SUPT. MARK FENTON JUST DOESN'T GET IT

The Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Toronto officer appeals decision". Apparently he doesn't think that arresting and locking up nearly 1,000 innocent people for twenty-four hours is a big deal. The Ontario Civilian Police Commission convicted him of "unecessary and unlawful use of authority" for his role on June 26 & 27, 2010 in regards to the G20 Summit. The OCPC was sentenced to a reprimand and the loss of 30 paid vacation days. While at his salary I expect that is a substantial fine it didn't go nearly far enough. Nevertheless he has the gall (stupidity?) to appeal it.

Part of the appeal is based on the information that Supt. Fenton's superiors also were in possession of similar information a shim and condoned it instead of stopping him. For me that simply means that more officers than Supt. Fenton should have been charged for criminal behaviour. I wonder how Supt. Fenton would feel about skipping both the fine and the reprimand but perhaps spending 24 hours in jail multiplied by even 1/2 the number of people he illegally imprisoned in a makeshift and improper detention centre. Let's see just how perky he is when he's the one losing his freedom.

MORE ON LAYING PRIVATE CHARGES (MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS ACT)

I'm reasonably certain that today's fun and games in the legal system do not apply for private charges such as assault. If they do then Lord knows the inmates are in charge of the asylum.

So Monday (two days ago) I described the "joys" of Serving a Summons upon the individual that you have had charged privately via a Justice of the Peace. I also expressed my disgust with having to do this as I feel it is unecessarily inflammatory and provocative. Furthermore in some instances a complainant with legitimate grounds to file an Information seeking charges can feel intimidated by the person he is charging and thus not remotely want to serve them personally with the Summons. In Mr.Hahn's case no evidence of bad behaviour, threats or intimidation were involved nevertheless I simply felt that while sometimes "in your face" can not be avoided in confrontations it should be whenever possible. In other words your case should be based upon the facts not upon personal animosity and serving the accused personally is really in my opinion beyond the pale.

It turns out that Serving the Summons is not remotely the end of the process. Then you have to have the Affidavit of Service of the Summons commissioned by a Notary, Commissioner or some lawyers. I firstly went to a lawyer here in Elmira who had been recommended to me by a friend. I had actually dropped in to her office several days prior to serving Scott the Summons. I was told by a staff person that indeed this lawyer could commission or take an oath from me after I served the Summons. Therefore this past Monday after serving Scott on Saturday I dropped back into her office with the Affidavit of Service requesting that it be commissioned. Well skipping the nonsense that she wasn't there (she walked in while I was there), I left my name and phone number, drove home and immediately received her phone call. No she would not "commission" my Affidavit of Service allegedly because she had a conflict of interest as she had done work for the Hahn family. I gently pointed out that taking an oath that I had served Scott with a Summons was hardly a conflict of interest. Afterall I wasn't suing him or asking her to take some legal action against Scott. Basically she was being asked to rubberstamp an oath that I had served him with a Summons issued by the courts. No go. Later in the day I phoned and left messages at two other local lawyers.

Yesterday Tuesday one of them returned my call and we made an appointmernt for 2:30 pm. A very reasonable $25 and 5-10 minutes later the affidavit was commissioned. The lawyer even gave me some advice as to where to file that paperwork.

This morning I first visited Intake Court/Superior Court where the charges had been laid by the J.P.. Somewhat as expected they directed me over to the Provincial Courthouse where Mr. Hahn is to appear on August 31/16. As directed I left the commissioned Affidavit of Service with a Clerk at that courthouse. Somewhat disconcertingly she did say that to date they have not received the Information /charges from Intake Court. She did not seem terribly concerned about that and advised me that yes my part in the process was completed at least until court on August 31/16. Therefore it appears that my running around trying to figure out processes and procedures is at least temporarily at an end. Let's see now exactly how the crown Prosecuter decides to handle this case. At one point he had verbally advised me that if he had a Forensic Audit such as Scott Hahn's regarding mayor Shantz that he could have stepped right up and prosecuted. Well now he's got it so let's see what happens with Mr. Hahn's case.

EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS: ONTARIO'S JOKE

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this Editorial by the Record titled "Another view: Employers must give cause for firing". What a pile of unadulterated horse manure. One they never have and two they never will. Employers love the absolute authority to let employees go at will and for a whim or less. There's always been more employees chasing jobs than the other way around and whenever there isn't the federal government just opens the immigration floodgates wider.

Employers have but a few proscribed reasons that they can not fire such as race, colour, gender and religion but even those are routinely contravened. Same thing with hiring. Also Ontario employers routinely let employees go for attitude alone. In other words when the employer starts barking jump woe to the employee who doesn't immediately say "Yes sir and how high!". As far as giving cause most employers simply lie when they let someone go. They've got a cousin who needs a job then let someone unconnected go. If an employee insists upon his legal rights under the Employment Standatrds Act then let him go and lie about the cause.

Finally the last line in the Editorial talks about ensuring that no employee can be unjustly fired. That happens every day of the week in this province. Again primarily attitude. Often simply insisting upon your legal rights is grounds for lots of employers to dismiss employees. Who the hell are the Record kidding? Have a union (and a strong one) if you think you have any rights at all in the workforce because otherwise you've got squat and that's exactly how employers and their lackey politician friends want it.

SO YOU WANT TO LAY ELECTION CHARGES AGAINST A MUNICIPAL COUNCILLOR?

According to the Municipal Elections Act 1996 Section 81.(17) "This section does not prevent a person from laying a charge or taking any other legal action, at any time, with respect to an alleged contravention of a provision of this Act relating to election campaign finances." Wow it's just that easy and simple. Not!

The assistance citizens receive from the courts can best be described as minimalist, contradictory, inconsistent and confusing. This includes Intake Court within the Superior Court building in downtown Kitchener as well as advice you may receive from any number of different Justices of the Peace. In fairness part of the problem is the rarity in which a non lawyer citizen takes a municipal election candidate to court. That said the process of only permitting citizens to access Intake Court on Fridays is beyond belief. If you get something wrong even if you've followed directions to the letter, you guessed it; come back and see us in a week. By the way I would show up at 9 am., sign the sheet and be either the first second or third to have done so and routinely spend the next three to five hours sitting there. This I did SIX times with Sandy Shantz's charges and three times with Scott Hahn's. Normally my time with the J.P. would be between ten and twenty minutes.

Approximately six trips from Elmira to court were required in regards to Sandy's charges plus two or three more with the two prosecuters. How many with Scott is anybody's guess. At no point prior to the penultimate court appearance did either prosecuter suggest to me that there was any problem with how any of the charges were laid by the J.P..

I will say this regarding the court system. At no point was I threatened or intimidated by any judges or police during the process. Afterall Canada isn't a third world country is it? The out of town prosecuter Fraser Kelly I would best describe as a pompous ass. He did threaten me however. Firstly he pulled the stunt of misrepresenting a meeting a few days prior to Sandy's last court appearance to get me to attend a meeting with him and it turned out a Waterloo Regional Police detective. In hindsight it seems clear to me that Mr. Kelly had zero interest in prosecuting a Regional Councillor and mayor of Woolwich Township. What he had in mind was charging me with allegedly, surrepticiously taperecording a PUBLIC MECAC meeting, already being taped by the Township, in their Council Chambers.

Does it get any worse? Well that depends upon one's sensibilities. The Summons for Sandy was served via the courts doing the job. I was informed a week and a half ago that I personally had to serve Mr. Hahn his Summons. Are you kidding me? I advised both the J.P. and the Waterloo Regional Police that that was an inflammatory, provocative action to have the same citizen who lays election charges on a councillor, also personally serve the Summons on him. While we would like to think that councillors normally are 100% law abiding, calm and semi-reasonable persons, that has not been my experience with Woolwich councillors in general. Their public behaviour has been on occasion, brash and intemperate, and I am not remotely focusing on Mr. Hahn here. This includes his experienced colleagues on Council.

