In today's K-W Record two ahem "ministers" of the Ontario government have decided to cover their own butts by putting the blame on Waterloo Regional Council for the lack of transparency and obfuscation going on with the Wilmot land assembly process. Meanwhile our Regional Chair, Karen Redman, has responded with "...we've worked so closely with the province as our key partner" and "We've worked with them lockstep the whole way." Further Chair Redman stated "We were required to maintain strict confidentiality for all aspects of the project and the province's involvement". "It was the province's playbook that we were adhering to." It even goes one step further as the two idiot Cabinet ministers also admitted that the Ontario government are "... supporting the Region of Waterloo with funding to help purchase land...".
So lets be clear here. The province (Ont.) tells the Region of Waterloo to jump and the Region ask "How high?". Now were the regional councillors appointed by the province or were they elected by local citizens? And what about the local council, namely Wilmot? Were they not also elected by local Wilmot citizens? Yet even the local council take their marching orders from regional council not from local citizens. What the hell !!!
The democratic process is way beyond broken. Higher tiers of government award infrastructure grants for roads, bridges, hospitals, land assembly for industrial development etc. Lower tiers take their marching orders from these higher tiers in order not to miss out on government goodies and subsidies. This is why municipal governments have such low voter participation numbers. We know that we are paying for lickspittles, yes men and women and deferential wimps who talk big to the public while accepting orders not to talk to their own constituents from the Region and the Province on important matters.
All of this is exactly what has been happening in Woolwich Township for the last thirty-five years. It also explains mayor Sandy Shantz's talents at appointing educated, intelligent, deferential and easily manipulated citizens to her environmental advisory committees. Some of these appointees are even basically honest and decent individuals. What they don't have however is the ability to be confrontational when dealing with the professional liars leading them down the garden path. Exactly what Sandy and lower tier politicians have learned in dealing with Regional and Provincial governments.
Wilmot are just at the start of their political awakening. Woolwich citizens have suffered through 35 years of lies, deceit and political corruption sanctioned by the Province of Ontario in order to protect a local polluter, Uniroyal Chemical and successors, from proper cleanup of our drinking water and our local Creek.
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