POLITICALLY SPEAKING - THANK YOU JIM ZIEGLER & CARL ZEHR AND DARE I SAY DONALD TRUMP FOR SHOWING US THE WAY

 

I think you know where I'm going with this one. Any comparison with that old, senile and brain addled man to the south of us isn't going to be a happy comparison. Just in case you think I'm sexist or ageist let me reassure you that I am both male and old. O.K. I think Trump is 80 so he's got a few years on me but not much. Also to date I haven't been quoted as saying that I've grabbed random or strange members of either gender by their personal parts. Similarly I've never been known to brag about walking into ladies locker rooms or changing areas in order to check them out. Sadly I guess I'm just not Presidential material.

Then we have former Kitchener alderman Jim Ziegler. Now there might be a case to be made that he's actually an example of a Canadian man in his mid 70s or so but that he's actually got the libido and stamina of a man decades younger. Afterall he not only tried to woo a lady justice of the peace in her office but to prove his endurance and tenacity he stayed on his feet and kept sweet talking her after she said no for another 35 or 40 minutes. Talk about persistence and commitment to the goal at hand. Now that's a real politician still pretty much in the prime of his life.

Then we have Carl Zehr. Oh no you say. It can't be true. Isn't Carl Zehr Square in front of Kitchener City Hall named after him? Doesn't that prove that he's a real good fella? Just like the Kennedy-Trump Centre in the U.S. Just like Lake America and the Gulf of America and the Trump Airport doesn't the right to name stuff in your own image basically mean that you can almost walk on water? Finally as the ultimate proof we have Seiling Drive here in Woolwich Township, the birthplace of our almost revered former Regional Chair. Seiling Dr. is just north of Elmira (Arthur St./#21 ?)  You do know what's on the right side at the end of that road don't you? It's the Woolwich Landfill aka "Dump". 

Hmm that all gives pause for thought. Can I actually find fault with Carl? Well in my opinion and the opinions of others not named Shantz (Sandy), Hahn (Scott) or Bauman (Mark) the answer is yes. Carl came north here to Dogpatch (Woolwich Twn.) and inflicted his good name on the citizenry regarding MECAC which is the Municipal Election Compliance  Audit Committee. Carl similar to his colleagues could find little fault with Sandy's peculiar and amateurish bookeeping regarding her municipal election Financial Statements. I suspect that possibly calling her incompetent was the lesser of two evils in that the alternative was that she knowingly and intentionally lied about her election finances. Touchingly that may have been done out of embarrassment that she had spent triple on her mayoral campaign than her three opponents combined.

So where am I going with all this? Basically at my advanced age I've never been elected to any public post although I tried twice in 1996 and 1999 to be a trustee on the essentially disgusting and corrupt Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). That description just used is held by many since the WRDSB's exposure to public condemnation over both the Caroline Burjowski  affair/defeat and the bullying of trustee Mike Ramsay. I guess I'm suggesting that a far too large a percentage of our politicians are lying swindlers and scum bags. This is not a news flash to the well informed.  

A PIECE OF THE DNAPL COVERUP IN JANUARY 2007 AND EARLY 2008

 

SUSAN, PAT & SANDY LIE THEIR WAY INTO CHEMTURA's GOOD GRACES 

In January 2007 Pat Mclean, Chair of CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee), Susan Bryant and myself, both CPAC members, plus Wilf Ruland alleged independent hydrogeologist attended a meeting at the University of Waterloo with Dr. John Cherry and Dr. Beth Parker. The two doctors were world renowned hydrogeology experts and we were there to learn about DNAPLS (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids). Wilf Ruland had studied hydrogeology under Dr. Cherry and was of the opinion that leaving DNAPLS in the ground was safer than removing them and possibly remobilizing them further. The four of us drove together and all were in good spirits with possibly some gentle persuasion aimed at myself suggesting that the two doctors knew their stuff and I should pay close attention. No other indications were made as to what they expected from the meeting.

Well both doctors were amazing and informative plus they handed out a set of multiple "briefs" or 8-10 page articles they had written and published  regarding DNAPL presence, effects, and possible remediation. These "briefs" were passed among the four of us and I was a little surprised albeit pleased when my three colleagues suggested that I keep them and read them first. I promised to do so quickly and get them back to Pat, Susan and Wilf who seemed a little non-committal. The doctors then advised the four of us that the old hydrogeological understanding about not disturbing sub-surface DNAPLS had been significantly altered over the decades. Currently the long term damage from DNAPLS was better understood and it was important when at all possible to deal with them via encapsulation, excavation or any other method which separated them from underground aquifers. 

 The return trip home was morgue like. I may even have asked jokingly "Who died?" I really did not understand exactly why the three of them were so despondent. Much, much later things became clearer. I admit that I was naive in the extreme. I really did not, even at that age, believe that people could be so deceptive and manipulative. Regardless I waited patiently for months for Pat (CPAC Chair) to put this incredibly important meeting on the CPAC Agenda. Nothing. I asked Susan as well what was going on. Nothing. Over the summer Pat started getting aggressive asking me if I were "challenging" her. I truly didn't know what the hell her problem was. In late August I wrote a strongly worded  DNAPL report criticizing Uniroyal/Chemtura's lack of DNAPL recognition and remediation. Nothing.

Probably in September the Ammonia Treatment System (ATS) was on the Agenda. As usual I was asked to read it carefully and report my comments to Susan Bryant which I did. I had found a couple of pretty gross errors in the Conestoga Rovers report in which they had picked an inappropriate monitoring well to determine if on-site hydraulic containment was being maintained during a pumping slowdown necessitated by the upcoming ATS work. The pumping well actually was by a "window" through the clay/silt aquitard allowing a direct connection between the Upper Aquifer (UA) and the Municipal Upper Aquifer (MU) . This issue would cause higher groundwater elevation readings from the well making it inappropriate to be used as part of a monitoring pair of wells determining hydraulic containment. Susan seemed taken aback and asked if I would share this information with Wilf Ruland (alleged independent hydrogeologist) to which I readily agreed. He came over to my home and I showed him the data and the stratigraphic Figures demonstrating my concerns. Oddly enough that while he was quite obviously taken aback by what I had found he did not want to commit himself by stating either yes or no to my discovery which I found strange at the time.

