ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS SHOWS ITS' COLOURS AGAIN

The following story was published in the Waterloo Region Record today, December 30, 2015, titled "Court dismisses Lavigne appeals". My comments today are focused on the College of Teachers far more than on the individual teacher. Yes the teacher has been convicted of a criminal charge and sentenced to thirteen months imprisonment. That said perhaps I believe somewhat in a double standard in regards to this particular set of circumstances namely a female teacher sexually "exploiting" a seventeen year old male student. That said she seems to be the one who has been both punished via firing and sentenced to jail as well as by the destruction of her career and reputation. I seriously am doubtful that the alleged "victim" is any such thing.

Now to the College of Teachers. Currently the teacher's status is listed on their website as in "good standing". Holy crap are you kidding me? She's been fired, convicted and sentenced for a criminal offense against a student and the College lists her in "good standing". Furthermore the College lists a discipline committee hearing for July 7, 2015 but does not state if the hearing took place or any results from it. Also no spokespersons were available for comment yesterday apparently to this article. All in all I think this should advise parents especally as to who's side the College of Teachers is on now and has been on in the past.

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN CANADA YOU SAY?

The December 24/15 Waterloo Region Record carried the following story by Gavin MacFadyen, titled "Solitary confinement has no place in a just society". There have been several well known jailhouse suicides by convicts including the infamous death of Ashley Smith at Kitchener's Grand Valley Institution for Women several years ago. It probably isn't even exactly fair referring to Ashley Smith as a convict. She was nineteen years old and had been incarcerated for four years after throwing apples at a postman. Yes you heard that right.

Several coroner's inquests have demanded an end to the practice and in a civilized society that should have happened a long time ago. Apparently our new government and prime minister are in favour of eliminating the practice hence we can only hope it happens sooner than later. Far too often have we seen that authority without serious accountability leads to abuses of the powerless. It is long overdue that many Canadian institutions face greater not less scrutiny and accountability. Corrections Service Canada is high on that list. I would add hospitals and especially school boards as well followed by municipal governments. Some are a hotbed of truth abusers and manipulaters for their benefit not for the benefit of the public.

POLICE STILL ON THE PROWL: THIS TIME IT"S THE GUELPH POLICE

Thursday December 24, 2015 the Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Mom says Guelph police "carded" her son". Bully for you Guelph police. The kid was fourteen years old albeit big for his age. Nevertheless he was minding his own business and sure as hell did not need some cop interrupting, harassing or simply bothering him which is exactly what happened. I guess over in Guelph they haven't heard the news. The Province of Ontario are doing their damndest to end the practice. It is discriminatory, intrusive , unecessary and oftentimes nothing more than bully cops throwing their weight around. Apparently when the mother phoned Guelph police to complain they just flat out lied to her. Really gives you a warm feeling knowing that your local police are looking out for who; somebody, nobody, themselves or they're just bored. Appreciation and respect for the police will only return AFTER all kinds of their bad behaviour is cleaned up. It doesn't matter that the large majority mind their manners and play by the rules; it is the exceptions who stand out and besmirch all the rest. Similar to the teachers' unions protecting and covering up for their bad members; it does backfire on all the rest. Root out the truly bad ones and then the public will get behind you again.

CHILDREN'S AID MESS

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Time for Wynne to blow up children's aid mess". Somewhat to my surprise this article and its' premise that Ontario's Childrens' Aid system indeed is a mess, barely if at all scratches the surface of complaints in recent years regarding "baby snatching" and other issues. There have been public demonstrations and complaints that on occasion childrens' aid workers do more damage to families than good. Essentially none of these issues are addressed. In fact this article focuses on ancient computer systems and horrible communications between numerous parties involved in the system. Perhaps the antiquated computers and bureaucratic confusion may or may not be a part of the allegations against childrens' aid societys in Ontario. Whatever the cause it has apparently become obvious to all parties that reform is long overdue.

POLITICS & THE COURTS

Well it's been quite a year for politicians and near politicians when it comes to charges laid against them. Todd Cowan (Woolwich Twp.), Brasseau, Wallin and Duffy and now two highly placed aides to former Premier Dalton McGuinty. The two aides have both been charged with breach of trust and mischief in regards to allegedly deleting important e-mails about the closure of two gas plants in Oakville and Mississsauga. These two gas plants were shut down after construction was already started resulting in the government having to satisfy contractors' financial losses. The Progressive Conservatives referred to the actions as Liberals "seat saver programs" as they occurred immediately before the 2011 election. The Waterloo Region Record carried this story last week and it was titled "OPP charge two ex-McGuinty aides". It was an incredibly bad self-serving, partisan move by the Liberal government and cost the taxpayers a fortune. The biggest shame was that they weren't hoofed out of government in either the 2011 or 2015 provincial elections.

ANOTHER RESPECTED INSTITUTION GETS MUD ON THEIR REPUTATIONS

Everyone knows Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. Many of us have had relatives or friends' children as patients. Well yesterday a long awaited report told us exactly what some mothers of children removed from their custody have been telling us for years. A contoversial program which uses hair analysis to determine if the mother has been using drugs or alcohol has at long last been discredited. This program was run by the Toronto Hospital for sick Children. The name of the program was the Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory and was used both by criminal courts as well as Children's Aid Societies. What may never be known is the number of children removed by CAS from mothers based upon flawed hair testing evidence. Unbelieveable that we now rely so much on science, even bad science to make our decisions for us or even possibly to simply back up bad decisions in the first place.

YET ONCE AGAIN LOCAL EDUCRATS/BUREAUCRATS TAKE A BLAST

The question is, is anyone listening? Are these pompous, arrogant and self-serving educrats receiving the contempt and disrespect they've been begging for, for decades? Or on the other hand is it possible that those that I knew back in the 90s have all retired leaving a mess for the next generation of management to clean up? Somehow I'd be shocked if there had been any real, substantive change putting students first, rather than teachers' unions and the School Boards themselves.

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story by Luisa D'Amato titled "Our students' mediocre test scores should be top priority for trustees". Clearly she doesn't believe that that currently is the case. The history of underachievement locally really is shameful with but a few schools and exceptions. Long ago I learned that school achievement can be improved but it's necessarily due to a combination of an excellent Principal AND excellent teachers. Even then this sucess sometimes is despite the eforts of the local school boards.

Luisa advises us of a particular teacher and his adherence to phonics. The Society for Quality Education (SQE) has a weekly newsletter which has long indicated the major changes needed in order to improve students learning. Phonics for English and memorization of the math basics combined with repitition are but a start. Seems this is all just too much for our local boards.

CORPORATE ROGUE POLLUTERS ENABLED BY CORPORATE ROGUE MUNICIPALITIES

It's taken me decades to figure that out. Yes we all know that environmental protection is primarily courtesy of our provincial government and our truly awful Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC). That said it is the local citizens, residents and electors who suffer the consequences of environmental degradation and emissions. Hence they expect at a bare minimum truth from their local representatives as well as lobbying on their behalf.

Here in Woolwich Township neither has happened with a very short exception from 2010-2014. Not before and certainly not since. We have also had Chemtura Canada (formerly Uniroyal Chemical) lie, deceive and manipulate while all the time confidently having the MOECC cover their backs for them. What a corrupt system! During the last quarter century plus our local councillors have all talked a good game while almost constantly shielding Chemtura from any serious scrutiny or criticism. This has included the Township taking over the citizens public advisory committee formed in 1991 as an independent body. It hasn't been remotely independent essentially from the getgo as the Township (& Region) promoted certain citizen reps while undermining others. This has even included blatant removals of this citizen after discovering various coverups including the sham of off-site remediation as well as the DNAPL (dense non-aqueous phase liquids) scam.

Literally for decades our local politicians have enabled Chemtura (Uniroyal) avoid their moral and legal responsibilities to clean up their toxic mess here in Elmira. If there is a hell that's where they are all going.

OFFICER RECEIVES A CONDITIONAL DISCHARGE IN A BIZARRE CASE

Sometimes when police officers misbehave you can see that ethical weakness or simple human greed are behind their bad behaviour. This case is definitely different. Last Saturday's Waterloo Region Record carried this story titled "Local officer avoids conviction for fraud, obstructing police".

In this case the officer wasn't attempting to get out of trouble or blame for an incident; in fact quite the opposite. His son had crashed his car in a single vehicle accident in the wee hours. The recently separated officer received a phone call from his wife telling him to "fix" it and "fix" it he did. His wife drove their son home and dropped him off at the accident scene. He phoned the police and took full responsibility for his son's accident.

Unfortunately this included defrauding the insurance company who paid both for the damage to his car as well to a damaged bus shelter. Months later the police were advised that they had been lied to. No mention of who did that but it hardly seems likely that it was some independent, third party witness. The inevitable happened and the officer was charged with fraud and obstruction.

The officer is still awaiting Police Act charges to be completed. His conditional discharge from the courts is a break for him. That said clearly he knew what he was doing was both wrong and criminal but we all can be blindsided by family from time to time. This is a tough one.

ONTARIO'S CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM REQUIRES GREATER SCRUTINY

Today's Waterloo Region Record has carried the following story titled "Teen's death raises questions". The teen involved was a seventeen year old who died in an unlicensed Oshawa group home last April. An altercation with staff resulted in him being restrained on the floor and he died shortly after. This incident coincides with an investigation by the Toronto Star "...that has revealed an unaccountable and secretive child protection system...". The Star investigation also referenced the recent auditor general's report which "...outlined a litany of problems including improperly conducted investigations into child abuse and the government's failure to fully enforce standards." None of these revelations are really news. Children's Aid Society's may be coming under greater scrutiny at long last. Government failures to enforce their own laws, rules and regulations are also nothing new. A large part of this Record article deals with the use of restraints on children. While there may be occasions and individuals where staff must restrain them; apparently the procedures, practices and methods are not properly codeified, documented or even thoroughly understood.

