Watermain-gate: Are Sandra And Dwight At Risk Now

Oh, the strategy is a brilliant one and completely unexpected! It should give a number of politicians heartburn today.

Never underestimate the brainpower of ordinary citizens when they believe that governments are not listening to them and are wasting their money.

The stakes have just been raised in the provincial election. Chris Schnurr has just put Windsor’s two MPPs/Cabinet Ministers, Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan, on the hook for the Watermain-gate affair!

If the two opposition parties in each of the ridings want to have any chance for defeating the two incumbents, then they better hop on the bandwagon and quickly.

In effect, Schnurr marginalized the Mayor and City Council by pointing out the obvious. The City of Windsor is a creation of Queens Park. It is up to Sandra and Dwight as our representatives to ensure that the Windsor Utilities matter is handled properly.

If I were the campaign managers of the challengers, I would be out there front and center demanding that our MPPs act immediately. In fact, I would be asking what Sandra and Dwight talked about with the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

If I were Sandra and Dwight, I would immediately let everybody and their uncle know that Windsor citizens will be getting a full financial, business and operational investigation into WUC and its relationship with Enwin and put the issue to bed before it blows up in their face!

As for the Mayor and Council, it might be worthwhile for them to consider their positions. The Windsor Star story made it clear what the risks are too for a number of Members of Council if this moves forward.

The OMB strategy is an interesting one as well. I’m not quite sure exactly what the plan is but the big advantage from the citizens’ perspective is that it can be done very quickly and very easily.

In passing, what a shame that Schnurr was not elected as a Councillor in the last election! He and Halberstadt would have made a good team on matters such as this. Neither would have let anyone push them around on this type of an issue!

Here is a copy of the speech for you to read and to enjoy:

• Notes of Address
  Press Conference regarding the Windsor Utilities Commission
  September 17, 2007
  
  Good afternoon, Ladies and gentlemen, members of the press.
  
  Today, the residents of Windsor are at a crossroad – and it’s a place we’d rather not be. However, the circumstances as they have unfolded have left the hard-working residents of Windsor no other alternative.
  
  In this time of increasing unemployment the impact of all the decisions leading to the combined 86% rate increase is devastating to many. In these hard economic times facing seniors, families and small businesses, the impact of this increase will be felt for years to come.
  
  This increased burden could mean the difference between keeping their home, or food on the table or paying their water bill. It could mean the difference, for a small business owner keeping their business open, or joining the growing ranks of closing businesses. Windsorites need to know if all options have been considered. Windsorites need to know who is responsible.
  
  With the events surrounding the Windsor Utilities Commission, which can only be described as a “fiasco”, I’m reminded of a quotation I read sometime ago, which stated, “Perhaps nothing in our society is more needed for those in positions of authority than accountability. Too often those with authority are able (and willing) to surround themselves with people who support their decisions without question.”
  
  Accountability goes beyond a municipal election every four years. Accountability involves the ability to be receptive to the concerns and questions of taxpayers in Windsor, as well as responsive to those questions and concerns. Unfortunately, over the last few weeks, we have seen neither from the members of WUC, our Mayor and a majority of members of City Council.
  
  We have called you here today to outline the unanswered questions regarding the WUC affair, as well as to layout how we intend to pursue the blatant disregard, of not only these questions and concerns of ratepayers, but the outright contempt for meaningful, fact-based dialogue regarding the proposed audit of the Windsor Utilities Commission.
  
  When residents appeared as a delegation to address the audit at city council, they were silenced. When residents communicated with the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, their questions were dismissed. When residents applied to make a presentation to City Council to have their concerns heard, they were denied.
  
  Residents are here today to say, “We’ve had enough.”
  
  There are serious questions that need answering – answers that Windsorites deserve to hear. We’ve heard the conflicting reasons; we’ve heard the blame being passed back and forth – but we have not heard the answers.
  
  There is the question of whether or not there was a diversion of funds to support operations at the WUC, as internal documents at the WUC suggest. There is the outstanding question of the number of customers who did not pay for water service and how much is owing. Have alternative water main replacement techniques been investigated? Are there better ways to pay for the much needed improvements? What exactly was the role of “politics” in deciding not to phase in rate increases since 2004? What were the details of the Mayor’s private telephone conversation with the Auditor General? Was the Auditor General’s decision influenced by this conversation?
  