To Wilf's credit he did try at a later meeting with Conestoga Rovers (CRA) to convince them to use a different monitoring well.  Without any intelligent reason or rationale they said no and Wilf rolled over like the wimp he is when dealing with authority figures such as apparently CRA and the Ontario M.O.E. My friend and colleague Dr. Henry Regier was present at that meeting and was not impressed by either CRA or particularly Wilf. Susan and Pat supported CRA/Chemtura and to my shock launched an attack upon me suggesting that I was blocking progress of the ATS. Yes I had filed a request for a hearing to the Ontario Environmental Review Board (ERB) albeit I was assured that my review if granted would not inhibit or slow construction progress of the new ATS but merely look at their proposed monitoring well locations and determine if they were appropriate or not. Eventually many months later the ERT advised that indeed the well that I had suggested was inappropriate and should be replaced. This was after the ATS had been completed.

Meanwhile however  Pat and Susan through direct lying and manipulation had managed to get Woolwich Council to remove me from CPAC. That of course was AFTER they had already on their own non-existent authority kicked me off of CPAC. Councillor Ruby Weber intervened and said no way! It had to be a council decision because after all it was Pat Mclean and Susan Bryant back in 2000 who had dragged CPAC into being a committee of council in the first place. I soon learned how deep the disgusting behaviour went as Pat and Susan's complaint morphed from my allegedly inhibiting the building of the Ammonia Treatment System  (ATS) to my being "difficult" and rude to my fellow CPAC members. Well there I am at a private Woolwich council meeting attended by the councillors including first term councillor Sandy Shantz who also sat on CPAC. I figured this would be easy as I asked her in front of her council colleagues if it was accurate that yes I routinely, strongly criticized Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of Environment but NEVER  ever criticized or disrespected my fellow voting citizen CPAC members. It was an easy and obvious YES answer and Sandy hummed and hawed and refused to commit one way or the other. At that point I took Sandy's measure and knew what she was. She was a lying, go along to get along gutless wonder and she clearly knew that Woolwich council had already decided to get rid of me for whatever reason. Naive as I was it still took me a  while to realize how imbedded Woolwich Council was with Uniroyal Chemical and their successors.   

I was bounced off of CPAC by Woolwich Council in the spring of 2008 but was back on CPAC with a new council by 2011. In 2014 Sandy became Mayor and I haven't been on CPAC or successors since 2015 and wouldn't want to be as I have lost my naivety and realized how corrupt Woolwich Councils have been and how useless that committee is intended to be. Susan and Pat have both moved out of town and Sandy's tenure is ending very shortly (Thank God for all three).

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES: A) DENY, DENY, DENY B) HIRE CLIENT DRIVEN CONSULTANTS C) FORM A COMMITTEE D) HIRE UNBIASED EXPERTS & PROFESSIONAL HELP

A) is of course the cheapest and least expensive. It is always the "GO TO" first response if a citizen or resident has an environmental concern or a complaint. Simply by waiting them out and as much as possible ignoring them you soon find out how serious they are and if they actually have done their homework on the issue.

B) This is both a long and short term solution. Get some company with a few credentials or degrees working for them who are prepared to do at least a tiny bit of background digging but more importantly speak confidently and boldly as if they are the absolute world's best in their fields of expertise. This would include Morrison & Beatty as well as Conestoga Rovers way back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. If they get caught red handed as Brian Beatty did taking out of context some quotes from hydrogeologist Stan Feenstra then simply "consolidate" them as David Ash of Uniroyal Chemical did. Move on to the next, CRA, and see how they do. 

Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. (CRA) did just fine to the point of also being hired by Woolwich Twn. to muddy oops I mean clarify issues around the serious methane problem at the former Bolender Landfill. Yes this is at the north end of Bolender Park where children play including at the splashpad. It was perhaps a little awkward hitting old organics (municipal waste including foodstuffs) while excavating but local residents had indicated that municipal waste was buried behind (west ) their homes earlier on. There had been an active methane gas system drawing out methane gas from the landfill and venting it to the air for years although it was often not working well. 

C) Form a committee. Give it zero power and authority other than moral suasion which rarely works on corporations. Put a few "names" on it and away you go, if necessary for years and decades. Pretending to fix a problem is the next best thing to doing nothing. 

D) Get serious now. This is a one way street into potentially expensive remediation or removal of buried wastes that also by the way include buried industrial wastes from a number of local industries including Uniroyal, Great West Felt, likely Varnicolor Chemical, maybe Borg and who knows how many others. 

With new technology such as that written about in yesterday's K-W Record titled "Waterloo researcher uses microbes to eat methane" which is being studied and researched at the University of Waterloo there are scientific ways to reduce risk and harm caused by explosive methane gas so close to residential homes nearby. All these homes have pilot lights on their gas furnaces, water heaters and other natural gas appliances. If uncontrolled methane enters via the sub-surface through basements or windows then there could be explosions and disasters. Loss of life and resulting culpability however will be mitigated by a Township hiding behind their choice of proven friendly consultants  i.e. B).     

NDMA IS ALSO BIODEGRADABLE JUST LIKE CHLOROBENZENE

 

Isn't it just a son of a gun when you learn basic facts and knowledge about your contaminated water supply 36 years after the event? Only in the town of Elmira in Woolwich Township where municipal and regional politicians instead of standing up for their citizens and constituents would rather back a provincial coverup between the Ministry of Environment, Liberal and Conservative governments and Uniroyal Chemical and successors. If as I've just learned that NDMA does degrade in a reasonable time frame in aerobic environments such as shallow soils and at a slower rate in anaerobic soils then how is it possible to still have it so far above drinking water standards 36 years later? Well!

First of all let me say this: going on 29 years of pump and treat maybe hasn't been doing all the heavy lifting. Likely natural attenuation via biodegradation in the sub-surface has done a lot of that and CRA/GHD/Lanxess are just taking the credit. Not that they would ever deceive us. Hell no!

There are a number of possible reasons why their efforts have been so ineffective despite a quarter century of false promises claiming guaranteed success by 2028. There are most likely other sources of NDMA besides Uniroyal Chemical. The two most likely are Varnicolor Chemical and Borg Textile conveniently right in the middle of the damn plume leaving the Uniroyal site. Sanyo Canada has also been on my radar for a long while albeit with less evidence than the other two long shut down companies. Also interference from the hundred or hundreds of other solvents and chemical compounds both Uniroyal and Varnicolor dumped, spilled and leaked into the natural environment may have slowed the biodegradation of NDMA.

