LIGHTNING & HOCKEY BIAS STRIKE ELMIRA AGAIN!

 

Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time with this one .An obviously wealthy family (check out the mansion, the number of acres owned and the size /cost of the friggin fully equipped hockey rink and infrastructure) made the decision not to follow fairly normal municipal rules and regulations regarding constructing buildings, hooking up to municipal services etc. Now at first blush their excuse was well it's only a hockey rink for kids and hockey is a good thing here in Canada, right. Hmm well maybe O.K.   Although this is no outdoor rink, watered with a hose and used plywood for the ten inch high boards.  This is a full indoor rink and building including a commercial ice /refrigeration system, a commercial ice cleaner (zamboni??), washrooms etc. etc. A friend's first question to me was : How did this family get a professional contractor (plumber, electrician, carpenter, concrete specialists etc. ) to build all this without a Building Permit much less other paperwork to prove this is a documented, legitimate, built to code safe building. 

Now my friend can be enthusiastic at times and he considered that maybe somebody, somewhere got paid off. The more I think about it the more I wonder too. Is our municipal system so lax that a major building built between the mansion and the roadway can be expected to be ignored? This is Woolwich Township not Mississauga or Toronto where I expect buildings come and go all the time without proper paperwork.  O.K. somebody caught this "nice" undocumented building to be used for kids healthy entertainment. The last time Woolwich got an extra rink it was at the proposed new Rec Centre and cost us an experienced councillor (Pat McLean-no loss really) in exchange for a novice (Sandy Shantz) who went on to three terms as mayor totally ensuring that Uniroyal Chemical and successors got away with paying the absolute minimum to "clean up" their chemical nightmare including  Dioxins, DDT, NDMA etc.  

So is this as bad a decision as my gut is telling me or am I still leery of ice rinks after the last one  Woolwich voters wanted and what it really cost us all?

The story was in the K-W Record this week yet I did not see it in the Observer this week. Odd!

GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL CORRUPTION

 

Unfortunately though it does make many citizens believe that government corruption is a normal thing. Is our provincial Conservative government inherently corrupt? I'm going to be nice today and suggest that ideological stupidity combined with zero sense of history may be driving Doug Ford's most recent attempts to make his corporate sponsers greener. By greener I am not suggesting that Ford's government love the environment nearly as much as they love money and Ford by trying to make them "greener" is trying to make them wealthier at the public's expense. There is absolutely no attempt here to actually make, develop or improve upon a product. It's simply yet one more way to legally transfer wealth to those already expert at sucking at the government's udders. 

The Opinion Page in today's Record has an excellent article by Joel Bakan and Jim Standford titled "Was nothing learned from Walkerton" The straightforward answer is indeed NOTHING ! Below that article is one by Susan Koswan both reiterating recent posts of mine here but also adding information concerning pollutants in our Grand River. She also comments on how the Region of Waterloo were mishandling our water supply back in 1992 and none other than Dr. John Cherry so advised them of that fact.

We as citizens have been far too complacent and we've already paid too high of a price for that complacency. For the love of all that's holy why doesn't Doug Ford get his Conservative back up about the federal government's ongoing attacks against honest citizens including threats of criminalization? Other provinces have done so and while Doug's environmental failures will cost him votes he could recoup many if he took similar steps to those of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland who will not allow our federal government to steal lawful property and criminalize honest citizens who have followed firearms laws and rules for decades. 

REGION OF WATERLOO TWISTS IN THE WIND WHILE TAXPAYERS CONTINUE TO FOOT THE BILLS ($15 MILLION MOST RECENT)

 

The math may be a little off or that is just typical Record reporters who either can't do math or simply described the increased capacity from portable trailers unclearly. Apparently one trailer will start filtering water at 25 litres per second and then be scaled to 50 l/sec by the end of 2026. If all goes well than three more filtration trailers will be added for a total increased capacity of 300 l/sec. Readers who can do the math can see the potential contradiction. This story is in today's K-W Record titled "We have a lot of eggs in the basket".

Just to keep the pressure on everybody we are also advised that the four filtration containers weighing 100,000 pounds each will be sitting on top of critical water and service lines located seven metres below ground. By my math that is 400,000 pounds of containers although we are not told if that is dry weight or wet weight. It could make a huge difference just as the mixing of measurement systems (British & Metric)  for weight (pounds) and distance (metres) might also signify somebody who is less than proficient in one or both measuring systems. I just state this in order to tee up the Region down the road for yet another excuse if things don't work out.

Permanent repairs to the Mannheim Treatment Plant are scheduled to be completed by 2031. I have yet to see any explanation as to why that plant was allowed to get so degraded in the first place. Allegedly after June 3, 2026 there may be some partial development allowed to move forward based upon a risk assessment that has been done. If it's anything like the piece of garbage Risk Assessments (two of them) done in Elmira for both the former Uniroyal plant and for the Canagagigue Creek then developers and house builders can rest easy as the Risk Assessment will merely justify what the people paying for it want. 

Further work by the Region includes completing renovations to wells and searching for other sources. If only all the wells that have been shut down either short term, long term or permanently could be safely brought back into service. They can't because there were serious and inescapable reasons for their shutdowns in the first place. Perhaps again greater thought and consideration to real groundwater remediation should have occurred long ago in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Elmira.