  And most importantly, who is accountable for this “fiasco”?
  
  There has been no promised discussion with the community at City Council. No delegation to date has been allowed to speak at Council regarding this affair. There is the outstanding issue of questionable interpretations of the Procedural By-law, which in my opinion, was used to shut down proper debate. And finally, the Ministry of Housing and Municipal affairs will not accept input from residents until after the Terms of Reference have already been decided.
  
  We are here today to state unanimously, that we have had enough.
  
  It is the duty of all our elected officials to take into account what the taxpayers of Windsor have to say. We are here today to hold our elected officials accountable.
  
  We are not satisfied with a year-end type of audit, or a narrow financial one that, as the City’s Chief Administrative Officer suggested will “provide assurances to the public that the rate increases are warranted.”
  
  Today, we are not asking, but demanding a full and complete financial, business and operational investigation of the WUC and any third party relationships with Enwin by an independent third party.
  
  We will not tolerate any attempts for a white-wash. We need more than simple assurances – we demand the facts and a full accounting of the “misrepresentations” to date by all those involved.
  
  John F. Kennedy once said, “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
  
  Residents in Windsor have lost this trust and confidence that the Mayor and Council will do the right thing. We have been unable to judge the truth in an open forum. Especially after the performance of our councilors at the August 27th council meeting when dealing with this matter. If the media can call their actions a “mess” and a “fiasco”, then you know things are bad.
  
  Accordingly, since the Municipality is a statutory creation of the Provincial Government, we call upon our MPPs and Cabinet Ministers Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan to take action on behalf of residents in Windsor. We know that they have already spoken to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and that troubles us given we do not know what they discussed.
  
  During this provincial election, we look to our provincial members of the legislature, our Cabinet representatives, to speak up for Windsorites and join us in demanding that a complete audit and inquiry into the all the events surrounding the WUC issue are conducted. If not, voters can make their choices on Election Day.
  
  Accordingly, we demand that the following action be taken forthwith:
  
  1. That MPP’s Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan immediately ask the Auditor General, under section 17 of the Auditor General Act, to undertake a “special assignment” - a value for money audit of WUC and Enwin ;
  
  2. In the alternative, that they immediately ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs under Section 10 of the Municipal Affairs Act to “make an inquiry into any of the affairs of a municipality” and in particular with respect to the WUC/Enwin matter as was requested in the Mayor’s motion; and finally
  
  3. The terms of reference of either alternative must be discussed with the citizens of Windsor at a special meeting called for that purpose so citizens can finally express their opinion as to what should be done.
  
  In addition, since we believe that the City of Windsor motion calling in the Ministry is illegal and void, the Mayor and Council shall forthwith:
  
  1. Withdraw that Motion;
  
  2. Apologize properly to the citizens of Windsor for their shameful behaviour and actions respecting the WUC/Enwin matter; and
  
  3. To clarify the issue of potential conflicts of interest, they must immediately bring an application under Section 7 of the Municipal Conflicts of Interest Act to ask a Judge for direction on notice to citizens so that any who wish, may intervene to assist the Court.
  
  4. Properly introduce a new motion, with full public participation calling upon the Auditor General to conduct a broad-based inquiry and audit.
  
  We will not sit idly by.
  
  We will not tolerate our concerns being pushed to the sidelines or dismissed.
  
  We expect that since our request is a reasonable one, it will be complied with immediately.
  
  If not, then we shall first file an Application under the Ontario Municipal Board Act to seek our remedy. Furthermore, we expressly reserve the right to take any other legal action as appropriate to deal with this unfortunate situation that was created by our elected representatives.
  
  It is truly unfortunate that it has had to come to this. However, if our elected officials truly believe in transparent and accountable government, our request should be relatively easy to fulfill.
  
  We do not understand the reluctance to date to engage the citizens of Windsor in meaningful fact based dialogue in an open forum.
  
  However, we do understand our rights and the obligation of our elected officials to respect those rights.
  
  We will accept nothing less.