TODD COWAN: FORMER WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP MAYOR

Disappointment, resignation, vindication, cheap exhultation and finally sympathy. Those are my feelings to date regarding the status of former mayor, Todd Cowan. Personally I hold him in the highest contempt as the liar he is and for the damage he did me personally with his pathological and petty lying including doing so in an already biased book about the Elmira water crisis. That said at what point is the punishment more severe than the offences? Whatever slight sympathy or even support remained for Todd has pretty well dried up with the newest revelations at his trial. Improperly expensing his girlfriend's breakfasts four times and on at least some of them substituting other politician's names in an apparent attempt to claim a "business" breakfast and have her meal paid for, has done him in.

My sympathy which did not extend to shaking his hand at trial a couple of weeks ago is based both upon his horribly public downfall as well as his horribly flawed personality. Yes according to the prosecution Todd has committed both fraud and breach of trust. We won't know until February 2016 whether or not the judge agrees. My expectation is that the judge will have no choice but to find Todd guilty. At that point he will be a publicly proven liar and thief.

Here's the rub. Todd was making very good money for four years ($100,000/yr) . He hadn't been making good money for years prior and he sure as hell is making buggarall currently. He has two wives and multiple children behind him as well with alimony and child support payments into the bargain. He was broke going into the mayor's chair. Does this justify petty theft? No, but it might at least partially explain it. Partially. Despite my personal contempt for him I will always give him credit for shaking up a badly flawed and co-opted CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee). He was the first and only mayor to understand the ridiculous and asinine situation whereby our local polluter was in charge of both the alleged cleanup and the citizens committee allegedly overseeing it.

Back to Todd's apparent petty theft. $3,300 of which he immediately paid back $2,700. Fair enough theft is theft. I guess I am a little surprised at the $25,000 for a forensic audit spent by Woolwich Township to look at the former mayor's expenses and yet their adamant opposition to spending half that amount to learn the truth about their current mayor's election expenses. It is a double standard and I believe reflects Councils bias against Todd Cowan and in favour of mayor Shantz. That said I acknowledge that these are two different cases. The current mayor has not stolen or absconded with taxpayers' money. In my opinion however lying and deception can sometimes be more important and dangerous to the public interest than petty theft.

CHICAGO POLICE IN THE CRAP

A civil rights probe of the Chicago Police Department has been announced after an officer was finally charged with murder, fourteen months after shooting an unarmed black teenager sixteen times. Coincidentally the charges came a few hours prior to the public release of police dashboard camerage footage showing the shooting. The City of Chicago had fought in the courts for months to keep the video from being released publicly but ultimately failed. Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried this story titled "Justice set to probe Chicago police". Also of interest is the release of hundreds of pages of police officers statements initially showing a a very different version of the encounter than the video gives.

To date the Police Chief has just resigned. Every bureaucrat and politician who assisted in the court action attempting to stop the release of the video should also resign forthwith. Perhaps U.S. gun crimes and massacres need to stop with the police first, as in setting an example. The Sammy Yatin case here in Toronto, Ontario was gross enough as the disturbed young man had a small knife but was not attacking anyone. Plus he was only shot nine times and then tasered afterwards. Exactly what kind of mental morons do these police forces keep hiring and why?

NORTH AMERICAN POLICE FORCES SHARE INCOMPETENCE

Last Friday's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Police detain 3rd-grader". Providence Rhode Island police plus local teachers apparently like to put their incompetence and lack of common sense on full display to the public. This reminds me of the old saying that the best defence against corruption is the inherent stupidity of the corrupt. Interesting thought that.

Apparently a couple of other 3rd-graders alleged that they overheard a young girl tell her friend that she was going to be playing with chemicals. From one ear to the next it went up the school's "chain of command" until the local police department was called. Yes at some point the girl's backpack was searched and absolutely nothing improper was found. This did not deter the local terrorist fighting police who clearly have way too much time on their hands. They put the young child into the back of a police cruiser and took her alone to the police department for questioning.

Quoting the family's lawyer after the fact, he stated "What we've stooped to in the name of public safety is arresting 3rd-graders. It's so un-American. It's so police state." He is absolutely correct. The family are currently suing the town of Tiverton R.I.. This of course reminds me of our local police force here in Waterloo Region. This incident almost makes them look intelligent. Recall a year or so ago when a 2nd or 3rd-grader drew a picture of a man holding a pistol? When questioned by her teachers she said it was her Daddy shooting the "bad guys". Well at least here the 3rd-grader wasn't taken into custody, instead her father was. See how much more intelligent our police are? At least compared to those in Tiverton Rhode Island at least.

SANDY SHANTZ ELECTION ACT CHARGES CONTINUE

While I and other parties continue to wait for a resolution, nevertheless progress is being made. The case was adjourned to January 6, 2016 while the Crown does his due diligence on several legal matters. Personally I would far rather he makes the right decision for the right reasons regarding whether or not he (Crown) picks up the charges or not. To date that decision has not been made as further inquiries are required.

The options include the Crown dropping all charges, some charges or none of them. It also includes the Crown staying charges which is even more severe. Between now and January 6/16 presumably the Crown will do further due diligence regarding the case and what contraventions there have or have not been. Meanwhile Woolwich Township are doing their best to wrap up this whole thing and pretend it's over. As the saying goes "It's not over till the fat lady sings".

PROVINCIAL COURT 9 am. TOMORROW MORNING

How much individual power do any of us citizens have left? Zero would most closely describe it. I was advised back on October 28 by the Crown Prosecuter just prior to court that I would be consulted prior to the next court date which is tomorrow morning. Absolutely nothing so far! Going into court tomorrow I have exactly zero idea of what to expect. Will there be a trial? Will there be some sort of plea arrangement. Are charges being dropped, added, stayed or whatever? Will I be expected to step up and testify or even make some commitment to the judge about something?

The case regards ten Municipal Election Act (MEA) charges laid against Woolwich mayor Sandy Shantz by yours truly, months ago. I was given the royal run around with the wrong forms, wrong court and a ridiculous process at Intake Court?, held in the new Superior Court building. The MEA makes the process seem so straightforward and simple. It is no such thing through the incompetence and bureaucratic bungling that I encountered. There was one bright spot however which I have mentioned earlier. Otherwise a disgrace. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Will the MEA be enforced by the Crown and the Courts or will it be unceremoniously abandoned to its' own devices?

TODD COWAN'S CREDIBILITY TAKES A HIT

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled " Cowan expensed nachos, beer for his girlfriend trial hears". Despite the headline the more important issues relate to the testimony of M.P.P. Michael Harris and County of Brant Mayor Ron Eddy. Todd Cowan had indicated on three different bills that he had breakfast with them and presumably discussed Township business. Not so said both Mayor Eddy and M.P.P. Harris. They simply had not had breakfast at all with Todd Cowan. So one could kindly say that Todd decided to do two things: have the taxpayers pay for his girlfriend's meal and possibly name drop by claiming he had a business breakfast. Either way it is a serious shot to his credibility. As his defence is primarily one of inadvertence and honest mistake, lying about who you have breakfast with does not help that defence. Some would readily interpret that as a smoking gun indicating that Todd has a very relaxed attitude towards gilding the lily. The trial will resume in February.

TODD COWAN BACK IN COURT YESTERDAY

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled : "Cowan expensed meal for girlfriend, fraud trial hears". Well now that is quite an earthshattering revelation...NOT. While it is we are advised clearly against the expense rules of either the Township or the Region of Waterloo, pardon me if I yawn a bit. Man they may convict Todd of Fraud and Breech of Trust, but that's incredibly petty. Perhaps the biggest charge against him should be the charge of stupidity.

Today's court date is to have testimony from M.P.P. Michael Harris in regards to a dinner he's alleged to have had with Mayor Cowan. Now as petty as it may be if just maybe that expensed meal with Mr. Harris didn't take place, then Todd only continues to dig his hole deeper. One large misappropriation (theft?) might actually be an error but if the Crown keep whittling away at Todd with numerous expense contraventions, albeit small, then it's like death from a thousand cuts.

I frankly am surprised at the manpower and expenses by all parties in this process considering the small size of the offense ie. $3,200. Maybe Todd screwed up big time yet I still wonder at the concerted attack by the Region, the Township and the Crown. Am I missing something here?

ANOTHER EMPLOYEE DEATH IN ONTARIO

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Company fined $70,000 in suffocation death of worker". An employee entered a grain bin just before noon in order to clear a blockage in an auger. The understanding was that the auger would be turned back on ten minutes later. By whom was not stated. At 4 pm. the company's president asked if anyone had seen the employee. An hour later the auger was stopped and another employee entered the grain bin where he found the plastic pipe that the first employee was using to clear the jam. Another hour later and emergency services were called. The dead employee's body was not found until 1 am. and his foot was caught in the auger. I find this whole situation as written to be astounding. It is difficult to understand how it took so long just to figure out that the emploee hadn't come out of the grain bin.

FORMER MAYOR TODD COWAN IN COURT OVER FRAUD & BREECH OF TRUST CHARGES

Hoo boy, I admit that I'm biased on this one. To know Todd is to recognize a first class liar. That said just like even paranoids have enemies; even liars can tell the truth sometimes. It's alleged he intentionally "stole" $3,200 by double expensing Woolwich Township and the Region of Waterloo for the same expenses. Right off the back that requires both incredible chutzpah if done intentionally plus incredible confidence in the stupidity and lack of accounting controls by both levels of government. Obviously one of those parties was being asked to pay expenses that weren't theirs to pay. The alternative to all this and the defence being used is that bookeeping isn't Todd's forte. Interesting admission for a former Mayor.

