas not just some of them.

I have criticized the last two studies (2012 & 2013) for not being scientifically rigorous. While the nature of sediment deposition and erosion is inherently variable over time based upon volume of water in the creek (ie. rainfall), severity of weather, soil types, livestock breaking down the creekbanks etc.; nevertheless certain variables could have been avoided and were not. For example time of year is huge. Having some of these multiple reports done in April, others in Novemeber and finally in June is frankly ridiculous. If you are testing sediment from year to year then at least do it at the same time relevant to the spring flooding. Secondly location in the creek is also a huge factor. From the photographs given it again looks as if the specific and exact locations of the sediment testing are inconsistent from year to year. We also appear to have varying depths of sediments being compared to each other. The original studies referred to 0-10, 10-20 cm. etc. The 2014 one talks about top, mid and bottom core samples. Meanwhile the guidelines are all in reference to surface sediments only.

There is also some weird discussion around an alleged pond in the floodplain. It almost appears as if the M.O.E. are setting up a red herring for remediation. This pond allegedly is upgradient from the highest contaminated sediment area. One can not have any trust in longterm proven liars like the Ontario M.O.E..

There no longer is any process for concerned, honest and informed citizens to even ask questions of the M.O.E.. TAG consists of the mayor's curling buddies plus a pair of proven Chemtura sympathizers. The public can neither give a Delegation nor ask questions publicly of the M.O.E.. What a disgrace. Woolwich residents this is your council who are in bed with Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E..

WHO HAS BEEN PAYING SHANTZ'S & BAUMAN'S LEGAL BILLS?

I raise this question because of the cartoon in the Woolwich Observer this week. It shows Mayor Shantz dumping cash down the toilet. Yours truly is in the background waving and the caption refers to the lawyers at least being happy. The other reason why I'm asking this question is due to both mayor Shantz's and Councillor Bauman's Supplementary Financial Statements. Sandy's was submitted on August 20 and Mark's on September 18/15. They are borh currently on-line and neither one has legal expenses included with them. Regardless of who paid Jaimie Bennett of Madorin Snyder I was of the understanding that legal expenses relating to defending oneself from Election Act charges or penalties had to be included on one's Supplementary Financial Statements. Is it possible that the Township paid those bills and don't want them showing up on their website?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Woolwich Mayor Shantz's court date delayed to Oct. 28 due to mix-up". It is very similar to the Record story from two days earlier with of course the benefit of a day's hindsight from the Thursday court appearance. One point I do have is a reference to myself attempting "to secure penalties against the mayor". That is not the point of either the legal charges or the second Compliance Audit Committee application. In fact the point in going to MECAC with both Councillor Hahn and mayor Shantz was to attempt to get full disclosure of all the facts pertaining to what certainly appeared to be bizarre accounting by both elected officials. It was sucessful with Councillor Hahn especially after MECAC ordered the forensic audit otherwise known as a Compliance Audit. In the mayor's case MECAC not only grossly failed in their duty but they essentially aided and abetted a coverup by allowing the mayor to "ambush" myself the Applicant and allegedly themselves as well via a thirty page submission, ten minutes prior to the start of the meeting. This MECAC decision was then both wrongly and illegally presented to Superior Court as a blessing or acceptance of the mayor's Amended Financial Statements.

Mayor Shantz has since publicly in Woolwich Council Chambers in August admitted to having submitted a sworn, untrue statement to Superior Court regarding MECAC having received her thirty page submission three days prior to the July 2/15 meeting. Furthermore the Superior Court Decision specifically and incorrectly refers to mayor Shantz as having included all her Expenses and Contributions (donations) in her March 23/ June 16, 2015 Financial Statement submitted to MECAC and themselves.

On Monday I hope to be speaking here about the recently released 2014 and 2015 Sediment and Fish results in the Canagagigue Creek. They are very bad and far in excess of all provincial and federal standards regarding both DDT and Dioxins in the creek. Mayor Shantz and Councillor Mark Bauman in league with Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.) have sucessfully removed public consultation by both the public as well as by sincere informed citizens on CPAC and SWAT.

ONE STEP CLOSER TO FULL DISCLOSURE OF MAYOR SHANTZ'S ELECTION ACT CONTRAVENTIONS

Yesterday morning was both reassuring and discouraging. The discouragement was once again that the incompetence of the legal system was on full display. The reassurance however was the very same human element at its' very best also on display. The lesson for me was don't let human failures along the way discourage me. Justice Radulovic stepped up and in my opinion pulled a reverse Richard Nixon. "Pulling a Richard Nixon" is an old saying borne out of the Watergate fiasco. It means snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory. In this case Justice Radulovic did the exact opposite. She was faced with a joint submission from the Crown Prosecuter and from Sandy Shantz's lawyer requesting/insisting that all charges be withdrawn and the case in its' entirety be dropped.