Dissolved chlorobenzene degradation has been slowed down not only due to an excess of nearly 2,000 kg. of it above and beyond allegedly what Uniroyal contributed but also by the fact that being a DNAPL chemical, it dissolves into the groundwater very slowly. Despite that Lanxess are looking at a bioremediation method for chlorobenzene which may or may not produce results. One question I have is whether their recently proposed amendments to stimulate bacterial degradation will work for any other compounds in the groundwater. It does nothing for NDMA  however there is an emerging technology that promotes a particular sub-surface bacteria that breaks down NDMA. This emerging technology uses a compound that most likely will not assist bacteria to break down other sub-surface toxic compounds. 

My understanding is that the emerging NDMA technology needs to be used with caution. It can produce by-products for example such as ammonia which in aquifers already contaminated by ammonia is hardly ideal. Other problems include that its' efficacy can be reduced if the corporate jerks who contaminated the aquifers in the first place were so antisocial and environmentally unwise that they dumped/spilled/buried any and all types and kinds of toxins. In other words because of the variety and sheer volumes of so many contaminants this emerging technology might not work here in Elmira. 

Frankly I still think that Lanxess won't throw good money after bad and actually seriously look at all the poisons in our drinking water courtesy of our local corporate twits and decide to actually go after all of them including dioxins and DDT. It is so much simpler and easier to go through the motions and keep mostly local people attending meetings four or five times a year, chasing shadows.       

   

HERE IS THE REALITY OF ELMIRA'S GROUNDWATER & DOWNSTREAM CANAGAGIGUE CREEK

 

Dissolved concentrations in Elmira's groundwater of NDMA and chlorobenzene are as low right now as they've likely ever been since Uniroyal Chemical graced our town around 1942 and then destroyed our beautiful Creek and poisoned our parents and grandparents. That poisoning was via both air emissions and surface dumping. Dissolved NDMA and chlorobenzene can both be removed via pumping and treating of groundwater. It's the undissolved masses of those chemicals plus the hundred or more conveniently ignored others that is the real problem beneath Elmira. These masses are attached to soils within low permeable aquitards (clay & silt) and as the concentrations within nearby groundwater (sand & gravel aquifers) are reduced these masses slowly back diffuse from the aquitards into the aquifers. It has taken decades for these chemicals to initially diffuse into the aquitards and it will take decades more for them to fully back diffuse into the aquifers. That is part of the problem. Then we have both free phase and residual DNAPL which is an even larger problem. Some of the DNAPL (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquid) came from Uniroyal Chemical, some from Varnicolor Chemical and the source of the long proven DNAPL but denied by Uniroyal/M.O.E. at OW57-32R (beside Howard St. Water Tower) until recently (2014), is unknown. It could be from Uniroyal, Varnicolor or even the former Borg Textiles across Howard Ave. from the former Varnicolor Chemical. 

To further complicate matters is the problem of DDT and dioxins. Perhaps PCBs are also a similar part of this problem. These are all known POPS or Persistent Organic Pollutants that are present in Elmira and the downstream Canagagigue Creek courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical mostly, with Varnicolor and other older local manufacturers on the hook for the PCBs. Generally speaking they have been totally ignored in our groundwater under Elmira whereas they have been tested for and found above all health criteria repeatedly downstream in the Canagagigue ("Gig"). They are all mobilized by solvents which both Uniroyal and Varnicolor had and grossly mismanaged for decades. They are also both dissolved and mobilized in free phase DNAPL which both companies had in spades. They are the elephants in the room which our corrupt Ministry of Environment (MECP) and Uniroyal/Lanxess  pretend do not dissolve in groundwater and hence can be ignored. In fact they do dissolve in groundwater at low concentrations which however do exceed the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS). If they were totally incapable of existing within groundwater and drinking water then why does Ontario have drinking water standards for them?                             

The Canagagigue Creek right now likely has the lowest concentrations of dissolved solvents it has had also since 1942. It has a ton however of DDT, dioxins, PCBs and mercury. While not all of these are  directly due to Uniroyal Chemical; wildlife, fish, the benthic community and human beings have and continue to suffer health effects from them. They have been sampled, tested and talked to death without a single shovel full of them and other Uniroyal contaminants (PAHs) having been removed. However just as with Elmira's groundwater failures there is absolutely no shortage of excuses, magic bullets or other psuedo cleanup remedies suggested mostly to keep idle hands on Woolwich's tightly controlled and phony public consultation body TRAC busy. TRAC is all for public show as they don't have a clue as to what is important and what they should be doing and this is as intended by Woolwich, RMOW, MECP and Lanxess Canada.  

TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW CITIZENS GET CO-OPTED BY POLLUTERS

 

Firstly there probably is not a one size fits all methodology. There is of course a huge incentive for polluters to want to make friends with and cozy up to citizen leaders. Polluters want the appearance of being reasonable,  open to discussion and debate, professionals. Plain stupidity may swing some people over to the corporate ideology but I really don't believe that Susan Bryant is either stupid or a "true believer" in that sense despite her father's corporate background in Rochester with Kodak. I have for some years felt that she was simply motivated by ego, selfishness and status. Maybe that is too harsh although her behaviour is certainly sociopathic. Literally in decades of knowing her I've only seen her break character a couple of times. That requires tremendous focus and determination.

A more generous interpretation may be that her intelligence combined with her sociopathic tendencies promoted her ability to be ruthless. A true sociopath often is smarter than average and leverages that intelligence to get their way. A sociopath does not question their own behaviour as much as the rest of us do. A sociopath knows where they want to go and honest or decent people in their path must be removed by whatever means possible. Susan has behaved towards a couple of friends and colleagues including myself in an absolutely horrifying way. She did it without warning and without regret. Her behaviour was beyond ruthless and brutal. Frankly until I was on the receiving end I did not think it possible for anyone to so effectively and without remorse approach another person, feign friendship and then wait patiently for years to strike from behind. And not to ever feel bad, look sad, remorseful or guilty. And of course never to apologize even decades later. Why would she apologize if she is a true believer in getting what she wants literally by any means and at any cost?