IT SURE SEEMS TO ME THAT MR. MACKIN (LANXESS) IS FULL OF BULL RIGHT ALONG WITH THE ONT. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT

 

Michael Mackin is/was a spokesperson for Lanxess Canada here in Elmira. I and a few others take umbrage with either blatant lies or even just disingenuous statements intentionally made to mislead the public. Sorry but that's the way I'm built and living here in Elmira unfortunately it happens far too often from various authorities (MECP), politicians and of course polluters and their consultants. In this case I'm referring to an article in the Woolwich Observer dated May 18, 2023 and written by Leah Gerber titled "  Chlorobenzene spike latest mystery for environmental watchdog". 

According to sources there has been recent increases in chlorobenzene concentrations found in observation well CH-75B. Now Lanxess would have us believe that there are other sources of chlorobenzene in the Elmira Aquifers which certainly is a realistic possibility based upon the number of local facilities using chlorobenzene and the sweetheart deal of Oct./Nov. 1991 between Uniroyal Chemical and the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Basically at that time Uniroyal accepted 100% blame and responsibility in exchange for not proceeding at the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) to eviscerate the Ministry of Environment's credibility and integrity. Also Uniroyal received some slippery wording allowing them to escape DNAPL cleanup based upon the Ministry's biased interpretations of future reports written by Uniroyal consultants and others. Also the 1991 deals have allowed Uniroyal and successors to so far escape all downstream cleanup of the Canagagigue Creek that has been contaminated initially with solvents etc. but remains to this day as a repository of DDT, dioxins and more from Uniroyal's behaviour.

I also believe that there is likely a second source of NDMA to the Elmira Aquifers which to date has not been admitted to by any of the guilty parties. The entire "investigation" was a joke by the MOE (later MECP) and that also would have been exposed at the EAB hearing if it had been allowed to continue. Currently we have admissions that both Nutrite and Varnicolor contributed chemicals to the Elmira Aquifers with Nutrite responsible for ammonia and Varnicolor for half a dozen chlorinated solvents. 

Meanwhile both Mr. Machin, Tiffany Svensson and others are all quite willing to blame some unknown chlorobenzene contributor versus determining who the culprit is. The MECP however are sticking to their 1991 story suggesting that it's all speculation and the chlorobenzene plume is contained within the larger NDMA plume and will be remediated eventually along with the NDMA. Likely candidates for further pollution blame would include the former Borg Textiles and former Varnicolor Chemical. Sanyo has always caught my eye based upon nearby observation well CH-38 and its' results over the decades. Nobody of course mentions the small cleanup at MotiveAir (First St.) years ago that most likely was a result of their next door neighbour Varnicolor Chemical. Other nearby companies are also potential candidates.

By the way the concentration increases at CH-75B are likely due to the shutting down of pumping well W4 that was controlling the chlorobenzene  DNAPL found in observation well OW57-32R. Everyone knows this and everyone lies about it. That off-site DNAPL was an embarrassment to all the guilty parties.

EXACTLY WHEN DID THE CORRUPTION START IN WOOLWICH?

 

Oh my but that's a tough one. Which corruption are we talking about? What kind of corruption are we talking about? Are we talking about brown paper bags filled with cash or "merely" corruption defined as "riddled with errors"? Are we talking government corruption as in the Ontario Ministry of Environment or rather as bilateral deals between Uniroyal Chemical and Ontario or Uniroyal Chemical and the Region of Waterloo or Uniroyal Chemical and Woolwich Township? How about lower key corruption whereby Uniroyal has an understanding with one or two local councillors to keep them in the loop ahead of time?

Finally how about local citizens with connections to Uniroyal Chemical in the old days. Did those cheerleaders change their tune as Uniroyal's complicity and negligence become more obvious over time? How about local citizens representing a larger group who are persuaded to change teams? APTE under Susan Rupert was a force to be reckoned with and it amazed me when I heard how accommodating a certain mayor and real estate agents were in assisting Ms. Rupert's move from Elmira to Waterloo to attend the University of Waterloo.  It's one thing to be happy when you are losing a harsh critic but did they know who her replacement was going to be?

Clearly there had been a certain amount of corruption at the municipal,  regional and provincial levels for decades in allowing Uniroyal Chemical free rein to pollute, destroy and degrade our air, soil, Creek (Canagagigue) and groundwater. There were pollution laws which simply weren't enforced. The Ontario Ministry of Environment viewed their job as squelching complaints, misrepresenting critics and defending corporations inalienable rights to make money off the backs of their hired labour, the environment and unfortunate local residents. The residents rights to clean air, water, soil and food were way down the list of priorities.   

With decades of corruption under their belts it really wasn't that difficult to manipulate both the public and the public's representatives, voted or otherwise. This is what democracy has become. The dishonest leading the disinterested . Those that do step up are either co-opted or squelched one way or the other. That is the huge advantage of governmental corruption. You are on the inside protecting the guilty who are also on the inside.

THE BIG STICK IS COMING: WRDSB FOR SURE IS IN TROUBLE BUT WHAT ABOUT WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP?

 

I know, I know we have lots of Conservatives locally who have always toed the provincial line. Heck we've got a number of Conservative M.P.s (federal) such as Connie Cody and Kelly Deritter and Matt Strauss. Apologies if I've lumped in a provincial Tory (Conservative ) here along with the federal ones but that just makes my point more that Doug Ford really shouldn't be gunning for anybody in Waterloo Region. Heck both Ken Seiling and Sandy Shantz are both Conservatives as well.