I will say that when push came to shove the Regional Police while insisting that I serve the Summons, did request that I advise them in advance of the time, date and location and hence an officer did attend with me. I would also say that that particular officer was very polite, courteous and helpful towards me. I will also add that Mr. Hahn was calm, cool and respectful and indeed his Council colleagues could take a lesson from him. That the citizen laying the charge also has to serve the Summons however is dispicable. In fact the entire legal process to date has been dispicable. I now view this legislated right of citizens to lay private charges to be nothing but a sham. Shame on every person in authority responsible for this entire asinine process. I believe it has been intentionally designed from start to finish to block citizens from their legislated right to lay private charges against candidates and politicians who blatantly contravene the Municpal Elections Act.

SHAME ON OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM

1) Why now do I suddenly have to be the one who personally serves the Summons ordering Councillor Hahn to attend Provincial Court on August 31/16 in Kitchener?
2) Why did it take three in person trips down to the Superior Court (Intake Court) to get things accomplished?
3) Why did it take six trips last fall to get charges laid against Sandy Shantz for Municipal Election Act (MEA 1996)contraventions?
4) Why did the initial Justice of the Peace advise me (incorrctly) that citizens could not lay private charges under the MEA 1996?
5) Why did the Summons last fall send everyone to the incorrect court namely Superior Court?
6) Why do I have to spend my time and trouble making arrangements with the Waterloo Regional Police in regards to the serving of this latest Summons?
7) Why as part of question 3) was I initially given the wrong forms by Intake Court thus wasting more weeks?
8) Why does Intake Court only attend citizens for laying of charges, non-contact orders etc. only once a week?
9) Why can appointments with Justice's of the Peace not be made?
10) Why are the clerks and typists so apparently incompetent at Intake Court?
11) Why are the sign-up lists not followed in order when J.P.s are meeting with citizens?
12) Why is it necessary week in and week out to wait literally for four to five hours in order to spend ten-fifteen minutes with a J.P.?
13) How much of the above S.O.P. is absolutely mean, petty, intentional, .uck you very much taxpaying citizens?

Tell me one other business (other than education) which treats it's customers/clients so horrifically and disrespectfully?

OPP DON"T WANT TO POLICE CUSTODY DISPUTE

I'm trying to get a handle on whether or not the tail is wagging the dog here. Since when does any police force decide precisely what their jurisdiction is? Isn't that both a political, geographic decision and or a legal one to be decided if necessary by the courts? In this case a judge had decided that it was both inappropriate and a conflict of interest for the Waterloo Regional Police to supervise a custody dispute involving one of their own members hence the decision to have the OPP do the monitoring and supervision when required.

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "OPP appeal policing custody dispute". It turns out that the OPP are so adamant against being involved with this case that they are going to court to overturn the judge's decision and send supervision of exchanges of the child between her parents back into the Waterloo Region Police's lap. To say that something is amiss here is an understatement. That "something amiss" statement is in regards to more than just the parents' inabilities to behave but also in regards to relations between Waterloo's finest and the OPP. What exactly is going on here and what exactly are the public not being told?

BEAU BAKER & SOCIETY DESERVE AN INQUEST

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys Luisa D'Amato's Opinion piece titled "An inquest for Baker could help to save the next life". Luisa argues that regardless of the alleged threat that Beau Baker may have appeared to the officer involved that it is way past time for police officers to be trained to look at less than lethal options. Those options might even include withdrawing or backing down themselves if nobody else's life is in danger. In other words de=escalating conflicts or arguments versus using them as an excuse to kill the suspect.

The number of deaths per year by police in the U.S. are more shocking undoubtedly than they are in Canada. The question is how many in both countries could have been safely avoided with training looking at de-escalating confrontations rather than training emphasizing that police have the right to kill simply because the individual involved is ignoring their orders and commands. Refusing to drop a knife, a club or a shovel with no one else in any imminent danger other than the suspect and the officer closing in should not give the officer the right to kill the suspect. Are we still in mediaeval times or have we progressed even a little bit from those times? Especially when more and more citizens are either stressed to the breaking point or suffering from mental illnesses, murder should not be the standard operating procedure solution.