Again maybe I'm being too understanding or gentle in my interpretation of the horrid things that she has done. Maybe in fact she is solely motivated by self importance and status. Yet she continues into her old age to stay involved albeit at a much less intense and energetic pace. She has long stated her desire to have the downstream Canagagigue Creek cleaned up. In my opinion she has sold the farm, given unnecessary concessions to the polluter and sold her own integrity all for promises from long time proven polluters and liars. Promises that to date and since the 1990s are nothing but corporate bull manure. How smart is that exactly? 

In fact I truly believe that Susan Bryant almost singlehandedly with the exception of two wing women (Sylvia Berg & Pat McLean) has been the major reason that Uniroyal Chemical and successors have succeeded in NOT cleaning our aquifers OR the downstream Canagagigue Creek. She has provided them with cover. She has provided them with the appearance of corporate entities who while reluctant to spend cleanup money at least are sitting down and honestly having decades of dialogue with citizens. Unfortunately just like Sebastian and Linda who are long term TRAC members all this does is give formerly Uniroyal and now Lanxess Canada credibility as if they are honestly looking either for a compromise or some sort of acceptable cleanup solution. In fact the companies have been running out the clock for decades now. Talk is cheap, real cleanup is expensive. Susan has received honours and accolades from various government levels including municipal, regional and likely provincial. Governments are even more securely in bed with corporate polluters than Susan has ever been. Honours from them are hypocritical and worthless and Susan knows that but accepts them anyways. Why?  

   

THE BEST DECISION I EVER MADE WAS RESIGNING FROM APTE IN JANUARY 1994

 

It was also the most difficult and it was literally on  a moment's notice. I loved being a member of APT Environment. I loved both the technical reports and data that I was reading, absorbing and questioning as well as the social events they held. My wife and children were also strongly welcomed by the APTE membership and this made the decision to resign in protest on the spot excruciatingly difficult and painful. Of course the contemptible and dishonest behaviour of Sylvia Berg in hindsight was intended to produce that result. Undoubtedly she received at the minimum a Christmas card full of Xs and Os (love & kisses) from David Ash and Uniroyal Chemical. I have over the decades tended to minimize my personal negative impact on the credibility of Conestoga Rovers (CRA), Uniroyal, M.O.E. and other dishonest parties. According to Wilf Ruland (hydrogeologist & good friend of Susan Bryant) I was a quick study and absorbed more hydrogeological knowledge than any other layperson he had met. This was a direct threat to the now proven substandard and cheapest remediation method focusing on hydraulic containment or pump & treat technology. Oddly enough in the early days it was Susan Bryant of APTE who referred to pump & treat as "pump & dump". 

Susan and husband were in India in the fall of 1993. Sylvia, Glenys McMullen and I worked on responding to Conestoga Rovers latest DNAPL report. It was essentially nonsensical in light of the various professionally accepted technical criteria that had been presented such as soil and groundwater concentrations of DNAPL components. I did most of the technical stuff with Glenys and Sylvia editing and discussing specifics with me about our response. In hindsight I was much too naive and trusting and should have been forewarned when Sylvia insisted that my name alone be put on APTE's response. I later concluded she already knew that APTE would not publicly be challenging CRA's report or the December 10/93 M.O.E. (Min. of Environment) report accepting CRA's perverted conclusions in their latest DNAPL report. 

The "on the spot" resignation was due to Rich Clausi resigning after APTE coordinaters accepted Sylvia's DNAPL position that it just wasn't that big of a deal to protest and Sylvia then announced she could no longer work with me on the UPAC committee hence I was off it. Richard's resignation was a surprise but then he was fully up to date on the DNAPL specifics, the APTE co-ordinaters were not and the vote became essentially a popularity contest. Sylvia just like Susan Bryant publicly was strongly against Uniroyal Chemical at that point plus she had been with APTE longer than I.   

DNAPLS were and are the defining problem both on and off the Uniroyal Chemical site. I knew they were a big deal in the early 1990s as I'd read not only CRA and Morrison-Beatty reports on them but also gone to the University of Waterloo main library and read other professional reports describing the long term pollution issues they caused. That said, in hindsight, they have proven to be an even larger problem locally than I could have imagined. They are why chlorobenzene which if as we were falsely advised by Uniroyal and consultants were fully dissolved and no longer existed in the free phase (i.e. non-aqueous) form would have been easily reduced below drinking water standards both by pump & treat as well as by natural attenuation (sub-surface bacteria (bio-remediation)). This has not occurred and they have focused on NDMA's low drinking water standard of .009 parts per billion as the problem when they can't even get chlorobenzene down to its' drinking water standard of 80 parts per billion.

Personally I hated resigning but I knew the truth was obvious and was shocked at Sylvia's behaviour and attitude. She and her drinking buddy (coke / pepsi ?) Glenys totally reneged on their position and attitudes as shown in our joint DNAPL response under the APTE headline albeit only with my name on  the bottom. 

   

THE DIFFICULTY IN KNOWING WHO TO VOTE FOR ON OCTOBER 26/26

 

Past municipal elections I know who was good and who was bad. Who was naughty and who was nice. Who was straightforward and who was scheming and manipulative. This election for me is different because four of the current six councillors are just completing only their first terms in office. Bonnie Bryant is completing her second term as a councillor and generally speaking I'm not even sure about her. I am thrilled that our mayor Shantz is hanging up her hat and pray that she is not a good old Conservative that our Premier will anoint as the new appointed Regional Chair. That would simply be extending our environmental disaster with our groundwater and Creek ("Gig") further onto the regional stage. 

My problem is that I do not know how culpable all the councillors are with Woolwich's head in the sand, let's trust the good folks who have lied and deceived us for decades, and hold steady environmentally. Nathan Cadeau long ago exposed his biases. He got in good with mayor Sandy by accepting the Chair's position on TRAC from a position of total and complete ignorance.  I expect that when she asked for a Council volunteer everybody else wisely leapt backwards leaving Nathan front and centre. All council members were approached by CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) members very early in their start on Council and basically were ignored in the final decisions around TRAC. How much of that was the experienced mayor laying down the law I do not know. 

One proviso I have is that any council member or candidate being backed by local, powerful interests is likely no friend of the public interest. The local, powerful interests have been behind both good and bad developments in our community and their adherents would include Bill Strauss, Sandy Shantz, Mark Bauman, Pat Mclean, Bob Waters etc. If you know of any connections between them and current candidates than my recommendation is do not vote for them.