The Waterloo Region District School Board frankly are a bunch of idiots and whatever their political leanings have long been an embarrassment locally.  Whether it was the Caroline Burjowski fiasco in which the Chair made the initial errors only to be followed by the rest of the Board leaping in with both feet and treating her savagely; they actually got their comeuppance by the courts which just goes to prove that they at least are not corrupt all the time.  Or maybe it's been the treatment of their own trustees when one has dared not to follow the company/Board line on all things stupid. The Mike Ramsay affair makes a complete sham of the Board's commonsense and decency. Suspending publicly elected trustees based upon a few hurt feelings on the Board is jus so sad and pathetic.

Yes I can certainly see our premier being fed up with the WRDSB's nonsense and taking hard action. But what about a municipality (Woolwich) that has let one of the most heavily contaminated chemical sites in the country continue to fester? Instead of redoubling their efforts years ago they are merely preparing excuses and rewriting the narrative. What about a Region (Waterloo) that  seems hell bent on infuriating its' citizens through secret land grabs (Wilmot) as well as a local Elmira Water Crisis that is now a Region wide Water Crisis? Plus don't forget speed cameras removed by Doug Ford only to be replaced by surveillance cameras.  You know I'm not a Conservative voter but I could get behind the province saying enough is enough here in Waterloo Region. Call it amalgamation, call it sending in a superviser but whatever it's time for a major shakeup. 

THE LAWYERS ARE COMING, THE LAWYERS ARE COMING!

 

Oh thank goodness for involved and keen citizens. Despite decades of reading technical hydrogeological reports and understanding them and then providing informed advice which was generally ignored if it cost 25 cents more than another option; this time I will be a tad frivolous in my advice. In today's K-W Record Luisa D'Amato warns us that lawsuits are on the way. Her article on page A3 is titled "Region is running out of time to avoid legal action on water supply".  My suggestion is this: Embrace the judicial system sticking their noses in, their supercilious attitudes, user unfriendly processes and procedures all combined with occasional ignorant judges and go for it. Sort of. Here's what you have to do. It's called judge shopping and the fact that it has a name indicates that it is a thing. 

Pick Justice Craig Parry to be the sole jurist. No jury involved to dilute the pool of common sense that he has recently displayed. Based upon his obvious displeasure with the public as represented by 48 adult women versus one male doctor (we'll call him Dr. "hands") a lawsuit made up of mostly male plaintiffs aimed against a mixed bunch of regional councilors should be a slam dunk in favour of the developers and house builders at the expense of the public interest. This sounds to me right up this Judge's alley don't you think?

Now on the other hand if you were to pick judge Robert Reilly instead you could likely tailer the legal decision differently. If as I was told, after the fact, he favours females over males then by putting all the female regional councillors in the front row to emphasize regional council's femininity versus the masculinity of rough/tough home builders and construction guys; then the decision would be a slam dunk in favour of the public interest (politicians) over wealthy, influential, monied interests.

There is yet another legal term involved. It's called "home cooking". Basically courts who rely somewhat on the good will of the people they terrorize.... oops I mean tenderize, prefer to make decisions that the public can get behind no matter their legal merits. Hence each party needs to do a small, subtle con job on the judge alone (possibly favoured by Reilly & Parry?) which is much easier than winning over a jury of citizens based upon evidence. The party that the Judge feels represents more people should generally win court decisions to avoid controversy and worse such as bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. 

So who really is in charge in Waterloo Region? Is it the behind the scenes movers and shakers or is it the pack of dummies that get elected every four years? Those politicians may get elected on the lies they tell the public during the election but it's the truth they tell the movers and shakers privately beforehand that gets them money and organization to run in the elections. 

Exactly how rigged is the system? Can you believe the coincidence that speed cameras are being torn down in Waterloo Region literally at the same time as surveillance cameras are being put up? Who masterminded that Orwellian nonsense without public input? Waterloo Region still refuses to divulge what should be public knowledge regarding the 770 acre land grab in Wilmot Township. They also still haven't come clean as to the quantity of contaminated groundwater combined with incredibly dirty Grand River surface water requiring massively expensive treatment. 

My personal view is that we are watching a bruhaha between the greedy and the incompetent. There will ne no winners but I can guarantee you who the losers will be! We can't vote out the movers and shakers but come this October we can vote out every single regional councillor plus incumbent mayors on regional council.

   

I PROPOSE AN ANNUAL AWARD NAMED THE ROBERT REILLY DULY MEMORABLE BASTION OF ARTICULATE SOUL SEEKERS - 1ST RECIPIENT JUSTICE CRAIG PARRY

 

Justice Parry through his recent, courageous and forward seeking decision to put 48 female whiners and complainers in their place can only be given the due he deserves. With full knowledge that all the lefties, some righties, men and women of all shapes and colours would find fault with his independent, long thought out and incredibly humourous exaggerations that he used in order to calm the ever complaining masses. This award has of course been named after another giant of jurisprudence, Robert Reilly, who pioneered the advanced technique of dismissing witness credibility based upon zero evidence presented on the matter. Now of course Robert Reilly was a mere piker compared to Justice Craig Parry but innovators sometimes have to begin small. Both gentlemen have surmounted the tightly constrained and impeded bounds of logic, fact and reason with their obviously male talent of foresight, psychic vision and mind reading capabilities far in advance of their peers, their critics, and humanity in general.