CHEMTURA & ONTARIO MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT HAVE NO SHAME

Since the early 1990s Chemtura (Uniroyal) and the Ontario M.O.E. have been claiming that yes they would restore the Elmira aquifers to drinking water standards by 2028. These claims have continued despite my publicly long, long ago referring to the Elmira cleanup as a sham. They have continued despite CPAC in May 2012 publicly stating that Chemtura could not possibly cleanup the aquifers by 2028 using their current methods. Six months later Chemtura and their consultants Conestoga Rovers stated that they were going to triple the volume of groundwater pumping AND do off-site source removal via In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) in order to achive drinking water standards by 2028. These guys really have no shame whatsoever.

Last week at the public Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting we were informed by their Chair, Dr. Dick Jackson, that Chemtura and their consultants GHD (formerly CRA) had admitted in a private "technical experts" meeting that they probably could not clean up the aquifers adequately by 2028. The entirely incompetent and stupid M.O.E. were stunned. CPAC members including myself have known this for years. Are Conestogo Rovers grossly incompetent or are they corrupt? Or is there a third option? Regardless with the able assistance of municipal, regional, provincial and federal governments Uniroyal/Chemtura have misled and lied to the public from the beginning. Exactly as I've been saying and vilified for so doing by co-opted citizens, politicians, industry apologists and other assorted fools and liars.

GROWTH MANTRA IN OUR ECONOMY

Steve Kannon of the Woolwich Observer (located in Elmira, Ontario) is one of my favourite writers and editors. His latest "Editor's Notes" in last week's Observer is titled "Obsession with growth is behind much of what ails us as a society". Quoting from his article: "In fact, many of the problems plaguing the planet-most of them the result of our sucesses as a species and our failures as human beings-could be lessened by focusing on a degrowth mantra.".

"We have lived for 200 years in a growth economy. That makes it hard to imagine what a steady-state economy (SSE) would be like, even though for most of our history mankind has lived in an economy in which annual growth was negligible.".

"The environmental impact of human activity is the clearest indicator of where growth is a problem. We use up nonrenewable resources and we spew pollutants into the air, water and soil. That can't go on forever.".

"The high quality of life that most people in the North believe that they enjoy is increasingly an illusion. They may spend more on consumer goods and services, but they forget to deduct the costs of these things: reductions in the quality of life because of poor air and water and a degraded environment.".

There is an expression which I have understood to be "externalizing of costs". Steve refers to them as "...externalities: transferring to society the costs of production while the profits go to individuals and companies.".

It is my and others opinions that one of these "externalities" would include ever increasing rates of cancer in North American society. Simply look around you at your family, both immediate and a little further afield. As a young man fourty years ago and more I knew of zero relatives with cancer. Now cancer is throughout my family and my wife's and I fully expect everyone else's. Are our toys and relative affluence really worth that cost? I think not.

MUNICIPAL ELECTION ACT CHARGES LAID AGAINST COUNCILLOR SCOTT HAHN

Private charges were laid yesterday at the Superior Courthouse in Kitchener with Justice of the Peace Z. Radulovic. Ms. Radulovic has been one of three different Justices who have examined Informations regarding the Municipal Elections Act (MEA) since last September in relation to two Woolwich Council members. The three J.P.s are Justice Radulovic, Justice Marquette and Justice Phillips.

There are four charges under the MEA covering Sections 89, 78,92 and 94. These charges cover seven to eight contraventions of the Act all of which were explained in depth in the August 11, 2015 Forensic Audit produced by Froese Forensic Partners. Mr. Hahn's contraventions were neither minor, inadvertent nor insignificant and in my opinion the thirteen page Audit plus six pages of Exhibits clearly demonstrated that.

Personally to date I have been appalled at how ridiculous, onerous, disrespectful and amateurish the entire judicial process has been since last September. This would include multiple court appearances and adjournements over six months while the local Crown Prosecuter had complete carriage of the file and then sat on apparently improperly laid charges the entire time. Not until the out of town prosecuter Fraser Kelly announced in court that the charges would not proceed was I aware that the J.P.s involved had somehow laid the charges incorrectly. It has become very clear to me that the so called "right" for citizens to lay private charges under the MEA (at least) is a joke and a paper tiger. Let's see exactly how far and how long these charges against Mr. Hahn proceed.