Also interesting is that a week from tomorrow our current mayor, Sandy Shantz, is due in court primarily for contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act. Whether a couple of her charges will be going towards criminal court I do not know. Most of her charges relate to obvious and admitted failures to properly include all her expenses and all her contributions (donations). That said there are a couple of tougher charges dealing with possibly knowingly submitting untrue, sworn Statements. We shall see how the Crown handles those in eight days.

Todd's trial continues tomorrow and probably Friday as well. His case hinges upon intent. Is he just stupid or is he an intentional petty thief? Despite my contempt for him I never really thought of him as being stupid. Todd's level of stupidity however, whichever way the Court rules is quite astounding.

THE SORRY ENVIRONMENTAL STATE OF AFFAIRS IN ONTARIO

It must truly be depressing working for our Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The big picture is truly disturbing. Literally every city and every community in Canada with either a present or past manufacturing base has some level of contamination in air, groundwater and surface water. Even briefly ignoring industrial contamination think about human sewage alone in cities like Toronto, Hamilton, Vancouver and Montreal. Montreal in fact has just received permission to dump hundreds of thousands of litres of untreated sewage into the St. Lawrence River.

I've been reading a two decades old report on the status of contaminated sites in Ontario and it is appalling. Even at that it is dishonest in that sites that I have studied and researched are understated and minimized. the contamination that is. The so called remediation is of course overstated.

The other disturbing fact is the utter failure of our media to keep us informed regarding neighbouring pollution here in Ontario. Some of the P.C.B. and Dioxin contaminated sites in Ontario I had never heard of and I'm constantly looking and listening for those news stories. While Uniroyal Chemical and Varnicolor Chemical were well covered locally (Kitchener-Waterloo) and indeed nationally back in the early 90s; they are now virtually ignored. Here in Elmira we can't even get our one remaining newspaper to cover public meetings of the so called public advisory committees, past or present.

SAMMY YATIN MURDER TRIAL AT LAST

Why does it take over two years to bring an accused to trial in this country/province? Really everything was up front, in public with numerous witnesses both in person and via television.

Officer James Forcillo shot Sammy Yatin nine times while he stood on an empty Toronto streetcar with a small knife in his hands. Mr. Yatin was then tasered by another officer. all of this was captured on camera. Today's Waterloo Region Record article is titled "Defence rips credibility of expert at officer's trial". From the quotes in the article it would have been a more accurate title if it said "Defence attempts tp rip...".

The expert involved is an expert in use of force options. His credibility or not does not change what millions of canadians saw on television and on-line two years ago. Whatever the training Officer Forcillo received, whatever the standard or norm is for use of force by police; what happened on a Toronto street two years ago is beyond the pale. The carnage inflicted by police upon the mentally ill throughout Ontario (and elsewhere) must not be allowed to continue.

TORONTO POLICE AT IT AGAIN

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Man,21, sues Toronto Police for nasty beating". Earlier this month Toronto Police were caught on video beating a 21 year old man on his way to work. The two offciers confronted him as he exited his car at his place of emplyment. The man was punched and kicked eleven times, arrested and then later released the same day. Apparently the police had received a call about a man with a knife and simply guessed wrong when they attacked the 21 year old. He has an intellectual disability and might not have interacted "normally" with the police. Apparently in Toronto it doesn't take much to set some of them off. The man and his family have filed a $5 million lawsuit against the police.

ANOTHER HOLLOW VICTORY FOR JUSTICE

A former aide to former Prime Minister Harper was acquitted in an Ottawa Court on charges of influence peddling. The story in today's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Former Harper aide did not influence decisions, court finds".

This not guilty decision is despite "...the judge in the case said that Bruce Carson did try to convince government officials to buy water treatment systems being sold by a firm that employed his former escort girlfriend." Further to this ""It is abundantly clear that Mr. Carson was attempting to influence government officials" the court ruled.".

All of this occurred of course while Mr. Carson was employed as a senior adviser to the former Prime Minister from 2006 until 2008. The final quote in the article that got my attention was "Mr. Carson also admitted that he used his influence in this fashion in order to obtain a benefit for his then girlfriend".

Isn't both justice and the law just grand?

YET ANOTHER WRONGFUL CONVICTION

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this article titled "Vancouver settles lawsuit for wrongful conviction". Ivan Henry served "...spent 27 years behind bars before being acquitted of 10 counts of sexual assault". He has sued the City of Vancouver (police dep't), the province of British Columbia and the federal government.

The two most gratuitously grotesque aspects of the case as stataed in today's Record were the police lineup in which a photo showed Mr. Henry being held in a police chokehold.. just a tad prejudicial... to a handwritten letter delivered to an investigating officer's home in which a complainant expressed her admiration for the officer including advising that she didn't want to let him down or disappoint him. One could certainly interpret this as she didn't want her testimony to disapoint him.

Exactly how many wrongful convictions across Canada is it going to take before somebody, somewhere admits to the elephant in the room. Our judicial systems are biased and broken. They routinely convict innocent people of criminal charges. When will it stop?

THE BLOODY SUNDAY IRISH MASSACRE IN 1972

Last Wednesday's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Ex-soldier arrested over 1972 Northern Ireland massacre". Wow, it only took 43 years to arrest one soldier involved in the murder of fourteen unarmed protesters in Northern Ireland. Justice, hallowed be thy name! It's not even as if that soldier's name and presence were ever in doubt. It's not as if the soldiers involved weren't fully in uniform and unmasked at the time.

What is most interesting to me and hopefully obvious to everyone is that the original investigation into the deaths was a complete coverup by the government of the day. Is it any wonder that people understand that any government inquiries or investigations into serious events can be totally manipulated and subverted. This is not a conspiracy theory Woolwich Mayor Shantz. It is fact. When it comes to corruption, lying, double dealing and even murder; our governments around the world have no peers. Those who rely on lying to get their way and to diminish opposition can't help but carry that lying on with almost everything they touch.

SHARING AN OMBUD MAKES HORRIBLE SENSE

The October 28/15 Waterloo Region Record carried this in house Editorial titled "Sharing an ombud makes sense". Unfortunately it simply isn't so and I find it hard to believev that the Record doesn't already know that. The old expression refers to the fox guarding the hen house. That is precisely what this will be. Who exactly do you think will be hiring this municpal ombudsman? We need look no further than the joint MECAC (Municipal Elections Act Compliance Audit Committee) appointed by all the municiapal Clerks in the Region of Waterloo. They have proven themselves to be an absolute joke. They do not declare obvious conflicts of interest and they have made ridiculous decisions here in Woolwich Township while spouting the most asinine rationale for so doing. They have proven their ability to stickhandle around the Municipal Elections Act 1996. Why would I or any other informed citizen expect anything remotely better from another in house "investigative" body. Please!

"AN EMBEDDED DISCRIMINATORY ATTITUDE" - PEEL POLICE

In the past we've heard our military and our police forces referred to as ggod old boys clubs, neandrathals and generally right wing,racist and sexist pigs. Despite most forces having opened their doors decades ago to women and ethnic minorities, racism and sexism apparently still thrive. Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled "Police officer tells of "humiliating" treatment". If so much as half of what is written in this article turns out to be true then Peel Police should hang their heads in shame. So much for the blue wall. So much for "brother" officers. Apparently if you're an immigrant of a visible ethnic minority certain fields and professions are only open to you at the lower positions. Upper management is for others better qualified, perhaps by birth location?

D'AMATO GETTING FED UP WITH THE TEACHERS' UNIONS & THE LIBERALS

This particular Waterloo Region Record article is a couple of weeks old but in it Luisa D'Amato, who is usually pretty well balanced in regards to education issues in Ontario, has clearly had enough. The title is "Students, taxpayers sold out by government, teachers' unions". Luisa blasts both the Liberal government as well as the high school teachers unions over the $1 million that the Wynn government gave to the high school teachers' unions to help them with their bargaining costs. That's right a million bucks to offset their costs getting to and sitting at the negotiating table. The kicker of course was the government's insistence that receipts also weren't necessary thenk you. Now in hindsight that little bit of salt in the wound has been somewhat rectified. Note somewhat.

CORONER'S INQUEST SEVEN YEARS LATER

The title should make all of us ask how the hell a dead seven year old, by violence, ends up taking seven years to get before a coroner's inquest. Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Expert: Inquest will reveal failings of child protection". Does nobody believe that this was important enough to have ben done six or more years ago?

The step parents approved by child welfare authorities and the courts were sentenced in 2012 to life in prison with no chance for parole for fifteen years. The woman involved and given custody of the child had previous multiple convictions for violent crimes. Clearly our society failed this child and how many more in the intervening years?

IS POLICE "CARDING" REALLY ENDING?

According to Martin Regg Cohn in today's Waterloo Region Record , it is, sort of. His article is titled "Police carding reined in by Ontario politicians". There are a couple of exceptions including undercover police officers. What the hell is that about? That makes even less sense. If you don't have to show I.D. to uniformed cops then why in hell would you show diddlysquat to some joker in blue jeans and a T-shirt, claiming to be a cop. Really? Mr. Cohn nevertheless makes the claim that Ontario politicians have finally stood up and made it plain that our police forces are not a power unto themselves. Civilain oversight first, middle and last. It's about time.

