WSIB & ITS' LEGISLATION SCAMS ONTARIO WORKERS OUT OF THEIR RIGHTS

There is an extremely powerful article in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "Miners shine spotlight on WSIB". The author is Janice Martell and she is speaking this afternoon at 2:30 pm. at McMaster University, Wilson Hall 1003. Her article is about a company/government initiative involving dousing miners with ground aluminum dust known as McIntyre Powder. It was a forced industrial health experiment and was hoped to be a method to prevent silicosis in miners. It did not work and in fact caused more harm than good.

Of course the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) have since decided that neurological disorders are not occupational diseases when claimed to be a result of aluminum exposure. Pretty slick isn't it? This is but one more example of our provincial government looking out for the interests of private corporations literally over the dead and dying bodies of Ontario workers.

GUELPH OFFICER CHARGED WITH DISCREDITABLE CONDUCT

Earlier this month the Waterloo Region Record carried a story titled "Guelph city police officer charged with discreditable conduct". At first blush I felt that this was an appropriate route of action for the Guelph Service to take but in hindsight I'm less sure. As I read the article a sister of an accused in a local murder made some comments on facebook that may have been disrespectful of the murder victim. Meanwhile the murder victim had been discovered at home by an off-duty Guelph police officer. She was a cousin of the officer's wife.

Shortly afterwards the police officer left some sort of phone message on the phone, allegedly "uncivil" and possibly rude, for the sister of the accused who had died the same day as the murder however in a car accident. For his phone message the officer has been charged with discreditable conduct.

Wow this is a difficult one. Clearly both the sister of the accused and the husband of the murder victim's cousin have different ideas about the people involved. With both a murder and another death involved it is hardly surprising that emotions were high and possibly common sense a little lower. If the off-duty police officer had been anyone other than a police officer I seriously doubt that police or any other authorities would have gotten involved. It does not appear that threats were involved.

Is this a case of a police officer behaving unprofessionally while off duty albeit while under significant personal stress? Is it appropriate to charge him with discreditable conduct under those circumstances? Waterloo Regional Police had decided that criminal charges were inappropriate. Seems a little severe to me.

JUSTICE???

Well first off I have to share a political cartoon that was in the waterloo Region Record newspaper last Tuesday, March 14/17. It shows a car up on blocks with a blindfolded lady representing Justice sitting in the car. The caption is "Wheels of Justice' and all the tires are off with the bare front wheels resting on a block of wood labelled Court Case and the back wheels on a block of wood labelled Back Logs. In my opinion Backlogs are but a symptom of a horribly corrupted judicial system in this country.

The Record also has an article titled "Garage gets chance to fight liability for joyrider's injuries". This is a very sad case that occurred in the Paisley-Walkerton area of Ontario. A fifteen year old went on a joyride with his sixteen year friend in a stolen car. Neither had driver's licences. The fifteen year old suffered catastrophic brain injuries in the ensuing car crash. He is suing his friend, his friend's mother and the garage from which the car was stolen.

A local court found the garage liable as did the Ontario Court of Appeal. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court of Canada. This is a tough one. Apparently the lower court feels that a duty of care operates independently of the illegal or immoral conduct of an injured party. Fair enough especially with minors but my question is to what extent that duty of care operates. Sure you can't shoot a trespassing teenager in the back as he's leaving your property. In fact as long as you or your family are not threatened you can not legally take physical action against the teen at all. In this case however it's dealing with allegedly leaving car keys in a car on your own private property. Both trespassing and then theft took place prior to the teen being injured by his friend's driving. This is a tough one to figure out.

NEITHER THE FIRST NOR THE LAST

It took lawsuits to get our Canadian government to admit their complicity in the torture and abuse of three Canadian citizens who had been held illegally in Syria. What kind of hypocrites are our federal government (former) when they publicly proclaim that we are a multicultural society and then cheerfully throw non-native Canadians under the bus for what: political points with the ....... Americans?

"The former judge cited the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Foreign Affairs for mistakes in the cases.". The Waterloo Region Record carried this story today titled "Compensation, apologizes for three Canadians tortured in Syria". Canadian government officials stated that they apologized for "...any role Canadian officials may have played in relation to their detention and mistreatment abroad and any resulting harm.".