It is my understanding that Kayla Grant is not running again and if I'm wrong about that then apologies to her. Overall I have no criticisms of her efforts as a councillor.  Schwindt and Burgess also other than following suit with Sandy Shantz's willingness to support a false narrative being sold to Woolwich citizens and residents about both the overall regional water supply and about the failed "cleanup" of our groundwater and Creek, are neither in my bad books. Who is best for the public interest I honestly don't know but that is because I really don't know their backgrounds that well. 

Shantz is also no loss to a generally bad regional Council. She did nothing on the Police Board and mostly nothing for Woolwich as well. That is her legacy. One decision I applaud and that was putting the health/warning signs along the Canagagigue Creek. Other than that, good riddance. She served her local masters well, not the public.

THANK YOU LUISA D"AMATO - IT'S LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS AS YOU CRAP ALL OVER THE SCHOOL BOARD(S)

 

For many years I enjoyed reading Luisa D'Amato's public whipping particularly of our public Board, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). Today's Opinion piece by Luisa titled "Waterloo Region's school board races are... wild" hammers the Catholic Board as well so kudos to Luisa for being fair. Personally I believe that over the decades the Catholic Board generally has demonstrated more honesty, sincerity and Christian behaviour than the WRDSB by far.

 Over the decades far too many stupid and perverse wanna be politicians have used the public school board as nothing more than a stepping stone into "higher" politics. We need look no further than our very own, thank God she's gone, ,mayor Sandy Shantz. Not only was she elected trustee but she extremely shortly became the Board Chair (Board as in Board of Trustees). She did nothing remarkable other than do as she was told and not make waves. At the time and despite Luisa D'Amato's fine reporting the Trustees still had some public presence and respect making the jump to municipal politics easy. It was also helpful for Sandy that Elmira was a hockey town hence her support for two ice surfaces versus Pat Mclean's support for but one got Sandy into a councillor's chair. Then after a four year hiatus for personal reasons she had a slam dunk for the Mayor's position as then mayor Todd Cowan self-destructed due to a combination of arrogance and dishonesty.   

Perhaps after the public exposure of the school board as nothing more than proxy political left versus right ideological spats mostly irrelevant to children and public education; their usefulness as political springboards to higher office will be reduced. Of course the problem is that the local powers behind picking candidates whether for Trustee positions or Councillor positions never rests. They are always looking ahead for candidates who want to advance and are willing to go along to get along. When three quarters of the candidates running are in it for the wrong motives then democracy has already been defeated before the first vote is cast.  

CAN WE EMULATE OUR SOUTHERN BROTHERS VARIOUS WARS ON (COMMUNISM, DRUGS, CRIME, QUEERS, DEVIANTS, NON REPUBLICANS/CONSERVATIVES, IMMIGRANTS, TRUMP OPPONENTS) ?

 

Maybe a better question is "Do we want to emulate our southern brothers various wars...?" My hope is that Canadians are a little too smart for that. However how about a war on contaminated drinking water? Really why not? In one sense speaking highly optimistically maybe we already have started. Is it conceivable that all the bad old days of mass industrial dumping on their own property has ended? Are the Varnicolor Chemical, Uniroyal Chemical, Breslube, Northstar Aerospace, Canadian General Tower, Ciba-Geigy, IMICO, Sunar, Canbar, Borg, Nutrite, Kaufman, Budd, tanneries, textile mills, steel producers all in the rearview mirror? That is the first step. The Ontario MECP needs to be replaced with honest, dedicated and intelligent people both on the ground doing inspections as well as at the top. Real, unscheduled industrial inspections with full cooperation legally mandated must begin if it hasn't already.

The most egregious, blatant and toxic sites must be contained and if possible remediated. This can not be done by proven client driven, friendly to industry consulting companies paid for by the owners of contaminated sites whether active or abandoned. These sites can not wait a day longer. Municipalities can no longer be allowed to let these sites sit until a developer comes along who does a cost benefit analysis and determines that a superficial, quick "cleanup" can still allow him to make millions of dollars profit by redeveloping the property.

End of the pipe solutions are not wrong or nefarious. Yes water treatment is necessary whether to remove bacteria and viruses or gasoline components from service stations and trichloroethylene (TCE) from local Waterloo Region manufacturers. They however must not replace front of the pipe solutions. Source removal methods have improved and whether paid for up front by the guilty polluters or by governments with serious financial collection efforts afterwards, long term cleanups must be a significant part of the process.

Ministry of Labour inspectors are about as credible as MOE/MECP inspectors particularly in non-union companies. There are safety committees mandated by law for both union and non-union shops however there are very few non-union shops so stupid as to put on a former employees Record of Employment that they were fired for skin colour, religion, political attitude, gender, safety concerns or ENVIRONMENTAL concerns. I believe that all industrial employers including non-union must be mandated to have a real, functioning, informed Environmental Committee and that they must not be handpicked company loyalists on the committee. This too would require an overhaul of Ministry of Labour staff who have been conditioned to be non confrontational and oblivious to obvious problems. To those who believe that employers have an unconditional right to do what they want on their own property let me say the obvious. Do they have a right to release toxins to the air to be inhaled by their meighbours? Do they have a right to dump solvents on their property that end up in aquifers below them that supply drinking water to the community? Obviously no such rights exist other than when already existing laws are ignored and not enforced.

This is just the start for a war on contaminated water. Otherwise we will continue down the current path whereby our authorities continually, falsely assure us that our water is safe when in fact it is deteriorating year after year as long ago contamination continues to dissolve and spread while we pump more and more for our expanding populations.    

 

I'VE SOLVED WATERLOO REGION'S WATER CRISIS : IT'S MEAN & CRUEL HENCE I EXPECT THEY'VE ALREADY THOUGHT OF IT

 

Yesterday's K-W Record had an article by Bill Jackson titled "Development backlog cleared in Waterloo Region". I would describe it as a puffpiece designed to get the Record back in Waterloo Region's good graces after all the Record articles this past winter and spring truthfully describing and criticizing the Region's water management. Unsurprisingly the tail of the dog, Joseph Puopolo of Urban Initiatives is praising the reopening of business as usual for builders and developers in Waterloo Region. It is normal in this Region, just like in this Township (Woolwich), for the biggest beneficiaries of government expenditures to run the show. In fact here in Woolwich Township we even have the guiltiest parties (Uniroyal/Lanxess and the MECP) running large remediation efforts of which their incompetence and negligence has been the major cause.