SO FAR PROVINCIAL OFFENCES COURT ARE ON TRACK

I've been listing here various issues both good and bad in regards to my attempts to have the Crown prosecute mayor Sandy Shantz of Woolwich Township for Municipal Election Act contraventions. The normal convention is to characterize them as allegations until the court decides either guilty or not guilty. In this case however I assume when she has admitted to nemerous contraventions it is O.K. to so characterize them as Election Act contraventions. To date she has explicitly admitted to faiing to file an Audit along with her Form 4 Financial Statement. This admission follows her admission that she miscalculated her Total Contributions (Income) thus under reporting them by more than two thousand dollars. She has also admitted to accepting a donation in excess of $750 by two associated corporations. Finally she has implicitly admitted to understating her election Expenses by at least $1,300 via her multiple, ongoing Financial Statements produced since the March 27, 2015 deadline.

While I had a battle getting through Intake Court, I believe it is referred to, in order to get the Information before the courts; nevertheless full credit goes to Justice Radulovic for making it happen on October 1 in Superior Court. Since then I attended Provincial Court last Wednesday as did Randall Martin on behalf of Sandy Shantz as well as the prosecuter, Mr. Alex Andres. He requested my presence at the front of the court simply to identify myself to the Judge who's name I do not know.

The next court date is December 2/15 at 9am. in Provincial Offences Court, 77 Queen St. Kitchener. The prosecuter indicated to the Judge that the intervening time is both for him to review the whole case and possibly he suggested that there might be some determination as to whether some charges might need to go to a criminal court. I am not positive on this last point as a particular legal term was mentioned that I simply couldn't get my ear around fully.

MUNICIPAL POLITICS EVERY BIT AS CORRUPT AS PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL

Having been solely focused on environmental matters both local and regional for two and a half decades I've missed an awful lot of the local political corruption. Finally the last few years I've been paid much more attention and dear Lord it is indeed pathetic. Keep in mind that corruption can be brown paper bags full of cash courtesy of Brian Mulroney or it can also be defined as "riddled with errrors". Either way our municipal politicians have long ago learned how to master lying to and deceiving the public.

Here in Woolwich Township we have the spectacle of the Township setting up the next MECAC (Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee) public meeting on October 26, 2015. Yes yours truly is responsible for this meeting as I applied again for a Compliance /Forensic Audit of Mayor Shantz's election campaign finances. Of course before I did that I also had, after weeks of effort, managed to file an "information" at Superior Court which has resulted in ten Municipal Election Act charges being filed against Mayor Shantz.

Therefore while the mayor and Council sucessfully conspired to get her job back after it was automatically forfeited last July 8, nevertheless her Election Act contraventions continue to haunt her. One of these initiatives is via the corrupt MECAC process. I would like to think that it was not intentionally set up that way by the province but really who can say for sure?

Currently via the Township Clerk all the stops are being pulled out to improperly limit the scope of this hearing on October 26/15. It should be a very simple and appropriate decision following case law that indicates when contraventions have been not only been alleged but especially admitted to by the candidate then a Compliance Audit must follow. The mayor avoided this proper outcome last time on July 2/15 through incredibly blatant corruption both by herself and by MECAC. It included ambushing me with 30 pages of financial documents literally minutes prior to the hearing and allegedly also ambushing MECAC although I'm skeptical of that for very good reason. This includes her sworn statement to Superior Court weeks later that MECAC had received their copies three days prior to the hearing.

DISGRACED POLICE OFFICER ALLEGEDLY NOW A SPECIAL CONSTABLE

I'm having a real problem with this one. We the public are supposed to believe the BS coming from the Police Chief, the union and the Police Board. The former officer of twenty-five years now hired as a civilian special constable had been facing Police Act charges of deceit, insubordination and corrupt practice. None of these were criminal charges.

First off Chief Larkin states that "...the spirit of a tribunal under the Police Services Act is always towards resolution and rehabilitation." What a cock of crap that statement is. We the public have seen Police Act charges over decades here and they are always aimed towards getting rid of police officers whether deserved or not. And there have been cases where they were not deserved.

The overall public view of Police Act charges has always been one of skepticism. This case almost reaches the level of bizarre and that does not particularily point the finger at the individual officer. In fact I've long suspected that something is very wrong in the upper echelons of the Waterloo Regional Police Service. There was a horrible scandal and ridiculous infighting back in the 80's first with the Henchman motorcycle gang followed by the Sid Brown affair. Have things really improved or not since then? Has civilian oversight made the situation better? I'm extremely doubtful.

The Waterloo Region Record carried the following story on October8/15 titled "Police Board votes to accept hiring of ex-officer as a special constable".

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS

Decisions are usually determined before the meeting/hearing ever starts. It's all about those in charge of the process and what they want. This includes the Agenda, the order of speakers, whether or not questions from the floor are permitted, who the parties are, whether party status was tightly controlled early on and surprisingly who controls the Minutes. It's amazing what doesn't get into the Minutes but should have. Also of course is the composition of the members of either Tribunals, Boards or Committees. Conflict of interest rules are also crucial as otherwise stacking of Boards, Tribunals and Committees with friendly faces often occurs.

Here in Woolwich Township we have yet another MECAC meeting in regards to election expense contraventions. It is scheduled for October 26/15 at 9:30 am. and it is a complete crock of shit. The proof is in the pudding as two of their three Decisions to date are contrary to the Municipal Elections Act spirit and law. While numerous contraventions including bizarre late production of receipts and invoices occurred,a forensic audit was unable to substantiate their authenticity. That normally is the kiss of death and should have guaranteed the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) sending the matter to the courts for consideration. They did not.

MECAC have at least two members with a conflict of interest including their Chair. The Woolwich township Clerk is insisting on treating this Region of Waterloo appointed Committee as if they are strictly a committee of Woolwich Council which they are not. This includes strict speaking times for alleged Delegations. Unfortunately yours truly is not a Delegate, I am a party to the process as I am the Complainant/Applicant. Despite that I do not have any rights to question committee members, the candidtae or any one else in order to substantiate the very simple and obvious legal requirement for a Compliance/Forensic Audit needing to be ordered by MECAC. They failed miserably to do so last July 2/15 based upon two Financial Statements filled with erors and contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act (MEA) and now with a total of four of them; three being produced after the March 27/15 deadline, I expect they wish to do the same again. It's all about keeping the Mayor from facing the courts and the possibility that they might determine that she knowingly violated the MEA.

ARE PUBLIC COUNCIL MEETINGS FOR DECISION MAKING OR FOR THEATRE?

I believe there is a quote from Shakespeare possibly something to the effect of "...methinks thou doth protesteth too loudly". In fact that would describe Councillor Mark Bauman to a tee. He was loud and vociferous both last week at Council as well as this week to the effect that Council are undecided as to whether or not to accept the Catholic School Board proposal to buy public parkland in Breslau in order to build a school. In fact last week at Woolwich Township Council they voted 3-2 (Committeee of the Whole) to reject the proposal. Well lo and behold this week, the day before the Council meeting there are suddenly ten Delegations to Council all in favour of the proposal.

They spoke as well as other last minute requests (against it) and Council with the addition of Councillor Scott Hahn decided in favour 4-2. You guessed it Mark reversed his position and he and Scott voted in favour. So was this legitimate reconsideration or was the whole thing a set up from months ago? A real skeptic might even believe that Councillor Larry Shantz's vote against both last week and this was simply to hide the Family Compact of Mark, Sandy and Larry usually joined by fellow travellors Scott and Murray Martin with Councillor Pat Merlihan left on the dust, on his own.

Politics is a dirty business and most especially so here in Woolwich Township.

GOVERNMENT/JUDICIAL COMMUNICATIONS SCREWUPS

So does this simply boil down to unrepresented by counsel citizens getting the shaft, over and over? Or is there more to it? Is the judicial system inherently incompetent? Are the staff inherently incompetent or simply unaccountable? Are the staff unionized and only accountable through the negotiated union agreement and not through common sense as to how they deal with the public? Whatever it is it is ongoing. I've already posted here as to the amount of time and money I've wasted following inept, contradictory and just plain stupid directions from Superior Court staff in Kitchener.

Today I'm pleased to say was a little different. Today I tried to get some basic information from staff at the Provincial Offences Court. I was advised that the only route I had to speak to a prosecuter regarding an upcoming case was by showing up on a particiular afternoon without an appointment to speak to a prosecuter. Just like Superior Court it is but one day of the week although apparently it doesn't drag on all day as it does for J.P.s. Was I satisfied? Hell no. I had a friend several hours later phone the same number and ask for the same information. Well! He got a phone number given to him in order to attempt to phone the prosecuter. Now that's substantially better than waiting nearly two weeks due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and then driving to downtown Kitchener hoping for the best. Provided of course that the Prosecuter actually returns his calls. We'll see.

THE DEATH OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION IN ELMIRA, ONTARIO

What a farce. TAG stands for Tecnical Advisory Group and consists of two co-opted citizens who have long received personal benefits such as employment and paid trips from Chemtura Canada. Also included are curling buddies of the mayor Sandy Shantz. Truly unbelieveable. Meanwhile a total of four CPAC and SWAT members attended the first RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) meeting last week only to learn that the mayor's so called "stakeholders" obviously don't give a crap. One Grand River Conservation Authority member and zero from the Region of Waterloo attended. How pathetic is that when they are replacing dedicated and honest citizen representatives?

Meanwhile even if the public attend these meetings they are not allowed to be Delegates at the TAG meetings. The RAC group will take Delegations but neither they nor TAG will allow questions from the floor. Hence any reports submitted by either the Ministry of Environment or Chemtura are protected from any prying or difficult questions. It is at least reassuring that the only remaining local media have clearly expressed their opinion that these two new committees are impotent and by so design.

