CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL CRUMBLES TO THE PRESSURE

In this case that is a good thing. They have gotten themselves a reputation for ignoring citizens and legitimate complaints. The latest nonsense has been in regards to attempting to ram through a sports multiplex without listening to the citizens who put them in office in the first place. Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following Editorial titled "The high price of the right to know". It is an excellent discussion of the fact that citizens absolutely have the right to know even when it becomes costly or more costly for them to know ahead of time. Well done K-W Record!

WSIB SHAM

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is still better known as Workman's Compensation ie. formerly WCB or Workman's Compensation Board. It has been the subject of complaints for decades regardless of the name change. Native Canadians have a long list of grievances including being pressured to get back to work too soon and or not having their injuries and diseases recognized as being from on the job effects. Worse yet are our migrant workers. They are brought into Canada not to do work that Canadians won't do as employers and politicians are fond of lying about but to do work that is dirty, heavy, long hours and poor living conditions all for low wages. If employers were to pay the going rate for labour they would find plenty of students and adults for summer harvests.

The article in last week's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Injured farm worker struggles to survive" and was written by Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Toronto Star). It describes a Jamaican migrant worker thrown from moving truck while on the job at a Niagara friut-picking operation. He sustained traumatic injuries and was deported back to Jamaica. The WSIB claims that they cut his benefits because he allegedly could find customer service work here in Canada. Firstly he has no way to get back to Canada and secondly he is illiterate and has a Grade 4 education. Clearly the WSIB have no interest in looking after him despite his being seriously injured on the job here in Canada. Perhaps migrant workers have the incorrect belief that Canada is a caring nation. The people may be but not so much the employers and our governments.

RCMP FINALLY COMES CLEAN

"The federal government has earmarked $100 million for payouts..." to women who were victimized and treated shabbily over a period of decades in the RCMP. Today's Waterloo Region Record carries this story titled "Teary RCMP boss apologizes, says harassment suit settled".

Further quotes from the story include "For many of our women this harassment has hurt them mentally and physically. It has destroyed relationships and marriages, and even whole families have suffered as a result. Their very lives have been affected.". These are the words of Bob Paulsen, RCMP chief. The news conference was held in Ottawa yesterday and included Public safety Minister Ralph Goodale as well as Labour Minister Mary Ann Mihychuk.

While this Settlement and apology was long overdue I have to wonder if it was primarily due to the new federal Liberal government owning up to their responsibilities. If it was then double the shame on the Conservative past governments and their party for allowing this to fester and keep it out of sight during their long tenure as the federal government of Canada.

DARWIN'S SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Figures can lie and liars can figure. Possibly it was Winston Churchill who first said that. Regardless this past week's Woolwich Observer newspaper carried an article titled "Road fatality statistics reinforce the rationale for Operation Impact". According to a five year report just released by the Ontario Provincial Police, 1,507 people died on Ontario roads between 2011 and 2015. They also maintain that four main behaviours were the cause. Allegedly alcohol and drugs were a factor in 321 deaths. Speeding allegedly was a factor in 336 deaths. Inattentive driving was a factor in 408 of the deaths and finally failure to wear a seat belt was a factor in 335 deaths.

Call me skeptical as these "behaviours" "were a factor" in 1,400 of the 1,507 deaths if each one was individually a factor. My suspicion is that alcohol and drugs were probably associated with both speeding and inattentive behaviour. Hell maybe all four combined to cause four or five hundred of the deaths. Weather had to be a factor in winter both with visibility and with ice and snow on the roads. Also combined with weather was probably simply inexperience and stupidity. It is astounding how many Canadian drivers still don't have a clue as to how to drive on snow and ice. Hint driving 20-30 km/hour less than everybody else is rarely the right answer. As far as inattentive driving I would like to know how that is accurately measured. A dead driver can have their blood alcohol level determined but an inattentive driver I think not. Do the O.P.P. simply ask the surviving drivers who all blame the dead one?

Remember liars can figure and figures can lie. Meanwhile I agree that inattention is a major cause but so is inherent stupidity. It can sometimes even trump inattention.

DRAFT REMEDIATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE (RAC) MINUTES

The last public RAC meeting was on September 15, 2016. I spotted the Draft Minutes yesterday on the Woolwich Township website. Yours truly for the second time was a Delegate to RAC on behalf of the Citizens Public Advisory Committee (CPAC). This citizens group are made up of both the former Chemtura Public Advisory Committee members as well as their sub-committee known as SWAT. Rich Clausi, myself and Dr. Henry Regier were all on SWAT. As long as Woolwich Council were in charge of CPAC I was being discriminated against in order to keep me off of CPAC. Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment are apparently intimidated by the combination of technical knowledge, historical knowledge and the willingness to call a spade a spade. Well things have changed and now I'm actually giving Delegations on behalf of CPAC.

The M.O.E. continue to lie. They (ie. the Minutes) state that a member of the public (moi) noted that there are Guidelines for Dioxins/Furans in agricultural soil. That is a falsehood. I clearly held up and advised that there were Canadian Sediment Guidelines for Dioxins/Furans. When will the remaining honest citizens in Elmira/Woolwich simply publicly call out Chemtura and the M.O.E. as I have done? Continuing to dialogue with professional liars and pretending otherwise has got us exactly where we are today which is reinventing the wheel, wasting time and going in never ending circles.

All that said is it still encouraging to hear various citizens, honest or otherwise call out the M.O.E. for attempting another stupid Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA)> The last one (2003) was a crock as will this one. Afterall when the liars are in charge of the process why would they do it honestly? If you are in charge and can't fudge numbers, samples and conclusions then you aren't really trying. This as always is all about money. Health and the environment are way, way down the list of priorities.

ANOTHER WRINKLE ON THE NESTLE STORY

Well appropriately so in my opinion Nestle has been taking a lot of heat for their business of taking publicly owned water, almost for free, and selling it in environmentally damaging plastic bottles for a huge markup. Now the story did get even worse at least temporarily. Allegedly Nestle had outbid Centre Wellington Township for the small property and well.

Well it turns out that is not the case. Centre Wellington had the first offers for the well and property but turned them down until an unexpected $1.5 million showed up. Then they put in an offer however unfortunately Nestle already had their conditional offer in. They dropped their condition and bought the property without conditions.The details of this story are in Luisa D'Amato's Opinion column in the September 29/16 Waterloo Region record titled "Nestle story is not a David-and-Goliath tale.

ANOTHER RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SETTLEMENT

800 to 1100 class-action members of the lawsuit have received $50 Million. The suit started ten years ago after Stephen Harper excluded Labrador and Newfoundland from a national apology and related compensation package. Bad move Stephen as in hindsight it looks petty and penny pinching.

The story in last week's Waterloo Region Record was titled "$50M residential school settlement approved after 10 years". The judge noted that the case became acrimonious and in one decision ruled that "Canada had abused the process.". The compensation is between $15,000 and $20,000 for those attending five years or more. Clearly these amounts are peanuts. Additional sums up to $200,000 are available for those victims of sexual or "significant" physical abuse. Again if this had occurred decades ago the monetary compensation might have helped the survivors. At this point in time many have died plus the compensation for healing is of less use now that it would have been shortly after they got away from the schools.