This is the reality. Our governmnts don't give a crap about any of us, only about themselves and their political status. Everything else is smoke and mirrors helping to make our government look good.

PERVERTED JUSTICE

Sure seems to me as well to be sending a message to the public from the justice system. Wealthy accused as well as wealthy convicted offenders are treated differently. Luisa D'Amato has pointed this out quite clearly in her Opinion piece of March 14/17 titled "Justice shouldn't have a price tag". Some of us I expect are basically denoted as potential raw materials, early on, for the grist mill known as the justice system. Whether it's people who don't walk away from an insult or disrespectful behaviour or others arrested for civil disobedience; our justice system is essentially deaf, dumb, blind and politically correct. Afterall who do you think hires, appoints and finances our judicial system? Well we pay for it albeit lying politicians do all the rest.

Luisa's article is about a young man who essentially through very bad behaviour was begging for jail time. He didn't get it because his parents had $65,000 to invest in him via the Betty Ford addiction treatment centre in Minnesota. Essentially the young man bought his way out of jail by spending 4 1/2 months in a beautiful rehab centre. Not exactly the Don Jail or the Kingston pen.

LOCAL MAN SHOT BY POLICE OFFICER STORY IS GETTING WEIRDER

This is getting bizarre. Today's Waterloo Region Record advises us that Maurice Rivard has spent the last two weeks in St. Mary's hospital and then in the infirmary at Maplehurst Jail in Milton. He is the Cambridge man who was shot by a Waterloo Regional Police officer two weeks ago. He has been charged with attempting to disarm Const. Robert Prentice of the Waterloo Regional Police. We are not yet advised if he was allegedly attempting to take Const. Prentice's Taser (stun gun) from him or if he was trying to liberate the officer of his handgun.

Here's where it gets weird. Mr. Rivard has just been granted bail. He is out of custody and staying with family while recuperating. The provincial Special Investigations Unit is investigating the incident. I can't believe that bail was granted unless Mr. Rivard has a spotless or nearly spotless record. If that is the case then what the hell was going on that the officer felt the need to shoot Mr. Rivard in the torso? Mr. Rivard goes back to court on April 21/17. Somebody has screwed up badly here and I wonder exactly who. The title of today's Record article is "Man shot by police officer gets bail on birthday".

THE WATERLOO REGION DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD DID NOT LIE

Phew that's a relief. Afterall what would we be teaching our children if it ever got out that our public school board did practice the dark arts of obfuscation, fictional fantasies, alternate facts and being truth challenged? It turns out according to today's Waterloo Region Record that the WRDSB simply practiced secrecy, errors of omission and keeping parents and trustees in the dark. Lying? Noooooo way!

The article on the front page of the Record is titled "School board secrecy amid Vimy turmoil". The sub-title is "FOI documents show board staff kept trustees and parents in dark on cancelled trip being revived". Well really who can blame the senior staff of the WRDSB? People misrepresent and fudge for very legitimate reasons. These include diminished expectations of being caught plus being powerful enough, via taxpayers money, to always have your legal team chomping at the bit sort of like a pit bull. Little or no transparency normally helps as does love. Yes you heard it here "love". Being able to love the Ontario Ministry of Education. Afterall doesn't love mean never having to say you're sorry? Isn't love the reverse of accountability? Having to answer for one's "communications failures" certainly isn't the same as having to answer for say lying for example. The latter is so old school. Our WRDSB are if anything up with the times. They are modern. Haven't they told us that over the years? Who wouldn't believe them?

I'm kind of spitballing here but I wonder if they could make more money by holding seminars for provincial ministries as well as for corporations facing adverse public relations. These seminars could assist say the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in their dealings with Elmira, Ontario residents upset over their failures with the Canagagigue Creek. Similarily perhaps Chemtura Canada and their consultants could use a refresher course on keeping people in the dark. Yes they are already good at it but there's no shame in honing one's skills. Well done WRDSB. You have restored my faith in your basic ideals.