ONGOING JUDICIAL MISCOMMUNICATIONS & FAILURES

Once more yesterday I had a first hand example of judicial incompetence. Who for certain screwed up I do not know. That said but for one sharp Justice behind the bench I would have been exactly back to square one. After nearly six weeks of navigating the process for a private citizen to lay an "Information" in order to have a Justice of the Peace "issue process" to have a charge laid I finally had my day in Superior Court. Mayor Shantz of Woolwich Township was subpoened, I was there and the prosecuter and court as well.

Turns out the subpoena and the whiole process were in the wrong court. I kid you not. To date I've spent weeks trying first of all to get the wrong forms to the J.P. and now this time we all end up in front of the wrong court. The worst of it is there is no accountability. Any private business would be falling all over themselves advising the customer or client as to how they would ensure this fiasco never reoccurs. Not so in our judicial system.

Not surprisingly the mayor's lawyer along with the prosecuter made a joint submission to throw everything out. Fortunately the Justice knew what was going on and refused their joint submission. Instead she simply scheduled the hearing before Provincial Offences Court for the end of the month. Thank You for that!

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP HYPOCRISY

The two new committees replacing CPAC namely RAC & TAG are up and almost running. I attended the inaugural TAG meeting last Thursday in Council Chambers. I loved watching two co-opted, bought and paid for citizens lie when asked if they had any conflicts of interest. The paid Chairman Richard Jackson seems to be a no nonsense type of fellow. I wonder how long it will take him to get fed up with the two aformentioned turds?

RAC begins this Wednesday afternoon in Council Chambers. That will also be interesting as I was advised by Eric Hodgins, hydrogeologist for Waterloo Region, that to date Regional Council haven't decided whether they want a representative present or not. Well that's just plain ridiculous as Woolwich Mayor Shantz has been advertising all the stakeholders interests in Chemtura, including the Region's, for many months. She wouldn't lie to us would she?

This whole process has let the two guiltiest parties, Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment, off the hotseat. CPAC, formerly the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee, now the Citizens Public Advisory Committee had whipped that pair of liars nearly into submission until Mayor Shantz, Councillor Mark Bauman and other assorted professional liars got involved. Now Chemtura and the M.O.E. can start over dicking around again for years. Yes the TAG Chairman will be up to speed very quickly but all the other neophytes not a chance. I don't expect Mr. Jackson to last long unless of course he's been bought and paid for under the table. Entire companies certainly have been bought and paid for in the past when they worked for Chemtura so anything is possible.

History will appropriately not be kind to Woolwich Councils past and present. They are all shortsighted and we are all paying the price for that.

ANOTHER SUNNY FRIDAY MORNING SPENT AT SUPERIOR COURT IN KITCHENER

From 8:38 am. when I signed in until 12:40 pm. when I left. The good news is that this time we had a no nonsense Justice of the Peace. Now that said I will admit that the proper Form (105) was both typed and Formatted appropriately although perhaps not perfectly. I also met Julian Ichim down there and had a chat. As I understand it he and a friend are laying an Information against a regional police officer in regards to the tent city currently in Victoria Park. Possibly it's in regards to excessive force although I am not certain.

A total of ten charges are being laid via a private Information against Mayor Sandy Shantz. The whole process is frankly ridiculous as all her contraventions are now a matter of public record and the Crown should have stepped in and done all this work a long time ago. Seriously what kind of legislation leaves all the hard work up to private citizens when we have a multi hundreds of millions of dollars, judicial system? Quite frankly I have found the whole process to be disrespectful and contemptuous of citizens who are paying the shot. The fact that most of these charges have already been admitted to by the defendant, via her sucessive after the legal deadline Financial Statements, is further outrageous. I wonder once she's received her Summons if she 'll instruct her lawyer to fight tooth and nail and further waste the Court's time?

PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS SPOILING FOR A FIGHT

Luisa D'Amato in yesterday's Waterloo Region Record has written this story titled "It's time to change teacher job descriptions". Luisa recites a very long list of working to rule actions that the public school teachers have been indulging in for some time now. As Luisa suggests many of these actions would seem to be essential education and teacher responsibilities and yet the teachers apparently can opt out of them with impunity. Luisa asks the obvious questions as to why aren't at least some of them included in teachers' job descriptions. Luisa has a decades long and extensive background in researching and writing education articles for the Waterloo Region Record.

OFFICER NEEDS ASSISTANCE NOT PERSECUTION

The Andrew Robson case involving the Waterloo Region Police Service has been a five year odyssey of shame and embarassment to the Service. The shame is on the police force not the individual. Yes there is no doubt that Mr. Robson was in serious difficulty prior to the "sting" that set him up. Also most unenlightened businesses from half a century or more ago might have mishandled things just as badly. That is no excuse for a police service who are top notch at public relations and puffery, claiming to be on the leading edge professionally. Horse manure. They are a little boys club filled with egomaniacs at the top more concerned with their staus and prestige than with achieving and maintaining a top notch professional police service. Shame on them and shame on their so called police board who are impotent "company monkees" at best. Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Officer who stole pot in police sting could lose job: lawyer".

Two points near the end of the article are very telling. The first is that indeed the "...operation that they employed was completely disproportionate to the concerns that they had..." and secondly the prosecutor's inaccurate comment "The police did more than root out corruption in their ranks, which they had a duty and an obligation to do". Their was no corruption within their ranks from Officer Robson prior to their inducement and entrapment sting. They induced an officer requiring professional help into committing the crime of stealing a couple of ounces of confiscated marijuana. That is hardly even a 1 on the scale of real police corruption that North American citizens have witnessed over the decades. Nice way to help a brother officer in need.

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR THE NEW COURTHOUSE & STILL NO JUSTICE

What a godawful mess. Today's Waterloo Region Record advises us that the old Courthouse at 20 Weber St. has been renovated to the tune of $26 Million dollars. Apparently the Region of Waterloo will be transferring various departments in there. Hard to believe their huge edifice on Frederick St. isn't big enough, isn't it? For governments and courts maybe it's never big enough. Some huge egos to satify apparently.

I've been detailing on my Elmira Advocate Blog the ridiculous runaround I've been getting at Superior Court in order to lay election act charges against mayor Sandy Shantz. While I'm ever hopeful that this Friday will be a breakthrough why do I really suspect otherwise? Oh history I guess. From a process that is out of the middle ages and totally impossible for the vast majority of citizens to handle and navigate, to staff handing out wrong forms and it literally taking weeks to allegedly get the right ones, you can understand my disgust.

The last (ha who am I kidding?) straw was the case law that the J.P. gave me last Friday. While getting me the correct forms (allegedly) she also gave me multiple examples of case law indicating that despite the municipal elections act 1996, Section 81. (17), I and other citizens don't have the right to take an elected politician to court over campaign finance contraventions. Turns out every single case law she gave me was from before the 2009 revisions to the Act spelling out carefully that indeed citizens do have that right. Overall Superior Court has been an incredible waste of time and energy. Mostly it's been an education as to the incompetence and arrogance of self-entitled people. They seem to think they are working for NASA and everybody else are ditch diggers.

AND CANADIANS FOUGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY TO BE TREATED LIKE THIS?

Following is a recent post from my other Blog, the Elmira Advocate. Normally I stick to environmental items however lately I've been commenting on illegal behaviour and worse happening in Woolwich Township.



Thursday, September 10, 2015
JUDICIAL SYSTEM RESISTANCE, INTERFERENCE AND ARROGANCE


Boy if you think your Doctor, Surgeon or local Hospital sometimes display impatience or arrogance towards you then you've seen nothing yet. Try on your local courts, judges and even support staff. Hell they even put school board staff and teachers union staff to shame. Ever notice how it is our so called public service industries that are the most unaccountable, unresponsive, unreasonable and just plain disrespectful?

The Municipal Elections Act 1996 is an intentional disgrace written by our provincial legislature. It has commonsense rules and regulations followed by written and specific penalties for non compliance. Yes it even carefully differentiates between stupidity and laziness by political candidates versus wilful and intentional cheating and lying with the most severe penalties being reserved for the most dishonest and disrespectful (of the Act) violaters.

Where it fails is in enforcement. It relys far too much on either individual citizens stepping up and saying "Hey you"ve broken the law" or even worse it relys on co-opted staff, employees, and even elected councillors all in a horrible conflict of interest position, to do the same.

I have been literally spoonfeeding facts and evidence to the Waterloo Regional Police and to Superior Court (Justice of the Peace). The response to date has been as described in the first paragraph and worse. It has included my filling out an Application to Commence a Proceeding for a Private Information Under the Criminal Code, taking it down to Superior Court and giving it to a Clerk as recommended 1 1/2 hours prior to the availabilty of the Justice of the Peace at 10:30 am.. Along with my Application I included exerpts of the MEA 1996 as well as copies of mayor Shantz's Financial Statements. I then sat and waited upon the J.P. even though I was assurred that I was first in line having attended at 9 am.. I sat and waited from 9 am. until 1 pm. when I had been advised that she would be taking an hour and a half lunch break until 2:30 pm.. I had asked and advised staff much earlier that I could come back at her next available date when they told me that she was studying and reviewing my Application. No that was not allowed I was told. If I left before she was ready then my Application would be tossed.

I am advised that the J.P. is only available to citizens on one day of the week namely Fridays. Can you believe that just for starters? Fridays only thank you and be prepared to sit for the whole day on hard chairs without cushions. If you need to use the bathroom be sure to tell Staff so that you don't miss your window of opportunity to kiss their and the J.P.'s golden asses. You know even heart surgeons are willing to make appointments to deal with the riff raff politely referred to as clients or people. Not our judicial system J.P.s apparently.