Now regarding builders and developers it would be a major stretch to blame them for the state of our water systems. Yes they have always demanded more and better but mostly under the guise of reducing the housing crunch via higher numbers of new homes being built. The fact that the bulk of those new homes are grossly overpriced enriching everybody along the line including those buyers who are themselves making profits by flipping those homes and artificially increasing the demand. The general public are getting frozen out of home ownership. 

It has been mostly our soulless, degenerate industrialists and manufacturers who have profited here in the last one hundred years by cheerfully dumping their toxic wastes wherever they bloody wanted to primarily at little to zero cost to themselves. They have externalized those environmental costs onto the general public, the old, the young and those in vulnerable health. They have also externalized the health costs onto wildlife and the overall environment, Government oversight by the M.O.E. or MECP has been a joke at best and that's been intentional. Governments and political parties like financial support especially around election times and it's their biggest beneficiaries who give the most. I describe them as semi legal bribes. 

This spring and summer I have written here about all the industrially contaminated wells and wellfields throughout Waterloo Region. Most of these firms have walked without ever paying their fair share. Probably they figured their government "bribes" were less expensive than proper disposal costs. 

Now for my "mean and cruel" water solution. Put the new arrivals from now on in designated second class water areas. Tell them ahead of time that if they want to live here that's how it's going to be. Older residents get the best, most expensively treated water and new ones get the less treated, more contaminated water. That way we should have lots of room for growth while slowly developing an obvious group of second class citizens who might just spark the overdue political revolution needed in this Region and country.  

PRETTY REMEDIATION NAMES DO NOT CLEAN AQUIFERS - SOURCE REMOVAL DOES

 

Bioremediation. Enhanced Bioremediation. Bioremediation with Amendments. Enhanced Bioremediation with Amendments.  Super Duper Technically Advanced Bioremediation Endorsed by Ramin Ansari, Dr. David Ash , Steve Quigley, Allan Deal, Lou Almeida plus one hundred totally groundwater ignorant Lanxess employees. There I singlehandedly have cleaned the Elmira Aquifers by the power of words. No more need to spend time, money and human effort.

Cullen Flanders of Onterris  would have us believe that chlorobenzene can be removed from groundwater via Bioremediation. Hmm. So does the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) . How strange a million years ago (it seems that long) there were discussions about using a company by the name of Grace Dearborn to spread contaminated soils on the east side surface of Uniroyal Chemical to bacterially break down the contaminants. My understanding is that this would be referred to as ex-situ Bioremediation or out of the ground Bioremediation. Cullen Flanders is suggesting in-situ Bioremediation or if you will ...in place or on site Bioremediation. UPAC was told that the ex-situ Bioremediation was unacceptable for three reasons. One it would likely stink to high heaven and two it would take far too long to break down the very difficult chlorinated solvents that were highly resistant to bacteria. Thirdly and this also speaks to timing is the fact that bacteria at the surface won't be active during cold winter months (say five months per year). 

Perhaps Cullen Flanders has a wonderful product that operates on a similar principle to skyhooks. The issue is that Bioremediation works for dissolved chlorobenzene and not NDMA or likely another hundred different contaminants beneath both the Lanxess site and other parts of Elmira. Anyone ever heard of Bioremediation working on DDT, dioxins or PCBs?  Me neither which is why those compounds and many others are referred to as POPs or PERSISTENT Organic Pollutants. Secondly if chlorobenzene can be degraded by bacteria both in shallow aerobic soils and in deeper anaerobic soils then why after literally decades in our aquifers and soils is it still there? That's because as the dissolved chlorobenzene degrades in the aquifers it is replaced by slowly dissolving chlorobenzene both on and off site by either free phase or residual DNAPL both of which have been proven to be on the Lanxess site as well as off their site underneath Elmira.

That is the nature of DNAPLS which was totally ignored by all parties including APTE in January 1994 when Rich Clausi, myself and Esther Thur (one of the three APTE founders) resigned and walked out of APTE. At the time I thought APTE leadership were merely in error when in fact it was much worse. Now decades later Woolwich Township's naive and deferential TRAC committee are holding their breaths, crossing their fingers and wishing on a star that Cullen Flanders and Onterris will be the magic cleanup bullet. If this plan was introduced by a company not being paid by Lanxess or supervised by GHD and the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP), it might have a smidgen of credibility. Otherwise anything introduced and endorsed by those three dishonest, manipulative and corrupt (mostly MECP) groups isn't worth squat. They and their predecessors have utterly failed and utterly lied to us the public for the last thirty-seven years. How stupid do we have to be to keep believing their shi* ?    

AI JUST LIKE CLIENT DRIVEN CONSULTANTS CAN BE DANGEROUS

 

I do not believe that 100% of consultants are disreputable, client driven liars. It would seem reasonable however to suspect that consultants working long term for proven, lying polluters may very well be so. I have a ton of respect for many credentialed professionals including Dr. Richard Jackson, Dr. Henry Regier and with much less exposure to him, Dr. Neil Thompson of the University of Waterloo. Included in my high respect list of course is both Dr. Beth Parker and Dr. John Cherry. I am well aware of some of the excellent hydrogeological work they have done in particular regarding DNAPLS.

  AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be a very helpful tool just as an encyclopedia or other published reports and data lists are. AI however does not attend meetings directly nor listen to human voices generally speaking. I do not know whether AI even has access to on-line audio/video recordings of meetings such as those of Woolwich Township's well behaved and always polite TRAC committee. The old joke/saying is that they would not say shi* if their mouth was full of it and while I commend their members for their restraint I also advise that restraint of that magnitude simply breeds arrogance and disrespect when dealing with unethical, dishonest persons and groups.

AI also can be manipulated by those very same unethical and dishonest persons and groups. AI is not the repository of all knowledge. Hence if an unethical person does not like AI's answer to a question they can respond with inaccurate, alleged facts in an attempt to sway AI's answers which is entirely possible. Also AI appears quite capable of accepting blatantly illogical and scientifically inaccurate information and repeating it just because the majority of people accept it. This includes character profiles based upon the inaccurate, published profiles of others. For example if the only published data about a former Prime Minister is positive than AI will give him/her a glowing report. Think of Sir John A. McDonald as a founder of Canada and then as a founder of the brutal, residential school systems. Two different pictures arrive.

