When Is ...Not Encore

More When Is...Not... Jokes for your amusement today.

The strawberry tarts were very good at the CCG meeting last night. It almost made the 3 hour meeting worthwhile.

I am a member of the Canadian Community Consultation Group (CCG) in the DRIC process. Officially, the role "of the CCG is to assist the Project Team by providing information and input relative to community interests in the Windsor/Essex County area at key points in the study."

Sounds impressive doesn't it? Actually, I thought it was set up so that the Project Team could say that they met with citizens. Look at how many meetings we had with these stakeholders. They are now part of the process and no longer can object. They had their chance to speak.

The odd time though I get some gems. Tonight was one of those nights.

1) When is "design" work not "design" work...when it is "engineering" work.

And I always thought lawyers played with words. Not so. I listened to MOHAMMED S. ALGHURABI of MDOT and was given this subtle distinction. I was truly amazed.

I am sure that you know that the Michigan Legislature said, and it was not vetoed by the Governor, that as of October 1, the start of the new fiscal year that

• "The department [MDOT] shall not, directly or indirectly, expend any funds appropriated in Part 1 for design or right of way acquisition associated with a new crossing of the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario."

Well we had a discussion about group meetings in November where we were to be involved in an exercise where new bridge "design" was going to be discussed. It would involve the Canadian CCG and the US equivalent. I was shocked. When I asked Mohammed if this "design" work was a violation of Michigan law, the first response I received from his Canadian counterpart who used the "design" language in describing the task was that he did not mean by his choice of language to get his colleague in trouble. I was informed that there were 3 "design" levels and what was going to be discussed was the most basic so it was clearly not what Michigan was concerned about.

I did not recall any adjectives modifying "design" in what the Legislators said. When I pointed out that "design" was "design" in the Budget amendment and was prohibited, Mohammed then told the CCG that this was not really "design" work but "engineering!"

I wonder if the Legislature in Michigan will agree. Or Mr. Steudle. Or the Governor

Perhaps I'll ask them via this BLOG. I know that Mr. Alghurabi knows about this BLOGsite since he asked me if I was going to BLOG what he said. I replied in the affirmative. I did not want to disappoint him.

2) When is studying governance for a new crossing not studying governance for a new crossing...when the crossing will be publicly owned.

You'd think that with 41 people working for her on the border crossing matter, Ontario Minister Cansfield by now would be educated on the border issues---or maybe she is! We may have an answer as to who will own the new crossing now.

I had so hoped that MTO's Dave Wake would be at the meeting but he was not. So I had to ask MTO's Roger Ward the question. I asked him to confirm that the DRIC FAQ re governance was still their official position. That FAQ is:

• "Will new border crossings be privately or publicly owned?
  
  Public oversight and protecting the public interest is paramount to the Border Transportation Partnership. The priority is to make sure the Detroit River border crossings are secure, efficient, and well managed. Work is ongoing on both sides of the border to examine potential governance and ownership models for our border crossings. The options being considered include government ownership, various forms of collaboration with the private sector, and/or creation of an authority. Work will continue among the partners to reach agreement on the best option for management of new border crossings."

Mr. Ward confirmed that this was still the position.

I then asked how he could reconcile that FAQ with the Minister's remarks in September's "In Business" where she said:

• "...Our crossing will be publicly owned...We know that we have to deal with the plazas and the acess roads, and those decisions will be made, but they will be public."

Later in answer to another question in the article, she answered,

• "We are on schedule...Everything's going according to plan."

Mr. Ward could not give me an answer. He said he could not speak for the Minister. Surprising isn't it? Just like the time when the Michigan Governor undercut everyone a year ago by unilaterally killing certain crossings. The Staff don't know what the Boss thinks and are caught by flatfooted.

Who is telling us the truth? Has there been a decision on governance or not. If there has been one, why haven't we been notified? When was that decision made and on what basis? Why wasn't the public asked for their views?

The next obvious question is whether the private proponents have been treated fairly...but you know what, they have lawyers to whom they can ask that question.

3) When is an environmentalist not an environmentalist...when he/she is a pesky environmentalist like Alan McKinnon.

Eddie Franics must be really laughing himself silly. Obviously he knew that his reference to the Ojibway Nature Reserve being tunnelled would be like a red cape to a bull when the Star published it. It would immediately provoke outrage amongst the tree-huggers and he was right.

I saw Alan last night at the meeting and he admitted that he did the predictable and sent in a totally predictable Letter to the Editor to the Star. Silly statements in it like "Generations have worked and sacrificed to preserve it for our grandchildren. Decades of community effort will be dishonoured, thousands of mature trees lost, and we will all be the poorer for it."

"Vigilant Fairness" at the Star may mean that the letter never sees the light of day but we shall find out in the next week or so. I do not want to publish more of Alan's letter so that the Star has the excuse that it has been "published" already.

Perhaps Alan can get Eddie's Chief of Staff to help him get his letter published so that everyone in the Mayor's office can have a good chuckle too. They neeed a tension breaker every so often.

That Eddie Francis sure has a good sense of humour doesn't he.

4) When is drilling holes for brine wells and sinkholes not drilling holes for brine wells and sink holes....when it is drilling holes for foundations investigations for a better understanding of the bedrock stability

I was pretty shocked over the word "foundations" when I first heard it. I immediately thought that they had made a decision and were starting to drill the foundations for the new bridge. I was wrong. It's all about what they were going to do and on both sides of the river.

Total cost will be around $12 million, $6 million on each side. As I said before, if the Bidge Co. crossing had been used, this money would not have had to be spent.

Now I know why the lines in a song in My Fair Lady were written:

• "Words! Words! Words!
  I'm so sick of words!
  I get words all day through;
  First from him, now from you!
  Is that all you blighters can do?...
  
  Say one more word and I'll scream!