GHOMESHI "PEACE BOND" SOLUTION

Generally I would characterize public reaction to the sex assault charges against Jian Ghomeshi being withdrawn in favour of a peace bond, as favourable. Along with the peace bond was a verbal and written apology of actually quite significant proportions and admissions. The May 11/16 Waterloo Region Record carrys the story titled "Ghomeshi's lawyer behind "peace bond" solution". Mr. Ghomeshi's apology certainly sounds sincere but the discription of his behaviour was quite outrageous and clearly demeaning for the woman on the receiving end of his rude in the workplace behaviour.

Clearly this is but one more case of a lack of democracy and justice in the workplace. If the CBC are not unionized they should be. If they are and the union representing all employees allowed or enabled Mr. Ghomeshi's behavior, just like CBC management did, then they should all be sacked. I've seen pretty outrageous double standards in the workplace during my decades there; whereby certain "favourites" got away figuratively with murder while the rest of us got sacked or hung out to dry for less flagrant and offensive behaviour.

THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT ARE SHAMELESS

Back in 1990-91 it was a pitched battle trying to get the Ontario M.O.E. to seriously pay attention and investigate Varnicolor Chemical. They lied, deceived and misled on a routine basis. After being caught multiple times feeding the media falsehoods it became clear to everyone that they simply could not be trusted to be honest and forthcoming. Once that was established and they were on the defensive we had Varnicolor on the ropes. Whatw as also rweadily apparent was that both the company and regulator (M.O.E.) were reading from the same playbook as well as hiding behind each other's expertise and rapidly dwindling credibility.

After Varnicolor shut down and the owner went to jail a new group became involved in watching their operations. Richard and I moved on to the Uniroyal file. That said we regularily asked for updates on the Varnicolor file and routinely received nothing from the M.O.E. Even years and a decade or two later the M.O.E. were constantly tightlipped about the site. The most egregious failure of the M.O.E. to keep the public involved was in regards to soil excavation at the back of the Elmira Theatre Company and at Motivair on First St. Both these properties shared a property line with Varnicolor and of course solvents and pollution has no respect for property lines somewhat similar to Chemtura and their eastern farm neighbour.

Now the owners of this site (Elmira Pump) are interested in redeveloping the site. We shall have to see what the data tells us as far as contamination and other factors.

FREE SPEECH & OPEN DEBATE

Back on April 28/16 the Waterloo Region Record published their Editorial titled "Code shouldn't muzzle council". In my opinion Cambridge Council were trying something similar to the stunt that Woolwich Council tried a very short while ago. Woolwich tried to stifle and ban all Delegations to Council dealing with Chemtura Canada. They got no where fast thanks in large part to an alert citizenry and media. Cambridge Council are attempting to control their own few independent councillors and prevent them from going off scriptor from departing from the majority's playbook. This is all unacceptable in a democracy but many of our municipal politicians seem to think that anything you can lie, bluff or bullshit and get away with is O.K.. News flash it is not and lessens both society and democracy each and every time they get away with it.

WATERLOO REGION POLICE SERVICE WASHES THEIR DIRTY LAUNDRY IN PUBLIC

I've got to admit that I'm more than a little gobsmacked by this article in today's Waterloo Region Record. The title is "Officer criticizes detectives for improper investigation at police board meeting". Constable Kelly Donovan spoke as a Delegate at the Waterloo Regional Police Board meeting yesterday. She strongly criticized police detectives for their investigation into Sgt. Brad Finucan as well as their investigation of Const. Jeremy Snyder. In the case of Const. Snyder he was charged with sexual assault and was then acquitted. Sgt. Finucan pled guilty to harassment and illegal gun possession and was however given an absolute discharge.

This is definitely not the usual method of business regarding the Waterloo Regional Police. I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with informing the public about police matters but I certainly hope that Const. Donovan is accurate in her assessment. That in and of itself probably won't guarantee her career isn't sidetracked but at least it would give her some satisfaction as to telling it like it is. It will be very interesting to see how this turns out especially for Const. Donovan. Standing up publicly in uniform presumably and telling off Regional Police detectives in front of the Chief is pretty ballsy. I must say that considering the apparent seriousness of the charges I was surprised at the gentle outcome by the courts. Perhaps Const. Donovan is on to something here.

ELMIRA'S TOXIC TIME BOMB

The Editorial written by the Waterloo Region Record in today's newspaper is titled "Toxic time bomb must be defused". It gives the decades long litany of inaction and obfuscation by the authorities in regards to the toxic mess still affecting humans and other lifeforms in Elmira and downstream.

The Editorial rightly points out that it is way past time for the federal government to step up and do their duty. They were involved when an American company situated in Elmira Ontario decided to take environmental shortcuts in their pursuit of greater profits while producing 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T and Agent Orange. Not to mention of course DDT which the federal government had alleged was never made in Canada. Nice try with that one.

Will this sudden interest by local media in Woolwich Township's longest running scandal actually result in real improvements or will this be another flash in the pan as we've seen for decades? Will our local, securely in bed with Chemtyra Canada politicians decide it's finally time to get serious with the company? Will our provincial Ministry of the Environment finally get serious with Chemtura. Their latest nonsense from Terri Buhlman claiming that there is negligible risk in the Canagagigue Creek is outrageous while they are still planning to do a Risk Assessment. Why bother if they are going to give the conclusions before the Assessment is even done?

MONEY AND POWER POLLUTES CANADIAN POLITICS

The fact is that money and influence pollutes all politics everywhere not remotely just Canadian politics. The Waterloo Region Record April 9/16 edition carryied this story titled "Let's stop big money from polluting Canadian politics". The author is Duff Conacher, the co-founder of Democracy Watch. Over the last several years I have read and appreciated many of his articles. That said I must admit that I had real problems fully understanding his financial comments in this article. The gist certainly is that there are too many ways both legitimately and otherwise for monied individuals to donate that money to their favourite parties or candidates in the hope of buying even more influence.

Numerous suggestions are made regarding prohibiting unions and corporations from donating as well as from putting individual limits on the size of donations. Federal law is touted by some whereas the author strongly prefers the Quebec model. He also believes that ethics and election watchdogs should be doing regular audits including of politicans' bank accounts. All I can say is that the municipal elections act here in Ontario is far worse than a joke. Even when stupid politicians contravene it and are caught there are no consequences. That is said from first hand experience here in Woolwich Township, Ontario.

CORPORATE WELFARE OR CRONY CAPITOLISM?

Last Saturday's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled ""Corporate welfare" cited". Between 2004 and May 31, 2015 Ontario gave $2.36 Billion to corporations in Ontario. Of these 80% were "invited to apply" for the money by the government. Furthermore the respective provincial ministries doling out the funds didn't even return to the companies to determine if the jobs were created were retained. In other words zero accountability.

It ws the Auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, who brought these expenses to the attention of the Ontario legislature. Both the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives have been asking unsucessfully in the legislature for some time as to the names and dollar amounts of the various recipients of government largesse.