I recently schooled AI about their mistaken interpretation of chlorobenzene concentrations off the former Uniroyal Chemical site. Their sources included shabby DNAPL reports done by CRA as well as recent pronouncements by GHD consultants. AI's logic was faulty based upon one sided positions taken by consultants paid for by Lanxess Canada. AI also quoted Dr. Neil Thompson's Conceptual Site Model (CSM) as supporting their interpretation. Now I have a copy of that CSM and my recollection is that it was generally excellent however with a couple of possible errors most likely due to bad information being supplied by Lanxess or GHD. AI's position may have been due to either bad initial information given to Dr. Thompson or it may have simply been GHD misquoting or taking one of Dr. Thompson's statements out of context. In other words AI is just as vulnerable to spreading misinformation as other sources are. Hopefully however AI's mistakes are honest mistakes not malicious, intentional ones.        

THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP TO IMPROVE ENVIRONMENTALLY

 

At least three things have to occur. First we need to get rid of our current Mayor. YES  that is occurring! Second whoever becomes our new mayor (Schwindt or Burgess) has to have an open mind and look carefully at the failures of the last thirty-seven years. Thirdly preferably either get rid of the CAO or at the very least stop taking his advice as always in the best interests of Woolwich Township residents and taxpayers.

O.K. there are four or five items that need attention. Our new Mayor needs to look carefully at what we the residents of Elmira and Woolwich Township were promised at the start of the recognized Elmira Water Crisis. Our drinking water aquifers would be fully restored by 2028 AND the sewer known as the Canagagigue Creek would also be cleaned up. The reality is that our groundwater is still toxic as is the Canagagigue Creek despite improvements in its' odour and appearance. Five miles (7.5 km) of Creek whose sediments and creekbank soils are filled with Dioxins, DDT, PCBs, mercury and PAHs is an offence to nature as well as the farmers and residents living along the downstream Creek.

Number five is even easier. CAO Brenneman, Shantz and Council have surrounded themselves with one side of the pollution crisis. That is the side of all the guilty parties. That is Lanxess Canada, their client driven consultants (GHD), the Ont. Min. of Environment (MECP), and an alleged "citizens" committee (TRAC) made up of deferential, out of their depth but totally acceptable to Lanxess and the MECP, folks who merely maintain the status quo. The status quo does not and has not worked! Woolwich's current trajectory will guarantee both non cleanup of our aquifers and Creek as well as Woolwich Township ending up in history as the biggest, backwards, rural hick Township in Ontario willingly run in circles for decades by Uniroyal Chemical and successors. 

Number five above requires an immense change. Why do you think that there was so very little input from the groundwater experts at the University of Waterloo over the last 37 years? Uniroyal and fellow travellors did not want them involved! A number of those very well known hydrogeologists (eg. Cherry & Parker) have moved to the University of Guelph where they continue their groundbreaking research. Dr. Richard Jackson, if we are lucky, still lives nearby in Heidelberg. He was an amazing breath of fresh air as the first TAG Chair who resigned suddenly likely due to what he referred to as public policy failures. Wrap your minds around that if you will. Finally there is the one loud and noisy local citizen and resident who has been yelling into the silence since Sandy's coup in 2015 (i.e. moi). There are still some CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) members who may be available but only if they see real change versus cosmetic change. Woolwich this is likely your last opportunity to reverse course and MAYBE actually improve the environment. What are needed are honest, unbiased environmental experts combined with hardnosed citizens backing them versus self-serving, client driven toadies, sycophants, fellow travellors and cooptees. 

DAVID SUZUKI SAYS THAT CANADA'S GOVERNMENT IS DRIVING US "INTO A DITCH"

WOOLWICH TWN., WATERLOO REGION & ONTARIO GOVERNMENT HAVE SABOTAGED THE BRAKES AND STEERING, ENSURING THE CRASH

Our federal government is currently Liberal and our provincial government is currently Conservative. Neither one is doing a thing to seriously address Climate Change other than giving lip service to it. Lip service is but one half a step better than the right wing idiot south of the border who calls Climate Change a hoax despite world wide scientific positions otherwise. David Suzuki was interviewed with The Canadian Press and the published article is on the front page of today's Waterloo Region Record as well as on page A2. The title of the article is "Climate policy driving Canada" into a ditch", says David Suzuki". 

 Mr. Suzuki states that when looking at our political, legal and economic systems we can see that the planet we live on has been left out and ignored. The main system driving us and the world to destruction is the economic system. Politicians pretend that they are doing us all a favour by always putting the economy first when in fact what they are always doing is ensuring that the already well off and entitled remain that way generally at the expense of the rest of us. The well off and entitled are putting money into the political system at all levels and they expect favourable treatment as a result. Do you really think that developers, builders, industrialists really give a hoot about the homeless, the unemployed and those living in poverty? All they care for is a compliant, non union, low wage work force willing to do what they are told. Mass immigration in this country has never been about humanitarianism and helping the already overpopulated areas of the world. It's been about labour supply and demand and employers wanting a large pool of unemployed labour to assist in keeping unionism rates low and wages down.

Here in Elmira/Woolwich Township it is absolutely breathtaking how even anti social, dirty, stinking and polluting local industries are treated as saviours. Whether it is the former Breslube (Safety-Kleen) infamous for their stench and responsible for the shutting of the downstream drinking wells along the Grand River in Breslau (particularly K70, K71) or Varnicolor Chemical and Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira responsible for foul, toxic air and ruined drinking water aquifers; they are all treated by our municipal and regional politicians as the bastions of our society. This behaviour especially by our regional government has kept criticism of our rapidly diminishing groundwater quality by literally dozens of manufacturers over the last 100 years to a bare minimum. They never want to publicly criticize even the very worst polluters of which there are many in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo.    