This award known as the RR DUMBASS could easily have been mistaken for the name of their joint pleasure yacht the SS DUMBASS but for the foresight of  Mr. Reilly's parents' naming abilities. It is rumoured that they too were giants in their fields as well. Clearly the apple does not fall far from the tree and Mr. Reilly's legal exploits are as equally balanced as his bicycle riding we are advised. Further praise and public recognition may be forthcoming for both gentlemen at the planned festivities outside the Elmira Waste Water Treatment Plant this Saturday at 11 am.  All are welcome although sore losers and complainers will be met with Waterloo Region's finest batons and pepper spray.

CREDIT GOES TO SANDY SHANTZ FOR ANNOUNCING HER STEPPING DOWN EARLY

 

Instead of delaying her announcement that she wasn't running and hence possibly being viewed as a "lame duck" mayor by both her Woolwich and regional colleagues; she has announced already that she is not running for Woolwich Mayor again this October. Hallelujah albeit the damage is done and the last ditch chance to reverse Woolwich Township's disgraceful "water crisis" legacy is now well past. The Township rolled over early and joined the Uniroyal Chemical fellow travellors' cheerleading group. After the new CPAC (2011-2015) changed the channel and set the new direction however it was Sandy Shantz who re-embraced Uniroyal/Chemtura, kicked out CPAC and went back to the status quo of much talk and little action or cleanup.  

Uniroyal and their corporate successors have made a laughing stock of local democracy and of the provincial Ministry of Environment (MECP). Clearly our provincial environmental laws are absolutely no match for multi billion dollar, multi national corporations with large legal budgets and tiny ethics and decency. No effort was ever spared by the polluters to minimize their cleanup costs and enhance their soiled reputations. And our local councils aided and abetted that over decades to their everlasting shame. 

To date I believe that councillor Eric Schwindt has thrown his hat into the ring.  I guess I'm not terribly surprised nor alarmed although I will admit my knowledge of him is limited. What I have seen over the last four years has been positive in a number of areas . I do not know if there will be other contenders or not although it seems likely. You know I can live with a mayor with a different background than myself but dear God at least let them have an open mind regarding our public water supply and they must put the public interest first in all matters. They must not be beholden to developers, builders, industrialists or our local big shots or for that matter any other self-serving groups especially including regional and provincial governments.   

GROWTH AT ANY COST MANTRA

 

All around the world economic growth continues to be the alleged panacea of all our ills. Which is complete nonsense even on the face of it. Yes it would be nice to have enough food, water, shelter, health care etc. for everyone on the planet but it is an impossible task getting worse everyday. Why is that you ask? Well there are more and more people on the same size planet everyday. There is however not an automatic and corresponding increase in those life sustaining items everyday as the population continues to grow.  Combined with that is the fact that economic growth at least partially depends on population growth. In other words it's a case of having an ever expanding market for your goods be they foodstuffs, clothing or automobiles.

Population growth leads to some awful environmental problems from basic dumping and overflows from sewage treatment plants into our lakes and rivers as well as forest removal in order to grow more food for more people. Then of course we have climate change which certainly is attributed to more petroleum uses whether for heating our homes or running cars and trucks delivering more products to more people. Climate change including rising ocean levels as ice caps melt is causing havoc with flooding of coastal towns and cities. Greater heat worldwide is causing massive increases in both the numbers and magnitude of violent weather events resulting in more hurricanes and tornados destroying property and lives. Both droughts and floods are increasing in numbers and both affect food production which is already under stress.

Water shortages used to be an issue in third world countries. Now countries are looking for water sources outside their own borders. Water, whether groundwater or surface water, is in greater demand even as our industries continue to ignore pollution laws with little or no public recourse against them. Here in Elmira the now responsible chemical company are bragging about their fine "cleanup" work even as the Ministry of Environment rewrites the Control Order (1991) that was supposed to restore our local aquifers destroyed by Uniroyal Chemical. The deadline is 2028 and it won't happen although desperation may cause attempts to reopen parts of the aquifer to drinking water pumping while pretending to isolate other more contaminated parts. 

This is all our futures unless growth is more seriously limited and supervised. 

ABUNDANT, ACCURATE & HONEST ADVICE WAS GIVEN TO UNIROYAL & SUCCESSORS : IT WAS ALL IGNORED AND DENIGRATED

 

Who gave them advice exactly? CEAC gave them good advice for years. The Region of Waterloo as well until they walked away unhappy with being ignored. Various bodies from the initially independent albeit stacked with Uniroyal supporters UPAC followed by CPAC (Crompton/Chemtura) followed by RAC/TAG and then TRAC all gave some good advice but other than the 2011-early 2015 CPAC none of the others ever stood up to the company and the Ministry (MOE/MECP) and demanded honest discussions, action and good faith from them. Chemtura were just like their predecessors incapable of doing any of that. 

Woolwich Township have always been far too sympathetic and deferential to the chemical company with the Oct. 2010 to Oct. 2014 council of Todd Cowan at least trying to support greater honesty at CPAC although even then Todd Cowan personally was a problem. Eventually as we all know he self destructed albeit with a little help. The GRCA can best be described as a joke which speaks volumes as to my lack of response to Doug Ford's clipping their wings. 

The advice given was based upon various reports and experts advising what needed to be done including the MOE from time to time, in between polishing Uniroyal's apple and kissing their feet . Advice included Source Removal including DNAPLS, pumping to both the on-site and off-site Target Rates determined by their own consultants,  removing dioxins, DDT and more in the downstream Canagagigue Creek and so much more. Off-site there were poorly managed DNAPLS (chlorobenzene) whether from Uniroyal or a now decades later admission to a second (unnamed) industrial source. There was also advice given to clean up their air emissions which literally took them years to get around to meanwhile harming local residents' (adults & children) health. 

