I heard some honest, plain speaking last evening and it was wonderful. After decades of smooth talking, professional b/s artists and professional liars and spinmeisters; hearing again local citizens speak bluntly and clearly regarding the calculated, self-serving mess that passes for "Public Consultation" in Elmira is wonderful. Don't misunderstand me here. The majority of TAG members are decent human beings put into awkward and even career dangerous positions. While I won't repeat here the metaphors used last evening describing their tenuous tightrope walking (ha my own metaphor) nevertheless the meanings were clear. Professional hydrogeologists, soil specialists and apparently risk assessment specialists will not jeopardize their careers by bluntly speaking out and criticizing Lanxess, their consultants GHD or the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Environmental consulting and remediation is an incestuous industry and when a company agrees to send one of their young professionals to represent them it is on the understanding that their employee will NOT embarrass them by speaking too strongly or too bluntly no matter how threatened the public interest is. Discretion, diplomacy, tact are paramount. Honesty, clarity and hard hitting facts are the enemy when your company contracts and business hang in the balance. In heavy industry and manufacturing physical carelessness can result in the literal loss of fingers or worse. In professional environmental consulting and remediation verbal carelessness results in the figurative loss of fingers and worse.
Note I stated that these young professionals are representing their companies who operate in the environmental industry. That is the main problem. These professionals are not local citizens representing the public interest of their community. They have been appointed by the local power structure (Mayor, polluter, Min. of Environment etc.) and their job is NOT to fix anything so much as to give the appearance of soft spoken, highly intelligent human beings gently pushing polluters to do the right thing out of the goodness of their hearts. Corporations do not have hearts. They have bottom lines and per share profit goals. No more and no less.
Citizens please wake up. You are NOT being well represented by TAG (technical advisory group). They are representing their own interests not yours or as then councillor Pat Merlihan said in 2015 the makeup of TAG is "cringeworthy".
It is like anesthesiologist's being hired to cure cancer... Even worst is "flip-flopping" being tolerated. The whole Elmira Wellwater fiasco has been a cruel ugly insult that only a class action lawsuit against the Corp and all the facilitators could even begin to address which brings us right back to why the plant was located here in the first place.
ReplyDeleteMr Marshall; You were right all along! Woolwich Township and Waterloo Region are perfect examples of corruption done from within. You and just a few other good people like Bob Verdun were way ahead of your time in truly and honestly and unselfishly advocating for stakeholders and citizens of Woolwich and Waterloo County. The difference between you and almost all our new social advocates is that you have been honest and transparent and right upfront about your agenda! There are many of us in the background that are fully aware that things locally are even worst overall than what you have saying for especially the last 2 decades. Thank You Mr. Marshall for being honest and transparent and thank you most of all for not allowing the leftist/woke/liberals or fake conservatives corrupt you.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What will it take for all the real stakeholders and citizens of Woolwich and Waterloo Region to receive even just basic minimum government and services again ie; before all the corruption became rampant?
I have no idea what it would take for that to happen.
ReplyDeleteeven if a real good people mayor and council were elected the bureaucracy/local government staff with professional credentials or titles would not like to listen to "the people" On top of all this: the decisionmakers and the staff only entertain the wokey agenda's of special interest lobby groups that really do not give a shit about individual or property owners rights AND in fact are actually working directly against them. Collectivism IS Communism.
ReplyDelete