It has become apparent to me that the local judicial system have intentionally erected roadblocks to citizens wishing appropriate enforcement of the Municpal Elections Act 1996. It is equally obvious that lawyers are fully aware of this and advise their clients (guilty politicians) to relax. Honest citizens with families and jobs absolutely can not access the judicial system even if they've finally figured out the proper route to do so. Those remaining citizens whether retired or otherwise are treated with haughty judicial contempt in their attempts to do so. I expect that for several thousand dollars plus I could have passed this off to a lawyer and he could have designated a paid intern or lackey to sit in my place. Or in other words we have the best judicial system in the world, that money can buy.
Posted by Alan Marshall at 8:10 AM

WAS SHE DRUNK OR IS SHE A PSYCHOPATH?

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys a very disturbing story. A 57 year old woman struck a cyclist after dark on a road between Guelph and Elora. She continued on and then played the slots at the Elora racetrack for 3/4 of an hour while the cyclist lay dying in the ditch. The title lof the story is "Driver who hit, killed cyclist gets $2,000 fine, probation". Good Lord it was hit and run. Her excuse was that she thought she had struck an animal not a human being. She neither stopped nor turned her car around to go back and check. Her windshield was smashed and her side mirror was torn off by the impact.

The Justice of the Peace categorically rejected her claim that she thought she had hit an animal. She was convicted of careless driving and failing to report an accident. A suspended license for a month, probation and a fine. Certainly driving a bicycle after dark without lights along a highway is a recipe for disaster but he didn't deserve to be abandoned after the accident. For that she should be doing jail time, nothing less.

POLICE BOARD FUN AND GAMES

Well that's politcs folks. Apparently criticism in the K-W Record has made the Police Board a little cautious about just giving their business as usual go ahead. Now they've decided that they want to study the situation a little bit. Turns out, unsurprisingly that they had no information regarding the negotiated settlement with former police officer Deborah Bourne. Also interestingly Chief Bryan Larkin is all in support of the Board taking their mandate and authority seriously. He's even complimenting them for their good governance. Seems more than a little bit thick to me. Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the story titled "Decision on hiring ex-officer delayed".

ARE THE POLICE BECOMING AS DANGEROUS TO US AS CRIMINALS?

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Baltimore reaches $6.4M settlement with Gray's family". If this settlement for Wrongful Death was the one and only, then the above title would be inappropriate. However we are advised that Baltimore spent $5.7 million for 102 court judgements and settlements for police misconduct between 2011 and last fall. What the hell are you kidding me? Is this no more than the city paying a license fee to allow their police to continue on with business as usual?

New York City last July settled for $5.9 Million with the family of Eric Garner who died after being put in a police officer's chokehold. In 2001 the City of Chicago settled for $18 million after a wrongful death lawsuit in the case of La Tanya Haggerty.

Here in Waterloo Region we also have lawsuits against our police as well as sucessful settlements. The problem here is that everything comes with confidentiality clauses. In other words the police can say yes we'll settle with you for our misconduct if you sign a confidentiality clause. Again it simply becomes a shameful, taxpayer funded way to pay off victims and keep the public in the dark regarding police abuses.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM'S INCOMPETENCE WORLDWIDE

Often here in this Blog I discuss various Canadian and sometimes American idiotic decisions and verdicts. Finally we get a peek into the Italian system regarding the famous Amanda Knox murder trials. Italy's top criminal court "...has scathingly faulted prosecutors for presenting a flawed and hastily constructed case against Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend...". The Court of Cassation wrote there was an "absolute lack of biological traces" of Knox an American, or co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito in the room or on the victim's body.". Furthermore Italy's top court referred to the faulty verdict as being due to "...the result also of stunning weakness or investigative bouts of amnesia and of blameworthy omissions of investigative actrivity".

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the story titled "Italian court explains Amanda Knox acquittal". Not very reassuring to learn that incompetence, conflicts of interest within the judicial system and just plain laziness combined with an inherent disregard for truth appear to be deeply embedded within all judicial systems. Dear God we humans are hopeless.

THE RULE OF LAW OR SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT?

My understanding of the expression Rule of law is that it basically means one law for every person in the country. In other words the law is not supposed to play favourites depending upon one's status, power and prestige. While indeed here in Canada we do have the odd wealthy murderer sentenced to jail the preponderance by far of jailed citizens are poor with little or no means to readily defend themselves professionally when charged with crimes. In the United States it is even more obvious. Canada has a disproportionate number of aboriginals jailed and the U.S. have a disproportionate number of blacks and hispanics in jail. Both money and race do indeed talk. "Carding" is also an example of that here in Canada. Far fewer WASPs get asked to show I.D. illegally then other ethnic groups.

Then there is a failure of the Rule of Law when it comes to obvious crimes such as Theft and Assault versus more subtle white collar crimes. Fraud is a good example. If we are talking a con artist who steals millions of dollars from clients in get rich quick schemes they usually end up getting charged. However at the lower end of the fraud spectrum it seems more likley that the Better Businees Bureay would be involved than the police even in egregious cases.

Here in Woolwich Township (Ontario) we are seeing a reluctance by our Police to enforce the Municipal Elections Act. We are also seeing a huge reluctance by them to even consider more serious charges such as Fraud or Perjury in regards to Election Act stickhandling and avoidance of accountability. It appears to this observer that there is indeed selective enforcement especially when local politicians are involved. Something blatant and obvious and readily understood by the public such as theft will proceed whereas more subtle but still illegal activities are not so likely to.

WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE SERVICES BOARD - A RUBBER STAMP?

Actually I'm kind of surprised anyone even needs to ask the question. Of course they are. They are a bunch of politician appointed yes men and women and if they weren't they simply wouldn't be there in the first palce. Way to late now to expect good things from them.Today's Waterloo Region Record Editorial is titled "This is no time for rubber stamps". Well maybe most of the time I would agree with them about that, however there's a funny smell about this whole alleged scenario regarding Deborah Bourne a 25 year veteran police officer. Lots of Police Service charges but no criminal charges whatsoever. Those Police Service charges include deceit and insubordination. Well personally I think when you're working with a pack of misogenistic dinosaurs with little or no ethics or morality then deceit and insubordination are probably a good thing.

Most of those misogenistic dinosaurs are of course the senior mangagement within the WRPS. Allegedly she had a boyfriend and allegedly she let some things slip in her paperwork responsibilities. Maybe the Record are right that those charges should have been exposed to a full, public hearing. Maybe they were legitimate and maybe instead they were typical authority figure abuses when they weren't getting their own way. Police Act charges are one hell of a way to enforce discipline whether appropriate or not. After 25 years I kind of expect Ms. Bourne knew where a few of the bodies were buried so to speak. To me it sounds like her union or her lawyer had the WRPS by the short and curlies and simply said F...Y.., if I go down I'm taking a few of you pricks with me.

This certainly makes more sense in regards to the WRPS finding a cushy well paid job for her after dropping all their Police Service charges. Do I for one second believe that the WRPS would cheerfully lie to the public? In a heartbeat!

IT'S ALL FOR SHOW FOLKS

The Municipal Elections Act and the Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) are all for show. They serve their intended purpose by giving the public the impression that local politicians are honestly living by the election rules and when they aren't they become accountable to the law. Nothing is further from the truth. Also very discouraging is any attempt to go around MECAC and directly to the Courts for either Fraud or Perjury charges. Boy have I tried hard with that and with very powerful evidence. Absolutely no interest in even initailly investigating by the Waterloo Regional Police Fraud Squad.

MECAC have twice turned their backs on their mandates and their duty here in Woolwich Township. They denied even a Compliance Audit for Mayor Shantz and also turned down sending Scott Hahn on to the courts after a very damaging Compliance (forensic) Audit was completed and made public.

WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE SERVICE EMBARASSED YET AGAIN

Boy this is really becoming a habit with WRPS. I've asked this question before, each and every time an officer or two get into trouble. We were treated to a 25 year veteran of the force last week being up on several Police Act charges including deceit, insubordination and corrupt practice. Then as usual the public were blatantly bullshitted and lied to by our authorities whether regional politicians pulling the strings or others.

Today's Waterloo Region Record sets the record straight so to speak. The article is titled "Former officer to work as civilian, says Chief". Last week we were told that the multiple serious Police Act charges were being dropped in exchange for the 25 year veteran resigning from the force. O.K. there were some who thought she was getting off easy but imagine their surprise to learn she's been rehired albeit for less pay, "only" $70,000 per annum.

How to teach a bad apple a lesson there, Police Board and Chief. Just exactly how serious were these internal charges again? All of them dropped and via negotiations she gets a job most of us would die for. You know if I weren't such a skeptic I might think that she, her lawyer and her union maybe had a little dirt on some more senior officers. They certainly had some serious cards in their hands to be able to negotiate out of serious charges and into another probably easier job. Exactly what do you think the chances are the public will ever know the full truth of this situation?

WRPS REALLY ARE DISAPPOINTING

I'd hate to think it was personal. Do they discriminate about taking complaints, requests for investigations and or witness names and contact info simply because thay think they have an axe to grind with the individual contacting them? Tell me that isn't so. Regardless I've had nothing but polite dismissal and attempts at technical/legal jargon to throw me off. Hell after 25 years plus of that crap from the Ontario Ministry of Environment plus various environmental consultants (read Conestoga Rovers) I'm almost immune to it.

Number one offender (for me) is Detective Costa of the Fraud Division. Next would be his superviser Staff Sgt. Robert Cowan although I currently have a message into him and he may yet pleasantly surprise me. Still while I appreciate them advising me of the technical complexities of elements necessary for sucessful prosecutions I don't appreciate advising them as to where they can readily obtain the evidence required and them simply saying no they won't. What the hell!

I am now slowly understanding why local politicians are so cocky and confident about blatantly breaking various laws. It's almost as if they've all taken a course upon how to sucessfully bend, break and mutilate laws and then what you need to say or do to stickhandle your way out of trouble.