The company's and the Ministry's (MOE) early on sweetheart deal (Oct. & Nov. 1991) set the tone for the company's continuing to be in charge of the "cleanup" from start to finish. The "cleanup" unsurprisingly has failed just like the company and Ministry have failed Elmira, Woolwich and downstream residents. 

HOW MANY WOOLWICH COUNCILLORS WANT TO HANG AROUND FOR THE WATER BLAME ?

 

Well the chief architect of the Elmira cleanup failure over the last twelve years by the time the October elections roll around is running for the hills. She also bears some responsibility at the regional level for the water crisis throughout all of Waterloo Region. How many other regional as well as local councillors do you think will join the exodus? I would expect the mayors with more than one term as mayors and regional councillors might be thinking that this is a good time to hit the road. Is that only Barry Vrbanovic or is one of the other big city mayors a repeat culprit?

I expect that up here in Dogpatch (Woolwich) that there might be some small exodus of councillors although actually other than Bonnie Bryant, the others are all first term councillors. Hard to fault them horribly from one term's experience in which a quadruple term Sandy Shantz was leading the pack. She also spent a term as a councillor before her three terms as mayor. A small peccadillo derailed her for one term between her term as councillor and her three terms as mayor.  

I have spent years trying to figure out if she basically is a naive fool, easily swayed and manipulated by the likes of Dave Brenneman, Mark Bauman, Chemtura/Lanxess and other local big shot companies and individuals. Or has she with full knowledge ploughed ahead wrecking havoc on our environment and health by prioritizing growth and business at all costs?  Uniroyal and successors is not the only industrial dump  in Woolwich Township. Breslube, prior to Safety-Kleen, damaged our environments's air and water for extensive distances throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s. Safety-Kleen were always welcomed with open arms and glad handing by earlier Woolwich mayors including Bill Strauss who personally owned multiple contaminated sites related to the fuel industry. 

Perhaps we the citizens deserve both the environment and the mayors that we've had. Sebastian (TRAC) has very lately sent an excellent treatise on to some local environmentalists and unfortunately to a couple of wanna bees that may bite him. That could be unfortunate or it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise as he spends less time with those he refers to as deferential.  

MAYOR SHANTZ"S LEGACY IS LIKELY PROBLEMATIC

 

I suggest that her legacy is problematic mostly based upon her efforts regarding Elmira's water situation. Yes I am aware that the Woolwich Observer and others have been warning taxpayers here in Woolwich Township for decades about profligate municipal spending. Those folks have also likely suggested either empire building or at least unnecessary municipal hires which further add to the Township's financial burden when wages, benefits and long term cost of living increases are all included.

It is also possible that there are other issues such as local development both in Breslau and Elmira that may have offended many citizens. I do not however pretend to be either an expert on the intricacies of development nor on waste water infrastructure. I do have considerable knowledge however on water supply including both municipal, regional and even individual wells on private residences.

For myself there is one other major area of recent dispute that Mayor Shantz possibly cleverly avoided at all costs and that is the Region of Waterloo's mishandling of  Wilmot's water supplies. Keep in mind that Mayor Shantz has also been a regional councillor for the past twelve years and should have stepped up and provided some leadership within regional council. Absolutely none was heard or reported upon at regional council meetings that multiple media have been attending vigorously for at least the last six months. 

I have a colleague here in Elmira who has resoundingly been repeating the following mantra namely that Ms. Shantz's actions and decisions over the last eleven years have guaranteed the now universally accepted failure to clean up the Elmira Aquifers by 2028. While the "cleanup" has been irregular, inconsistent and inadequate for decades, the last chance to turn things around was in 2015 after the previous year's election which made Ms. Shantz mayor. Unfortunately, likely with bad advice (Brenneman & Bauman), she did absolutely everything wrong to restore the public's aquifers and everything right to minimize the polluter's environmental expenses and to polish Chemtura's and Lanxess's public images. 

She has announced that she won't run in this fall's election. While that is a long overdue blessing I am not sure that local powers that be will not have multiple replacements waiting in the wings to solidify their influence generally at the expense of the public interest.  

IS JUSTICE CRAIG PARRY ANOTHER JUSTICE ROBERT REILLY ONLY 2.0 ?

 

I have noticed both the similarities and the differences. Both judges are local (Waterloo Region). Both are arrogant know it alls beyond belief. Both are stupid enough to think that either everybody in the world will believe their horseshit or that those who don't, do not matter.

The Dishonourable Robert Reilly dismissed the testimony of seven parent witnesses who supported me and my wife at trial. He blamed me alone for allegedly holding them under my spell and inducing them to falsely testify against the Plaintiff who sued both myself and my wife. Justice Craig Parry on the other hand dismissed the evidence of 48 female witnesses against Dr. Jeffrey Sloka. Justice Parry claimed that ALL the witnesses were unreliable however he blamed Waterloo Regional Police, the media and the prosecuters for having misled them in a variety of ways. I guess if you don't like multiple witnesses testimony than you need to scapegoat somebody.

Oh and my case was a civil case not a criminal case plus the co-accused (my wife) was found NOT liable as there was absolutely not one single shred of evidence presented against her.  When I refused to put her on the stand in my defence both the Plaintiff's lawyer and the asshat Judge went ballistic.  My in hindsight conclusion was that they were hoping to get her to say something on the stand to implicate herself because they had absolutely no evidence against her.