This private laying of charges while clearly permitted and stated in the MEA is I believe used primarily as a last resort. They can however be laid at any time although the Act lays out a process using a Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) normally followed by a professional Forensic Audit when potential or likely contraventions are found. It normally is not the committee's place to determine whether a candidate is in contravention of the law. Those determinations are made by the Forensic Auditors. They did so and clearly indicated multiple contraventions of the law. Despite that MECAC took it upon themselves not to exercise their authority and send Mr. Hahn's case on to a Prosecuter.

That there is a bias by the Crown in favour of prosecuting charges sent to them by police, municipal councils, MECAC committees and other "authorities" has become very clear to me. That the local Crown would sit on improperly laid charges by a Justice of the Peace and say nothing to me for six months I find appalling. At any point in time I could have relaid the Information and gone back to the J.P. if I had known. My next question is did he advise the charged Councillor or her lawyer during this time? Did she know that the charges would not proceed, even the four that Fraser Kelly admitted in Provincial Court this past spring were laid properly? Exactly what kind of scheme is going on here and will it occur again with the Scott Hahn charges? Has it ocurred already with his charges?

Our courts are not designed and run for the benefit of citizens and taxpayers. They are intentionally designed to be of benefit to lawyers, judges, administrators and bureaucrats all making their living off of the taxpayers' dime. Something similar to career politicians in my opinion. While Mr. Hahn needs to be honestly held accountable by a fair process of law so too does our judicial system. They are intentionally citizen unfriendly and disrespectful and their gamesmanship, their unduly complicated processes, rules and regulations and their biases against those paying the costs of their bloated and overpaid system need to be addressed and not by those most personally benefiting by them.

One last comment here. Prosecuter Fraser Kelly claimed in Provincial Court this past spring that it was not in the public's interest to proceed with the remaining properly laid four charges against Mayor Shantz. Zero explanation followed to back up that statement. Let me ask this question. Are not all our laws passed by duly elected legislatures not in the public interest in the first place? Why pass a law if it isn't supposed to help or protect our citizens and democracy? Therefore if a citizen has apparently broken a law that was passed to protect the public's interests how is it that that citizen should not be prosecuted? At the very least both local and out of town Prosecuters have the duty and obligation to explain that clearly to the public paying their salaries.

WELL AT LEAST THIS TIME IT'S NOT A WATERLOO REGION POLICE OFFICER

Const. Robert Hansen was convicted last January of perjury and obstructing justice for trying to have an informant plant a gun at the home of a suspect in 2012. Hansen was sentenced to five years in prison. There were still Police Act charges against the officer but he has recently resigned from the police force this rendering the Police Act charges moot. Somehow that seems appropriate as he is currently serving his sentence for criminal charges. The article in Wednesday's Waterloo Region Record was titled "Jailed Hamilton officer who tried to plant gun on suspect quits".

MORE NEWS ON BOARD OF EDUCATION DYSFUNCTION

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled "Sparring trustees unite for education plan". It's really not a terribly relevant title as the story is primarily about the completion and endorsement of a new Strategic Plan for the Waterloo Region District School Board. This plan is to measure outcomes of students both in graduation percentages and in regards to math and english testing results. For many years the trustees and board bureaucrats tried to slough off below standard results pretending that external factors were responsible for them rather than the two local boards taking responsibility. Despite apparent conflict around the trustees table I see this acceptance of responsibilty for ecucational outcomes refreshing despite being years overdue.