HOW FAR WE HAVE COME: OR HAVE WE?

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys a story titled "Summer of 1971: "young and pretty" ". It's all about two teenage meter maids from Guelph who were fired for being too attractive for their jobs as meter maids. Apparently the city engineer was the one who pulled the plug on them. They both appealed their job loss internally with the City of Guelph and got no where.

As bad as that was how about here in Elmira a few years back when a private employer was told by his wife to get rid of a young, attractive female employee for the same reason. He complied and she was out of her summer job. Similarily I personally had problems with the City of Waterloo over twenty years ago because of how their middle aged public works crew were treating young, attractive females doing landscaping work. Have we really advanced all that much or is it like appearances, merely superficial?

SHAME ON ONTARIO'S JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Today's Waterloo Region Record Editorial is disturbing. As if we didn't have enough reasons already to hold our entire judicial system in disrespect, now we learn this. The title of the Editorial is "Another view: Act quickly to protect the young". It seems that here in Ontario we don't think twice about putting youth as young as thirteen into solitary confinement for indefinite periods and without telling them ahead of time why they are being isolated. We all new the death of the young female inmate incarcerated in Kitchener's women prison several years ago was an unnecessary tragedy and a scandal. Now this. When will we learn as a scoiety that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?

UPCOMING POTENTIALLY DISASTEROUS EVENTS FOR WOOLWICH COUNCIL

Tomorrow is the deadline for Mayor Shantz's Revised Financial Statement-Auditor's Report to be posted on the Woolwich Township website. Our mayor is between a rock and a hard place. Either she fudges her third set of Financials, presumably contrary to the Superior Courts ruling that she post that which she submitted to them or she posts the very same, still dramatically flawed and error filled poppycock. If she does the former would it be consdered fraud? If she does the latter then I take her back to MECAC (Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee).

Tuesday night at 7 pm. is the next Woolwich Council meeting. There will be a few Delegations including mine and I expect that Council will again behave in a disgusting and undemocratic fashion. It certainly appears as if they are my best ally in proving that they are operating without morals or ethics and outside the law.

Next Thursday at 10 am. in Council Chambers, MECAC are back to prove either their corruption or to prove that July 2/15 was an aberration. They are there in order to send Councillor Scott Hahn on for Court action based upon his recently received Compliance Audit. Scott and his family came off looking very bad.

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE & PROTECTION OF THE GUILTY

Well the obvious example is Mike Duffy and other participants in the Senate expense scandal. It does however strike much closer to home for all of us. I am now to the point of realizing that a system set up for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many is inherently corrupt and simply can't help but remain so.

Here in Woolwich Township we have the Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC). They allowed themselves to be guided into making a decision privately prior to the public meeting of July 2/15. They gave Mayor Sandy Shantz a pass on a Compliance Audit based upon a prior agreed upon plan in which she would submit a new Financial Statement combined with a months overdue Audit. MECAC did not have the authority or mandate to accept this over three months late documentation as a replacement or anything else from Mayor Shantz.

There is even the possibility based upon the mayor's under oath documents submitted to the Superior Court in Kitchener that MECAC misrepresented and lied to myself and the public regarding when they received these last minute documents.

On Friday August 27 MECAC will meet again to decide whether Councillor Scott Hahn's Compliance Audit requires a trip to court for Mr. Hahn. Any honest, above board body will have a very simple decision as the Compliance Audit has not made either Scott or his family look like choirboys. MECAC must send him to court for election act charges at the minimum. If they do not they are simply cementing their position as already indicated with mayor Shantz that they are corrupt and simply going through the motions.

OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS NO SUCH THING

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled "Justice system "punishes" mental illness". The John Howard Society has released a fourty page report titled "The Criminalization of Mental Illness". This report deatils the history of major changes in how society deals with people sufferring from mental illnesses. It is not a very flattering look at ourselves.

Hospitals and asylums used to be the preferred way of warehousing people with mental health issues. London Psychiatric was a well known institution at the time. Penetanguishene currently is. These days one needs only look carefully at who is incarcerated in Ontario. Seventy percent of prisoners have serious issues with substance abuse (drugs or alcohol). Fourty percent suffer from mental illness and Thirty-One percent suffer from both problems. Jails as well as the practice of solitary confinement are no way to help our mentally ill citizens. A reallocation of resources away from prisons and towards those with drug and mental health issues would be a win-win scenario.

WOOLWICH COUNCIL HOOLIGANS HIJINKS CONTINUE

Well apparently things didn't work out quite so well for Woolwich Council on Tuesday night as they had planned. They walked out on my Delegation three minutes in claiming I'd broken some non-existent rule about speaking to more than one item during a ten minute Delegation. When they left I advised them to be in no hurry to return as long as they were going to treat Woolwich citizens so badly. Then I simply walked around the other side of the lecturn and addressed the gallery face to face. Council I'm advised were peaking in the window in the door and didn't look happy that i was speaking to the audience and they were remaining in their chairs. Eventually Council came back and despite my being on the second last sentence of my delegation Councillor Larry Shantz and Mayor Shantz both started interrupting me again. Keep in mind there orchestrated walkout was all about petty payback on their parts. The Ombudsman Report plus election expense issues have clearly gotten under their skin. Good, it really looks good on them. Also I'd caught them holding another illegal in camera meeting at 4:30 pm. prior to the open session at 6 pmm.

PMOs OFFICE AFFECTED THE DUFFY EXPENSE AUDIT

The revelation in the above title has impacts here in Woolwich Township. While it was Deloitte who were being lobbied by Senator Gerstein on behalf of the PMOs office and Mike Duffy, here in Wolwich it is Froese Partners Inc. who have audited Councillor Scott hahn's election expense statements and found them wanting. Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Wright admits anger, regret over Duffy payment".

To date there are no allegations that Froese have not done an excellent and honest job. The same can not be said for MECAC, the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee. They illegally accepted Mayor Shantz's second (or third) set of Financial Statements in order to exempt her from what should have been an automatic formal Compliance Audit. The concern of course for me and other citizens pushing for a Forensic Audit of mayor shantz is that apparently even these Forensic audits can be subject to manipulation by powerful, political interests. it is my guess that Regional officials leaned on MECAC to give Mayor Shantz a pass and if they've done it once could do so again with her as well as with Councillor Hahn.

WOOLWICH COUNCIL HOOLIGANS

These guys are unbelievable. No sooner are they caught redhanded by the Ombudsman contravening the Municipal Act in regards to closed (in session) meetings but they are right back at it. I caught them yesterday holding an in camera meeting in the Councillor's Boardroom without first holding a public session as the Municipal Act requires.

The Forensic Audit of Councillor Hahn is out and boy does he look very bad. Allegedly his live at home sister contributed $600 to his election campaign from her earnings as a babysitter. I'm not buying that BS and I expect neither is anybody else. Furthermore the Forensic Auditors have been unable to find documentary receipts and the paper trail necessay to confirm this and other stories. Sure looks like Scott just like Sandy & Mark believe the Elections Act is simply to be stickhandled around.

ANOTHER REGIONAL POLICE OFFICER SCREWS UP?

Seemes to be getting to be a habit. Is this a case of a pervasive culture problem within the Waterloo Regional Police? Is it a top down problem based upon a lack of ethics at the very top? Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Judge criticizes officer in drug case". Apparently Judge Elliot Allen was less than impressed with the testimony he received from Sgt. Nathan Moyle. In fact the Judge made it clear that he found the defendant's testimony much more credible than the police officer's. The officer had done an illegal search of the woman's purse and found some personal use quantity of drugs.

Now it turns out the woman is attempting to have the officer chaged with perjury, obstruction of justice and breach of trust. Looks good on the officer according to the facts as written.

DUFF CONACHER OF DEMOCRACY WATCH

The following caption and quote comes from the July 27, 2015 Woolwich Observer. They are quoting Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch.

caption: Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch says the federal Liberals promised reforms are just the start of what's needed to make politicians accountable to the public.

VERBATIM

"Voters should be skeptical of politician's promises, and even if the Liberals made all the changes they promised, everyone in politics and government would still be allowed to lie to voters, politicains would still be allowed to make money from their decisions, secret lobbying would still be legal, wealthy individuals would still be allowed to use money to have unethical influence, whistleblowers would still not be effectively protected, and enforcement and penalties would still be too weak to stop wrongdoing."

And there you have it folks in a nutshell. Mr. Conacher has hit the nail on the head. democracy here in Canada is still a sham for the above reasons and more.

COURTS EXERT THEIR AUTHORITY

The Waterloo Region Record carrys this story on July 31/15 titled "Province denies right to protest at courthouse". Apparently two local activists were politely handing out flyers on the new courthouse steps at Duke and Frederick St. two years ago when they were issued trespassing tickets. At no time were they impeding people's access to or from the building and it was a peaceful protest. Despite that they were ordered to hand out their flyers on the sidewalk. The flyers were raising issues about prisoners' rights, solitary confinement, health care in prisons etc.. A decision by Judge Marietta Roberts is expected in October.

JAIL TIME FOR PERJURY BY FORMER OFFICER

Officer Banjamin Robinson has had two terrible run ins both causing death. One involved a motorcyclist, the other Robert Dziekanski at Vanvouver Airport. The officer is no longer such plus he has been sentenced to two years in jail for perjury. This occurred at the inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski in 2007. The Waterloo Region Record carried this story on July 25/15 titled "Ex-officer gets two years in jail".

The death of the motorcyclist resulted in Mr. Benjamin being convicted of obstruction. My recollection is that this involved him leaving the scene to quickly consume alcohol presumably for the purpose of masking what he'd had to drink prior to the accident with the motorcyclist.

