CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

Well I guess I'm the poster boy for inappropriate behaviour by a municipal council towards a citizen volunteer. This comes after being kicked off of CPAC on two occasions namely in February 2008 and then again in May 2011. Of interest of course is that I was reappointed to CPAC by Woolwich Council in between those two instances. Odd I have yet to receive an apology for either booting. Also of interest is that after the second booting in 2011, CPAC members themselves, with the exception of Mr. Flip Flop (Mark Bauman) voted for and formally requested that Woolwich Council reinstate me to CPAC in 2013. Via mayor Todd Cowan's usual lying, this time to his own council members, that reinstatement was denied three votes to two. The almost mentally challenged Julie-Anne Herteis had the deciding vote and seemed all too pleased with her negative vote. That of course hardly crossed my mind when Julie-Anne was immorally, improperly and via the abomination of a sham public meeting, appointed to Woolwich Council last March. I was not devastated earlier this week when she came in last in the Ward One municipal election. I have stated here that I don't think she is a bad person, per se. She is however easily led and she does have a petty, mean streak. Only time will tell if her replacement Scott McMillan is better equipped to make decisions in the public interest. I am hopeful although truth be told I simply don't know the gentleman.

Oh and the title above? Activists doing their job in the public interest should never be arbitrarily removed because either a fellow citizen or a politician don't like their message. I am the canary in the coal mine in regards to the negative effects of environmental citizen committees being under the control of ignorant, biased or petty council members. Are we as citizens so naive that we still think that most politicians are there for our good? I sincerely hope not. They are there to support the status quo which means money and wealth continue to rule in our so called democracy.Just look at Premier Doug Ford's recent rollback of the legislated minimum wage increase previously scheduled for January 1, 2019. I'm sure that the franchisee owners of McDonald's, Tim Horton's, Harvey's etc. will now avoid either bankruptcy or a reduction in their Caribbean and Bahamian holidays next summer.