I had hoped and thought that Justice Reilly was the only local piece of crap Judge we had. I was mistaken apparently. I wonder if anybody at trial asked the police whether or not there were any male patients of Dr. Sloka (neurologist-brain, nerves etc.) who had complained about inappropriate and or intimate body examinations.  If not that kind of looks bad on the doctor don't you think? I also wonder how Justice Parry satisfied himself that Dr. Sloka's intimate bodily examinations were appropriate?  The Crown Prosecuter's witness a Neurologist said it was not appropriate. No other independent and certified witness said otherwise yet our Justice Craig Parry seems confident enough to substitute his judgement for that of a well known, certified professional Neurologist PLUS the opinions of the College of Physicians and Surgeons who permanently stripped Dr. Sloka of his medical license for his behaviour with female patients.

If if looks like a duck ....if it waddles like a duck ....and if it quacks like a duck ...it probably is a duck or in this case he probably is two letters past d....  and rhymes with duck.  

JUSTICE CRAIG PARRY JOINS THE ELITE JUDICIAL GIANTS WHO ACQUITTED JIAN GOMESHI, FIVE HOCKEY CANADA PLAYERS & OUR OWN ROBERT REILLY

 

Now I must add something critical here. Surely to goodness based upon the judicial precedents set over decades (centuries?) combined with the clearly vastly superior mental, emotional and psychological attributes of  male judges, there is no need to continue the trial of the unfortunate Frank Stronach who is being dragged through the mud by a plethora of obviously jealous and petty women. These women recall had dinner with him in a public restaurant and then despite his advanced age compared to themselves, they allowed him to convince them to go and look at his etchings... oops I mean his view of the Toronto (Hamilton?) harbour from his condominium.  There the inevitable happened and their disappointment afterwards was manifested via rape allegations by many of them.  Surely the Judge currently involved can see that (if he is male as the organ involved self centres and points due south) hence grounding and stabilizing male opinions and attitudes. This is very important in matters of jurisprudence and wise male judges while denying reliance on their little head versus their big head nevertheless are far more capable of understanding the intricacies of biology versus neurology. 

Speaking of neurology I can hear the critics now hammering Justice Craig Parry simply because he was experienced enough to be able to overcome the aura of competence and intellect professed by many doctors, particularly female ones. The neurologist who testified against Dr. Jeffrey Sloka was female and clearly the good Judge with his decades of legal experience was eminently qualified in all spheres of human knowledge to overrule her medical training, knowledge and certifications as an accredited neurologist in order to discredit her competence on the stand. We are indeed blessed to have such courage and steadfastness in the face of  so many undeveloped brains and emotions compared to those of our various judicial giants. Justice Parry I expect that some day statues will be raised to yourself and your male peers on the stand.  

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF BOTH AT TRAC AND WITH WILMOT TWN. & WATERLOO REGION

 

I TOLD THE LIARS & DECEIVERS AT CPAC BACK AROUND 2005 THAT THERE WAS  CHLOROBENZENE DNAPL OFFSITE BY THE HOWARD AVE. WATER TOWER - They denied it then, now they admit to the chlorobenzene and "residual" DNAPL.

WATERLOO REGION PLAYED DECEPTIVE GAMES WITH WILMOT'S WATER BACK IN THE 1970s. They initially denied it, then admitted it. They are doing the same thing all over again.

Parents stop lecturing your children to stop lying. Clearly we are always going to need politicians and clearly they are always going to lie to us. If your child likes to lie then nurture that skill and hope for the day when they lie to further your interests versus the public interest.

Today's K-W Record has the front page story and headline titled "Former Wilmot mayor watches history repeat itself". Clearly back in the early 1970s the City of Kitchener had absolutely no problem robbing Peter of water to quench Paul's thirst. This continued until Wilmot stood on their hind legs and gave the Kitchener bullies whatfor. Agreements were made including that the Region would pay any Wilmot residents' costs required to drill deeper wells due to Kitchener drawing them down. 

Similar bullies, polluters, politicians and long compromised regulators (MOE/MECP) have infested UPAC, CPAC initially, RAC, TAG and TRAC, all alleged public consultation bodies.  I presented very strong evidence to the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee prior to 2007 that actually suggested that what Uniroyal's consultants had found was likely DNAPL (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquid) made up of chlorobenzene and other contaminants.  As with pretty much all conclusions regarding contamination and cleanup it was based upon hard evidence actually provided by Uniroyal and corporate successors own, client driven consultants. In this case it was published in their monthly Progress Reports and examined a surprising discovery found one hundred feet below ground surface in well OW57-32R very near the Howard St. water tower. It has been vehemently denied for decades despite pumping well W4 being installed right beside it in order to speed up the dissolution of the DNAPL as well as keep the dissolved plume from spreading further under Elmira. Shortly after pumping well W4 was shut down, perhaps a little prematurely, downstream pumping well W3(R) and nearby observation wells such as CH75 began exhibiting increases in chlorobenzene. Hardly any surprise at all under the circumstances. Then in 2017 or 2018 Dr. Neil Thompson dropped the first bomb by advising that there was a lot more chlorobenzene in the Elmira aquifers than anybody had expected. By 2025 Jesse Wrighte of Arcadis Inc. advised that there were other sources of chlorobenzene located near the former Borg Textiles and the former Varnicolor Chemical. Allan Deal of GHD on behalf of Lanxess, also less than a year earlier, had advised as per the Minutes of a September 2024 TRAC meeting that nearby residual DNAPL was now dissolved. OH MY GOD BUT THE LYING BAST*RDS JUST CAN"T TELL THE TRUTH EVEN WHEN IT'S BITING THEM IN THE *SS.  Residual DNAPL is the tail if you will of passing free phase DNAPL that is no longer continuous as in a "pool" of DNAPL.