POLICE BOARD FULFILLS PLEDGE TWO YEARS LATER

The Waterloo Region Record carried this story titled "Police board posts its contact details" last Monday. Holy cow it's actually news that after what fifty or a hundred years local citizens actually have access to send their police board an e-mail or two! Dear God what a joke of democracy. This Police Board determines governance issues not operations and it has been unaccountable forever. Its seven members are all appointees of regional council and the province. Rest assurred among other things it's a graveyard for old has been politicians plus a few current ones. Is it any wonder our regional police have zero transparency coupled with next to no accountability. Also rest assurred e-mail access is as far as public accountability is going with our regional police and lord knows they need all the help they can get.

TODD COWAN, FORMER WOOLWICH MAYOR, FACES HIS THIRD CRIMINAL CHARGE

Well I've got to give the little shit some credit. Unlike the current Woolwich Mayor who's constantly whining about her "integrity" being attacked or about frivolous and vexatious election expense complaints, Todd is taking it like a man. True he's still minimizing and bullshitting but you know he's facing his critics and accusers head on. Today's article in the Waterloo Region Record is titled "Former Woolwich mayor misses court, gets arrested".

Seriously in the scheme of things, missing court is pretty much a piss ant criminal offence. Quite frankly there are lots of good folks up here in Woolwich Township who commit a much bigger offence simply by showing up in court. They hide behind their money and send professional liars to court on their behalf. Hell I don't even have to name the professional title of these professional liars. We all know it.

To a cetain extent Todd is in denial. He thinks he's still got the mantle of protection above him that most elected individuals wave around like a magic wand. Look at me I'm a better liar than my opponents and I got a majority of the people to believe my crap. Sorry Todd but as bad as the current mayor's credibility has become; it's still head and shoulders above yours.

One of Todd's last great lies to date is in Bob Burtt's poorly researched and rushed into print "No Guardians at the Gate". He and Susan were just in so much of a hurry to throw mud on me they enlisted the assistance of Todd Cowan, professional ass. His remarks in the book were so typical of a little man with a big ego and minimal ethics. I am told he loves his children however so I actually was a little worried when he missed court that something serious had befallen him. Silly me he's fine and well just taking his bullshit out for another spin.

NEWS FLASH: SENIOR POLICE OFFICERS LIE

The Waterloo Region Record has carried a few stories regarding criminal lawyer Laura Liscio and her run in with the Peel Regional Police service. They arrested her and then lied about their egregious "perp walk" of her from the Brampton Courthouse on February 12, 2015. This was reported in the Record last February as well as a followup story on June 27/15. The initial allegations dealt with drug smuggling but I believe those charges have been dropped. It would appear that this case might have some similarities with our local criminal lawyer Hal Mattson. He was arrested and charged at the Tim Horton's across from the provincial Courthouse on Frederick St. in Ktchener a few years back. My understanding is that those charges were all dropped and he is now suing the Waterloo Regional Police most particularily for their egregious public treatment of him. Pretty damn disgusting behaviour by Waterloo's finest.

REPLACING DEPARTED POLITICIANS

On July 16/15 in the Waterloo Region Record Luisa D'Amato wrote the foolowing Opinion column titled "How not to replace a departed politician". Luisa took us through some recent examples of terrible choices by the local Catholic School Board after resignations of members during their term. The obvious and appropriate method according to Luisa is to offer the job to the next in line via the previous election. This would seem obvious and is. Unfortunately neither local councils, regional councils or school boards are so mandated. So exactly what happens is a sweetheart deal if you will. Those bodies interview applicants for the job and cherry pick "right thinking" persons to fill the empty positions. Of course "right thinking" could mean similar thinking to the majority of the council or board or it could be as simple as picking the quietest, least aggressive, most likely not to rock the boat candidate. Aint democracy swell!

ANOTHER TOWNSHIP UNDER THE "DOGPATCH" SPELL

Last Thursday's Waterloo Region Record carrys this column by Luisa D"Amato titled "An outsider is needed to clean up North Dumfries". The financial failures and scandals keep on rolling like waves at the beach. Especially with such a small population centre how is it possible not to notice such major financial screwups? There were enough veterans on their Council that they should long ago have picked up on this. It's all very familiar to those of us from Woolwich Township. You'd think that by now the multiple seasoned veterans on Council would know how to keep their noses clean regrading election expenses. Apparently not. Is it that the farther politicians get from the big city, big oversight, the more they take things casually?

PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE

Nothing ever really changes. It's all about talk and posturing. The Ministry of Labour is just as incompetent, underfunded and hopeless as the Ministry of Environment, Municipal Affiars and Transport. Too many politicians with too many pet projects or legacy projects to make a name for themselves to ever really gain control of the everyday bread and butter issues that matter to Ontario citizens. Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Ministry of Labour lays charges in 2014 Guelph workplace death".

Yet another avoidable on the job death last yaer in Guelph. A young man 22 years old was working at height installing a steel plate on top of a column and a beam. He fell and the steel plate fell on top of him. Exactly how much experience did the yopung man have in regards to this kind of risky work? His superviser as well as the company Oskam Welding Ltd. were both charged. The accident took place inside Polycon Industries at Independence Pl. in Guelph.

NOT EVEN THE PRETENSE ANYMORE

Even the pretense of following rules, regulations and laws seems to have been discarded in Woolwich. Upon reading of the Municipal Elections Act 1996 as passed by the Ontario legislature, one could be forgiven for thinking that it is the real deal. In practice however it is a complete farce up here in Woolwich, to date. Whether Councillor Bauman or Mayor Shantz it certainly seems as if some of the most blatant failures and contraventions are ignored by the Township Clerk and in fact citizens are essentially challenged to take the sitting politicians to court. Is this a reflection of their antidemocratic attitudes or is it a comment by them as to the unlikelihood of getting convictions? Either one is distatseful.

MECAC (Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee) - SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT

It certainly gave every appearance of being a dog and pony show last Thursday in Woolwich Council Chambers. The mayor presented at the last minute a package of documents that while fascinating and interesting were grossly misrepresented as somehow properly resolving my request for a complaince audit. Her 28 pages were both inadequate and erroneous and in fact have led to further revelations regarding the mayor's Financial Statements that frankly appear to show her in a poor light. The two issues are the March 23/15 date that appears to be the date that the auditing firm were contacted/contracted. The fact that the Audit was completed on June 16/15, the very same day that I filed my Application for a Compliance Audit is also very strange. Are we to believe that the Mayor responded the same day that I filed my complaint, rewrote her eight page Financial Statement, submitted it to her accountant who then reviewed it carefully, got management approval to use their name (MAC LLP) signed and date it, all in the same day?

The second issue is the Municipal Elections Act 1996 which indicates that similar to the Mark Bauman case, our Mayor has forfeited her position. This is due to her failure to file an Auditor's Report by he filing deadline of March 27, 2015. Any excuses that she did not know the rules are out the door when one looks at the dates of June 16 and July 2/15. The first date is the date I filed my complaint indicating she needed an Audit as well as the same date that her Auditor filed his report approving her latest attempt to rectify her election expense report. Finally we have last Thursday July 2/15 when she submitted a revised Financial Statement and Auditor's Report confirming the accuracy of my complaint.

The Elections Act is unequivocal. If you fail to file either your Financial Statement or your Auditor's Report then you are automatically in breech of the Act and you forfeit your position AS PER SECTION 78 (1), 80 (1) AND 80 (2).

POLITICS ARE FOR LIARS, CHEATS, THIEVES AND HYPOCRITES

Yesterday in Woolwich Council Chambers at first blush seemed predictably frustrating. Going in I knew I had a slamdunk case and everything depended upon the inherent honesty of the seven members, two of whom were former municipal Council and regional Council members. Indeed within a few minutes I could see that the fix was in. My impression was that it was an interesting case study as to how members of a politically apponted committee (MECAC) would be able to explain their decision to dismiss my Application for a Compliance Audit. Basically the old standbys of deflection, distraction and false arguments came to the forefront. They argued things like honesty, sincereity, technical errors, lack of intent and otherwise a whole lot of totally irrelevant drivel. Clearly they did not want to be the ones to order a Mayor to be audited. In this they utterly failed themselves and the electors.

I believe based on their behaviour that an "arrangement" was made ahead of time that if the Mayor followed a certain set of guidelines at the meeting she would be given a pass. Those guidelines included a revised Financial Statement and an Auditor's Report. This arrangement of course would be but one more contravention of the truly pathetic Municipal Elections Act. Clearly almost no one anywhere cares one whit about that legislation including the appointees receiving $150 per day to be on the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC). I will say that the members did avoid piling on me as the Mayor and her sidelick Mark Bauman personally attacked me. In fact there were a couple of MECAC members who did have the decency to at least make it clear that my Application was warranted and appropriate and that despite the dismissal the issues were not minimal.

Hypocrisy ruled the day between Councillor Bauman and Mayor Shantz. Both have been vocal about how Woolwich citizens need to be vigilantly alert regarding disrespect and personal attacks and boy are they right. That pair are the guiltiest characters in that department. The Mayor and a few of her acolytes also spread lies regarding alleged (ie. non-existent) intimidation by myself and CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) members at public CPAC meetings. Would you believe the mayor's idiot husband tried to pull some kind of shit like that on me at the meeting? A whole room to sit in and or he could have sat near his wife the mayor in support of her but no he picks the absolutely closest chair immediately behind me and within a few feet of where I had to sit for the MECAC meeting as I was the Applicant. I took one look at him behind me and said "Are you kidding me?" I then went and informed the Township Clerk to move his ass or else I'd publicly, using the microphone, ask the MECAC Chair to do it. To her credit the Clerk fulfilled her duty without further ado.