LUISA D'AMATO ASKS WILFRED LAURIER UNIVERSITY A DIFFICULT QUESTION

WLU have an excellent reputation on many fronts. Unfortunately while they apparently have plenty of money for big shot administrators and other high tech educational toys they just don't seem to have enough to pay a living wage to some full time employees. In fact from paying an excellent union wage to custodians they are about to go down a very dirty and nasty road. New custodial jobs will no longer be union jobs paying $21 an hour. Oh no the new wages will be $12.90 per hour. From a wage capable of supporting a family (modestly) the wages for the exact same work will be less than a single person can comfortably live on. Speaking of the exact same work can anyone say wage equity? Remember that bullshit about equal pay for work of equal value? Apparently WLU and other employers think it's just fine to pay two employees side by side doing the exact same work (cleaning), grotesquely different wages. And it's legal. God bless our government, our Ministry of Labour, our bureaucrats and our politicians. Let's also not forget all Chamber of Commerce types who believe any and all reductions in living wages are just dandy (for them at least cause their employers not employees).

Luisa D'Amato's excellent Opinion column today is titled "If Wilfred Laurier University won't pay a living wage, then who will?".

POLITICIANS AS SOCIOPATHS

I would never have considered it possible until having read "Love Canal" by Richard S. Newman. (2016). Could our imbecilic Woolwich Township Councillors seriously be considering redeveloping the Chemtura Canada property and or the two farms to the east of this toxic waste site? Woolwich Council are proposing adding acreage to the Elmira Settlement Area on the east side of town as well as building a North-South Arterial road through the Stroh and Martin farms.

At Love Canal both local and state officials were talking about resettling the contaminated Love Canal almost the day after they had evacuated 500 families from the area. Dear Lord but they did this with political gamesmanship, psuedo science and most likely lots of payoffs of one kind or another (political favours, donations etc.?) to any appropriate folks who could stand in their way. Indeed Black Creek Village soon replaced Love Canal as the newest subdivision of Niagara Falls, U.S.A..

Not terribly surprisingly the lawsuits have started again as these new residents are now suing as they are developing health problems which they allege are caused by the former Love Canal dump. Of course the dump wasn't really remediated; it was simply hydraulically contained as per Uniroyal Chemical here in Elmira, Ontario. Funny coincidence but Conestoga Rovers & Associates are the same lead consultants on both sites.

ANOTHER SUICIDE AT GRAND VALLEY WOMEN'S PRISON

Apparently our authorities including Corrections Service Canada (CSC) are quite willing to expose themselves as being incompetent, uncaring, insensitive, negligent jerks. How else do you explain in the wake of the Ashley Smith scandal and death here at the women's prison in Kitchener yet another suicide by an inmate in solitary confinement? How do you explain the use of restraints for extended periods of time because officers allegedly could not control an inmate's behaviour? This was an inmate with demonstrated and proven mental health issues who was in serious need of ongoing psychiatric help not of physical abuse.

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carrys the story titled "Grand Valley prison scene of another death in solitary confinement". The inmate had already been identified in a report by chief correctional officer, Howard Sapers, as an inmate at high risk due to the use of solitary confinement. Top officials at both the CSC and in the federal cabinet need to be made accountable, up to and including criminal charges, when the law demands the protection and safety of citizens within our correctional systems (jails). This message clearly has not gotten through as perhaps our politicians would prefer to short budget these institutions while demanding impossible goals from top administrators. Perhaps guard and administration safety get the appropriate dollars while inmate safety is comprimised by underfunding. If you are going to throw people in jail then you must fund these institutions to be able to followthrough on humanitarian goals and requirements.

MUNICIPAL COUNCIL & STAFF INCOMPETENCE

I wonder when politicians will ever admit that they are essentially ill informed, ill educated and grossly incompetent in all areas to which they wish to govern. Whether it be finances (City of Waterloo Rim Park scandal), Walkerton and Elmira (waterworks & hydrogeology) or the City of Niagara Falls U.S. (toxic waste dumps); their arrogance combined with stupidity seems to know no bounds.

Niagara Falls New York were advised both verbally and in writing, repeatedly, that building schools or homes on top of the old Love Canal which had been filled with chemical wastes from Hooker Chemicals was a very bad idea. Most councillors and Staff ignored the warnings. Indeed these warnings were included in the deed as well as explicitly advising that the City of Niagara Falls were assuming all liability for the Love Canal hazardous waste site when they bought it from Hooker Chemical. Bought it I might add for one dollar. Do you think that the price alone should have set off warning bells? It did with a few combined with the explicit transfer of liability to the City. The bulk of idiot school board and City officials apparently not.