Once again we have seen Mayor Shantz's preferred and bragged about method of doing business behind the scenes and out of the public's sight. Unfortunately this most especially includes monkey business whether disgusting pretend "stakeholders" meetings concerning Chemtura (April 9/15), incredibly reduced public consultation at RAC and TAG or private conversations with MECAC members, prosecuters and more. Yesterday's joint submission explains Sandy's briefly renewed confidence this week at Council. She figured that yesterday's court appearance was a done deal as she had a joint Crown/defence submission in her back pocket.

Mr. Dickson, the prosecuter, made it very plain to the court that my charges as accepted by Justice of the Peace (Marquette) were totally unacceptable, inappropriate and a gross contravention to Superior Court. He also made comments regarding some tests of criminality which I didn't understand. Sandy's lawyer, Mr. Randall Martin, was in complete agreement with him. It looked very bad. Then Justice Radulovic decided that justice and fair play were more important than convenience and a bad resolution. She looked over the court and asked if there was anyone present with additional knowledge regarding this case. She may even have asked specifically if the complainant/informant was present. I was stunned.

I approached the bench, identified myself and at her request spoke briefly to the issues. Mr. Dickson sputtered a bit about the wrong court at that point. Justice Radulovic then made her decision. Mr. Marshall she stated had both done his research and his due diligence into the appropriate court processes regarding filing an "Information" with a Justice of the Peace. Furthermore he had suceeded in satisfying the legal requirements necessary prior to Justice Marquette issuing process such as the Summons to mayor Shantz. The fact that somewhere along the line after Mr. Marshall had satisfied all the legal hurdles someone had issued the Summons to the wrong court was unfortunate but not fatal to the case.

As Justice Radulovic stated the crown was present, Mayor Shantz's lawyer was present and Mr. Marshall, the informant, was present. She therefore immediately scheduled a court date for October 28, 9 am. in Provincial Offences Court, 77 Queen St. Kitchener, Courtroom 101. She decided that she was not going to take the expeditious route suggested by Mr. Martin and Mr. Dickson which would have completely killed the ten charges.

To date neither MECAC nor any court have taken even a remotely careful look at the Mayor's election financials. MECAC's alleged ten minute purview of thirty pages of Financials on July 2/15 was given far more weight than it remotely deserved both by MECAC and by Superior Court who restored Sandy to the Mayor's chair. Sandy used a tame and compliant MECAC to avoid scrutiny of some very strange evidence within her various Financial Statements. It is time for a serious examination by the authorities of her election finances.

SUPERIOR COURT THIS MORNING & RAC LAST NIGHT

You know I'm sitting here right now wondering exactly what kind of stupidity or dirty tricks will be pulled today in court. Exactly what kind of gamesmanship, rule changing or just plain harassment can and will the system allow? I don't believe that this could be defined as my being contemptuous of the system as much as it is my lacking in confidence that decency, common sense and actual justice will prevail. This is our system. Justice and the rule of law for all is our right, not just a privelege. I will be there to see, listen and report. If through a complete lack of simple directions or even intentional misdirection I'm yet again run around in circles; I will not be embarassed by others misbehaviour. I will so report honestly here.

RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) met yesterday for the first time publicly. What a joke and that is unfortunate for the one or two present who are sincere. I met the Chair of TAG personally for the first time yesterday and he seems to be a decent sort. The thing is he is surrounded by deceivers and liars which being no slouch he either already knows or will soon learn.

There were three folks from TAG namely Dick Jackson, Pat & Susan. Enough said there. There were four from Woolwich Township present namely Councillor Bauman, Mayor Shantz, Clerk Val Hummel and the secretary Lisa. Enough said there. Then there were the really historically and presently bad guys with one administrator from the M.O.E. along with two technical persons. Lastly Chemtura had three bad guys present. Guess what? The so called major "stakeholders" that Mayor Shantz crowed that she was bringing into the process didn't show up. One person (Nancy Davys) from the Grand River Conservation Authority apologized for the absence of at least one other G.R.C.A. member and meanwhile it turns out that the Region of Waterloo to date have NOT accepted Sandy's invite to sit on RAC. Oh Sandy have you deceived us yet again? You have told CPAC and the public that CPAC & SWAT were being replaced with the major stakeholders. Apparently the Region of Waterloo have not been sold on your story.

The M.O.E. tech lady (Simoni?) raced through her presentation of the sediment and young of the year fish sampling they had done both last summer (2015) and in 2014. What I could follow, not having been permitted to see and read the report ahead of time, seemed pretty bad regarding DDT and Dioxins in both fish and sediments downstream of the Chemtura site. The proof is in the details however and allegedly all stakeholders including CPAC & SWAT will be receiving e-mail copies of the report. Of course this battle to have reports released ahead of their presentation so that interested and intelligent citizens could preread them and then ask intelligent questions, was won ten to fifteen years ago. That victory is lost due to the bias, dishonesty and stupidity of Chemtura's good friends in positions of authority. In other words it's back to square one. IF we get the report it will be at least two months before RAC meets again and of course CPAC, SWAT and the public are refused permission to ask them questions. A Delegation is possible where we can attempt to shame them into submission but the right of citizens to ask Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment direct questions has been removed by Woolwich Council. Thank you Sandy and Mark. And Chemtura and the M.O.E. also thank you. Public Consultation my ass!