This deceit, lying and manipulation of the truth has been the never ending story of the Elmira Water Crisis and our politicians not only have failed to call the polluter (Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess and regulator (MOE/MECP) on it but  have enabled them throughout the last 36 1/2 years.

 

VOICES FROM THE PAST: ESTHER THUR, KEN REGER & SUSAN RUPERT

 Obviously I can't include everybody. One obvious voice who is still going strong from his moving to Elmira in the mid to late 1990s is Dr. Henry Regier who was mentioned in last Saturday's Blog posting. Another name which I've seen recently in some old newspaper clippings is Dr. Murray Haight who was involved both with CEAC (Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee) as well as assisting the MOE with matters at Uniroyal Chemical I believe mostly in the 1990s although it could have been longer. 

Esther advised both citizens and the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) in 1990 or 91 about conditions here in Elmira possibly for many decades prior to the start of the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis. She also advised that Uniroyal's fumigations in the old days were so severe that they even sent employees such as her husband Ed home from work (Roxton Furniture) for the day.

Ken Reger had worked for several years at Uniroyal Chemical and he too testified at the EAB as to what he saw both at work and in the Elmira area including wildlife suffering from the effects of Uniroyal's environmental negligence. This included muskrats, groundhogs, carp and others. He referenced the old municipal damp (M2) on the Uniroyal property which had both barrels and likely dioxins in it from the company. 

Susan Rupert, co-founder of APTE with Sandra Bray and Esther Thur, got right to the heart of the matter asking the EAB to expedite Uniroyal at least starting the process to remediate all the damage they had caused. She would be appalled to know today that not one shovelful of downstream contaminated sediments, creekbank soils or floodplain soils has been removed to date and in fact the company have played the cleanup game to the point of buying a Risk Assessment that had the brass and nerve to suggest that there are no unacceptable downstream risks. Likely it is true that the bought and paid for bureaucrats and other alleged "experts" who will never live or work along the downstream Creek feel no "unacceptable" risks to themselves or their families.    

DR. HENRY REGIER AGAIN ADVISES ELMIRA BE DESIGNATED AS AN "AREA OF CONCERN" WITH AN ACCOMPANYING REMEDIAL ACTION PLAN

 

Currently by request I have forwarded Henry's latest report titled "A Road Not Yet Taken with Elmira's Contaminants" dated April 23, 2026 to both the Waterloo Region Record and the Woolwich Observer. Here right now I am merely going to describe some of Dr. Regier's ideas and suggestions, not reproduce his exact report without his express permission. Sorry about that but upon request I can always go to him and ask if I can provide the report to whomever asks for it. It is only six paragraphs on one page but it has a world of value in it.

 Dr. Regier refers to politicians solving problems by the Wand method which stands for Work Around with Non Disclosure. My interpretation is this basically means somewhat paying off victims of bad behaviour but on the understanding they keep their problem and solution to themselves. Now at the same time Dr. Regier suggests that there were formal mechanisms set up through the GLWQA (Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements) to address contamination affecting the Great Lakes. These mechanisms included Areas of Concern (AOC) and Remedial Action Plans (RAP).

Strangely enough at the very same time I am wondering about a bit of a coincidence.  Just today I have been approached on a matter dealing with who and how has the Elmira remediation been undertaken. Basically a little bit similar to Dr. Regier's title of "A Road Not Yet Taken with Elmira's Contaminants".  Dr. Regier does however refer to Elmira's version of a Public Advisory Committee as a deplorably weak version of a RAP process. He also takes a shot at local (Elmira) polluters and their enablers by suggesting that avoiding the GLWQA  RAP method was a major success for them. 

Dr. Regier ends on a hopeful note by suggesting that even now it is not too late for Elmirans to change roads and get onto the GLWQA route with their specific RAP methodologies.

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ONE SIDED TRAC MEETINGS FOR DUMMIES, FELLOW TRAVELLORS, CO-OPTEES, AVERAGE JOES AND EVEN INTELLIGENT, HONEST FOLKS

 

TRAC is the result of a thirty year metamorphosis (1992-2022) of public consultation from a citizen run, citizen oriented, open to all interested parties and individuals to a polluter/politician totally controlled and membership vetted body whose real purpose is to restore credibility and trust to a grossly broken system. That system not only includes an underfunded MOE/MECP, a series of corporate successors to Uniroyal Chemical but also political aberrations of democracy from the municipal, regional, provincial and federal levels. Imagine what used to be a town council monopolized by Uniroyal Chemical employees who used to decide which local industries were approved for industrial disposal in old fashioned dumps without any  modern leachate controls or even normal restrictions on chemical and toxic wastes. Normal restrictions that is for landfills/dumps located appropriately away from residents much less located right here in town (i.e. M1, M2, First St. Landfill, Bolender Landfill etc.).

This metamorphosis has been partially successful simply due to the time involved.  Most citizens have jobs, families and homes as the major part of their responsibilities.  Hence having anyone still actively involved for nearly thirty-seven years is almost unheard of.  There is only one such who has not been the recipient of various forms of consideration including permanent guaranteed lifetime attendance at both private and public meetings and that is myself. Other forms of consideration include editing work from Conestoga Rovers (Uniroyal consultants) and or in the case of a former councillor, expense paid trips around North America to attend conferences for which she was and is totally unqualified for.   