ZERO GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY/ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE EXTREME

 

While I have discussed a variety of environmental and political issues here since last December; three issues have been predominate for which no apology is required based upon their significance. FIRSTLY as has been obvious literally since May 2010 when I started this Blog I have spoken to the Elmira Water Crisis from day one. SECONDLY since last December I have also focused upon the Region of Waterloo Water Crisis which I commend the K-W Record for following in detail for weeks and months after December 2025. Unfortunately despite their own research and hard work it was absolutely amazing to me as to how they dropped the issue like a hot potato literally five minutes after the Region of Waterloo self declared their victory over the water shortage. This despite my sending them (and many others) detailed and specific information as to which wells, which wellfields, dates and locations thereof as well as naming specific contaminants in those wells including the industrial sources they came from. THIRDLY  I have discussed the incredible chutzpah, arrogance and blatant contempt of citizens, residents and taxpayers by the Region of Waterloo and Wilmot Council regarding the mostly secret land acquisition of 770 acres allegedly for some out of this world, beneficial to all, industrial megagiant who is too shy to reveal their name. Please feel free to lie to us, steal our money, farmland, drinking water but peeing in our faces is too much. I am about to advise you the readers and public as to whom out of approximately 60 recipients of my close to daily Blog /e-mails have responded, commented, denied or agreed with my Blog postings.  The following groups are the near daily recipients with the number in brackets indicating how many individual recipients for each group. These have gone to the Ont. Min. of Environment (4),  a very few to Mike Harris M.P.P., Woolwich Council (6), Waterloo Region Council (16), TRAC (8), Lanxess Canada (2), GHD (1),  GREN (4),  Green Party (1), Susan Koswan, K-W Record (5), Woolwich Observer (3), CTV (1) and CPAC (9). The last one, the Citizens Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) has been the only one to comment/respond since last December. 

Please note the various government bodies municipal, regional and provincial who have NEVER so much as asked for clarification, discussion or even a meeting. I include TRAC as a government body because they are not in charge of their own Agenda, membership etc. as they are a committee of Woolwich Council totally controlled by them. While disgusted by the three tiers of government blindness and deafness I also am appalled by our local media's seeming willingness to be good little boys and girls and not rock either the government or corporate boat.  

P.S. It took decades of lying, disrespect and contempt by the polluter, regulator (MECP) and other government bodies to hone me into the chiseled, acerbic and disrespectful to authority individual I am today.    

WHO WILL DO BEST FOR WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP?

 

Frankly I'm in a quandry. I am optimistic simply because Sandy Shantz is done. She has been a disaster environmentally as she continues swallowing the crap coming from both the MECP and Lanxess Canada. Look where twelve years of that has gotten us as in exactly nowhere. Back in 2012 the new CPAC (Dan Holt, Sebastian S. A., Viv Delaney, Ron Campbell, Graham Chevreau along with Rich Clausi, Henry Regier and myself as sub-committee members advised Council and the public that the 2028 cleanup wasn't going to happen. Chemtura/Jeff Merriman/Conestoga Rovers lied like dogs six months later claiming that they would TRIPLE  the amount of pumping of groundwater in order to achieve full cleanup. They never even got close to Doubling much less Tripling. Sandy took over in 2014 and eliminated CPAC via dirty tricks including throwing out our formal renewal applications and then demanding new ones. That is precisely how lying pieces of crap operate and she did it on the demands of Chemtura and the Min. of Environment.

The failed cleanup has been official for several years now as Lanxess have made a few admissions that their lying, self-serving predecessors' never did  This last council did not appear willing or able to demand public transparency or accountability on the Uniroyal/Lanxess file. Maybe they will depending on whom is the new mayor. I have to admit that I do not know either candidate well although there are things that I like about both of them. Being an old phart myself, if I have a bias it's probably towards the older more senior of the two namely Eric Schwindt.  Again however I can't point to anything negative with Evan Burgess. One positive in his favour is how he smoothly handled public criticism from his fellow councillor Nathan Cadeau.  Nathan and I got off on the wrong foot early as he from a position of zero knowledge attempted to lecture me by e-mail on groundwater and cleanup issues. Basically as questions and answers went back and forth it became clear that he had a proxy answering for him which most likely was CAO Dave Brenneman. God there's one that really needs to go along with Nathan. 

TRAC has been abysmal only partly due to high turnover over the years. Far too many good ones with potential have walked while along with some dead wood still there are newer members with brains but zero long term background on the Elmira issues. Sycophants  like Tiffany and Eric are no help and Sebastian admits how overmatched TRAC is by Lanxess, MECP and GHD (consultants) and how deferential TRAC are as a result. Master manipulater Pat Mclean thank goodness is long gone. Too bad she didn't take her wingman Susan with her. TRAC are simply a cheerleading team for Lanxess and the Ministry (MECP) and they are protecting their interests not Woolwich residents.     

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POLITICIANS AND REGIONAL WATER SHORTAGES DUE TO INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION, MASSIVE GROWTH, INCOMPETENCE & GREED

 

There are two items in today's K-W Record that all citizens/voters should read but likely will not. The first is by Luisa D'Amato titled "The municipal elections are really all about money. Your money". The second is a Letter to the Editor by Pam O'Rourke titled "Stand up for clean water and prime farmland". Both are exhorting citizens to make informed decisions in the upcoming municipal/regional elections and vote for candidates who will support clean water, secure farmland safe from developers, and good fiscal management versus constant staff increases and higher taxes exceeding cost of living increases.

Ms. D'Amato has given us specific reasons and voting records regarding municipal and regional candidates. This I must admit is superior to my recent blanket condemnation of all our regional councillors when I suggested getting rid of the lot of them. My method would be helpful albeit there likely are at least two or three worthy of staying out of sixteen in total. Ms. D'Amato also suggests that the proposed 770 acre megasite in Wilmot could contaminate part of the Waterloo Moraine. She is correct however she and other media have been informed by me, without advising her readers, as to which wells and wellfields in Waterloo Region are already industrially contaminated and have been for decades. 

Ms. O'Rourke appropriately hammers Premier Doug Ford for his environmental stupidity and political interference here in Waterloo Region. His fingers are in the Wilmot Land Grab as well as his appointing our next Regional Chair. Gosh would it be considered undemocratic if Waterloo Region citizens politely advised Ford's appointee that we are currently collecting a wooden rail, pails of tar and a bucket of feathers to welcome him/her to our lovely Region? Never let it be said that unelected provincial appointees aren't given a rousing "welcome".  Maybe at the very least we could have a new fashion "sit out" versus a "sit in".  Regional councillors could refuse to sit at the table whenever the Doug Ford appointee shows up and in fact councillors could go and sit on the picket lines along with their own striking workers. Now that would truly be labour solidarity combined with a political middle finger extended to our good friend Doug Ford. Let the revolt start here!