Citizens you are being governed by indiviuals with no credentials, no integrity and no common sense. Their biggest skills are in lying and in getting elected. That's it folks!

MAHER ARAR CASE PROVES RCMP INCOMPETENCE

The Waterloo Region Record published a story on June 16/16 titled "Watchdog probes RCMP's response to Arar torture case". Both a federal inquiry led by Justice Dennis O'Connor as well as an investigation in 2008 by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci have determined that Canadian officials including the Mounties were to blame for the imprisonment and torture of Canadian citizens in Syrian prison cells.

Mr. Arar a Canadian citizen has since received an apology from the federal government as well as $10.5 million compensation. Apparently our federal authorities felt no compunctions against sharing bad intelligence with various foreign agencies including American ones. They promptly shipped Mr. Arar from JFK Airport in New York city off to a Syrian prison where he could be mistreated in the name of American security. Funny that what comes to mind is that old saying that when you lie down with dogs you wind up with fleas.

ONTARIO SCREWS ITS OWN CITIZENS VIA WSIB

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled "Help for serious injuries lessening". The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) have been turning the screws on injured workers in order to cut costs for the last five years according to various critics and advocates for injured workers' rights. It is always heartwarming to know that our democratically elected governments are willing and able to aid and abet employers with unsafe working conditions in order to further harass and penalize injured workers.

The Toronto Star have been investigating WSIB practices and an apparent shift in culture as to how they evaluate permanent impairments. Allegedly the WSIB have been identifying pre-existing conditions possibly unrelated to the specific injury in order to reduce permanent impairment ratings for injured workers. All of this allegedly and apparently in order to help the province's bottom line at the expense of already victimized Ontario residents and citizens. It would be interesting to know as to whether the province gives incentive bonuses to managers or program directors who sucessfully lower payouts to injured workers.

JUSTICE DONALD GORDON IS NOT IMPRESSED WITH WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE OR O.P.P. RESPONSE

Every now and then it's nice to see someone actually be politically incorrect and just speak the blunt truth. Justice Gordon seems to have done just that. Referring to Regional Police disciplinary procedures he stated that "Such disciplinary procedures lack transparency and compound the existing conflict of interest.". Furthermore he said that in this particular child custody case involving a regional police officer there is "an inherent conflict". He also added in regards to regional police behaviour that "promises of future compliance are not reassuring given past performance".

Judge Gordon had ordered the O.P.P. should remain as the police service involved in a child custody dispute between a regional police officer and his ex-wife. It does seem pretty obvious that having the police officers friends and collegues involved in drop off and pick ups is not a good plan for either party. The Waterloo Region Record published this story on June 20/16 and the title of the article is "Regional police "improperly intervened".

BREXIT, GLOBALIZATION & FREE TRADE DEALS

So it looks as if the chickens are starting to come home to roost. There were two articles in the Waterloo Region Record last Monday regarding the above headline and they were titled "Brexit a cautionary tale for the Clintons" by Geoffrey Stevens and "The backlash against globalization" by Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post.

Both of these articles make it clear that the authors have no doubts that the British vote to leave the European Union were based upon numerous factors including a touch of anti-immigration racism, self interest, disgust with politicians, elites and other liars who have never been straightforward in regrads to the costs and risks involved with free trade and globalization.

Similarily it appears that these attitudes amongst the working classes and the middle class are common on both sides of the Atlantic. They feel that they have been both lied to and left out of the benefits of free trade. It seems that the statistics for income growth and asset growth would bear out their complaints. They are also tired of being misled by politicians on almost all matters including economic ones. Looking at it from the position of those left behind by free trade and globalization it's pretty difficult not to empathize and agree with their FU attitude as expressed in their vote to leave the EU. One could almost equate that decision with the decision of the all black jury who voted to acquit O.J. Simpson in his double murder trial. The black jurors were sending a powerful message to the U.S. judicial system in regards as to how they treat blacks overall.