I must add that there have been and still are local Canadian citizens residing here in Elmira and nearby who contributed greatly in years past. Some of them still contribute as they are able and thank goodness for that. Like myself, those who have paid attention, are appalled by what passes for public consultation today.  Woolwich Township are in total control of the process with the responsible polluter (Lanxess Canada) being their only source of information and data. Well to be correct Lanxess and their various client driven consultants such as GHD and WSP. All reports, all data, all speakers are at the choice of Woolwich Township. Yes this is the same political body who sat back for decades and said and did mostly nothing as Uniroyal Chemical turned our Creek into a sewer and poisoned their residents with grossly contaminated water all the time denying there was a problem. 

Can you imagine if I was allowed to speak to either Council or TRAC for even 5% of the time that is allotted to Lanxess, the MECP or GHD?  Can you imagine if other citizens not affiliated with TRAC or Woolwich were given even an hour or two to speak publicly to either body? Nor can I because currently we aren't even allowed to so much as ask a simple question at a public TRAC meeting. I live here and I pay taxes and I find your deference and one sided protection of the polluter from criticism to be dishonest, cowardly and contemptible. 

 

SPECIFICS ON LAST THURSDAY'S TRAC MEETING

 

TRAC does not stand for Totally Rotten and Corrupt. That would be unfair to almost all the citizen members on this Woolwich (with Lanxess approval) appointed committee. I expect that with perhaps only one or two exceptions they all joined hoping to contribute to a better and quicker cleanup. Now in regards to Lanxess and the MECP my acronym for TRAC is totally accurate. 

Yesterday I suggested that even Sebastian was giving the benefit of the doubt to Lanxess and their consultants far too often. I also advised readers that I had to that point only watched the on-line video (Woolwich website under Council & then Council Calendar) for the first hour and a quarter. Well I finished the rest of the video later in the day (just over two hours) and guess what? That buggar (said affectionately) Sebastian up and digs his heels in on two important points namely NAPLS/DNAPLS and the effluent criteria for NDMA at the south end of Elmira (i.e. well E7).  Lanxess and GHD pushed back hard but Sebastian, bless him, dug in his heels and insisted upon the information he had. Now the other two parties have decided that maybe they do need to check this out which is good. It could be a miscommunication by Lanxess in a report or it could be more insidious. We shall see.

Here are the results of Joe Ricker's analysis of four plumes mentioned yesterday. NDMA concentrations in the Municipal Upper (MU)  Aquifer has been greatly reduced to .086 ug/l (micrograms per litre) or parts per billion. The drinking water standard is .009 ug/l. Therefore going on thirty-seven years since the wells were shut down in 1989, NDMA is still nine and a half times greater than it's drinking water standard.

NDMA concentrations in the Municipal Lower (ML) Aquifer have also been greatly reduced to .81 ug/l. This  is NINETY times greater than the drinking water standard.

Chlorobenzene concentrations since 1989  (pumping didn't start in the Elmira Aquifers until 1998) in the Municipal Upper (MU) Aquifer have also been greatly reduced to 120 ug/l  (parts per billion). The drinking water standard for chlorobenzene is 80 ug/l therefore chlorobenzene, the allegedly easier compound to remediate, is still 50% higher than the drinking water standard.

Chlorobenzene concentrations since 1989 in the Municipal Lower (ML) Aquifer have also been greatly reduced to 144 ug/l.  This is 1.8 times higher than the drinking water standard of 80 parts per billion.

Hadley Stamm (Lanxess), bless her pointed little head,  reiterated a major revelation from approximately a year and a half ago when she stated that Lanxess believes that there is another source of chlorobenzene to the Elmira Aquifers. HALLELUJAH !  While Lanxess and friends including the MECP do not feel the public are worthy to know whom that is, my guess is still Borg Textiles or Varnicolor Chemical. If it is Varnicolor then jail time would be appropriate for MOE/MECP officials complicit in that coverup. Yours truly has been advising a second source of chlorobenzene since approximately 2004/2005 since discovering free phase DNAPL (now also recently admitted) in OW57-32R beside the Howard St. Water Tower.

All the guilty parties are heavily involved in drafting a communications strategy in order to explain away their remediation failures over the last nearly 37 years. Likely they will focus on groundwater and try to avoid the total non-cleanup of the downstream Canagagigue Creek.

Thanks to Sebastian we have a tacit admission from Lanxess that likely there are still free phase DNAPLS on their property. This is hardly a surprise to those of us who have followed the decades long  DNAPL coverup closely. Joe Ricker (WSP) and Lou Almeida (GHD) who both know where their bread is buttered, of course leapt in to minimize the possible harm to their client, which only clarifies their conflict of interest opinions.  

Geoff Moroz (Region of Waterloo) impressed me with his factual, no nonsense approach. He made it clear that even Uniroyal/Lanxess's treated groundwater effluent was high risk water and should not be used without extreme care and much better testing. He referenced emerging contaminants such as PFAS  (poly fluorinated whatever?) and as well made it clear that Lanxess's treated discharge effluent currently to the Creek is NOT being sampled for the full suite of possible contaminants. WOW! 

For those paying attention that reminds me of APT Environment's phrase from three and a half decades ago that the proposed cleanup of the aquifers should be called  PUMP & DUMP. They may have forgotten since.