The Diamond Memo

I assume that Eddie/Estrin/Henderson/Star Editors wanted to ensure that the Bridge Company knew about the 3-page memo from the Ministry of the Environment and its significance, in case they missed the EH-News story earlier in the week about it, to get them enraged so that they would use the memo to sue the Senior Levels to stop DRIC.

What a clever strategy. I wonder who thought that up! That would get Eddie off the hook now wouldn't it and he could NOT be blamed. The Senior Levels would not be that upset either since their DRIC project is dead in the water especially with truck volumes tanking and the economy sinking with P3 funds drying up!

I told you that our Mayor was a WEAK-LING. And he is a copycat WEAK-LINK too! Gord Henderson on Saturday along with the long Star Editorial just proved it. Read on.

• “Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis is ecstatic over the "smoking gun" proof of DRIC's environmental failings. "My initial reaction? Thank God. Let's bring him down here and give him the keys to the city," enthused Francis.”

Oh my goodness, it would not surprise me on Monday night at Council to see Eddie’s Teacher’s Pet, Councillor Loopy, jump to his feet to introduce a Motion to demand that we pay erect a statue to Dr. Gerald Diamond of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment in City Hall Square!

It is so nice to see that Eddie/Estrin have decided to hand out scoops to all of the media in Windsor and not just to the favourite Star Columnist all the time. Why, Gord did not seem to be too upset that EH-News got the scoop on the “smoking gun.” That ought to get EH-News onside to become a nice, tame media outfit if they want to get more of them.

I wonder when Bloggers are going to get a scoop or two so that we can be treated equally. Naaaaaaaaw, I cannot think of any Blogger in town that would allow him/herself to be bought out by City Hall scoops.

How can it be a “smoking gun” when it is right there in public in the DRIC documents themselves in the "APPENDIX D Comments Received During Pre-Submission Review" on pages 67 to 68. It is not like DRIC hid them or anything. They were produced publicly by the same people that are being attacked today.

Gee, does that mean that the City that got a “D” on Freedom of Information is now going to reveal all of its documents and tell us about Greenlink: the Next Generation? Hardly.

Now that our weakling Mayor has this damning piece of information, did you see the word "lawsuit" in Henderson’s column? Did weakling Eddie say that he was going to immediately instruct his legal weapon of mass destruction to begin the case for "judicial review" of the DRIC Report? If so, I did not see it. Weak, weak, weak.

The Star Editors tell us that the City is being ignored by Queen’s Park. Did you see the word "lawsuit" in their Editorial either? Of course not. They are about as weak as our Mayor. The Star believes that someone might actually care about what they write in their Editorials.

What is the Star's solution:

• “These complex issues are not going to be resolved by exchanging memos with Queen's Park. The only way to do that is for DRIC to meet face-to-face with city council, along with experts from both sides, and provide the clear answers that local residents deserve. Duncan and Pupatello should be front and centre helping to resolve outstanding questions and ensuring that their community gets the best access road possible…
  
  DRIC has dismissed GreenLink. Even if we disagree (and we do) with our cabinet ministers about their respective involvement up to this point, can we agree that since GreenLink has been dismissed by DRIC that Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello are now in a position to fully discuss GreenLink without any concern about "ministerial" conflict?”

Wait a minute. They are not suggesting suing. I did not see Gord talking about suing either. Nor Eddie. They are all WEAK-LINGs.

Oh my, they have taken over Councillor Bill Marra’s position that Gord dismissed a few days before in a column when he called Marra a “Weak–Link.” Remember what Gord wrote because he clearly does not:

• “We're already seeing that with Bill Marra, council's "weakest link" on the border file, breaking rank to oppose legal action, the city's sole remaining weapon in its fight to extract GreenLink-calibre concessions from the province.”

It looks like there is another weapon that can be used: talking to people to try to arrive at a reasonable compromise. Wasn't that what Marra suggested! However, it is not one that our Mayor is capable of using given his ludicrous comments and Henderson’s Saturday column.

If this was the Council in 2003, they would have thrown out the Mayor as the Voice of Council and several of the Councillors would have been assigned the duty to meet with the Province to negotiate a deal. Our Council is so weak that they would be afraid to even contemplate such an action for fear of being scolded by the Kindergarten Teacher.

I am posting a copy of the memo so that you can read it for yourself.

Note that the memo is in relation to the “DRAFT” Environmental Assessment report. It is a shame that Gord did not quote the last paragraph:

• "Several documents for the preferred alternative are described as pending. More detail will be necessary for the final version of this document.”

It is a draft report for heaven sakes. It was circulated specifically to get comments. One expects comments where there are weaknesses in order to beef it up. He only had problems with SIX sub-sections in the Report.

What the good Environment Ministry Ph.D. is suggesting, and what Gord's readers would not know about because he did not reveal it, is that Dr. Diamond may well be satisfied once the “pending” documents are produced. He may not be as well. Who knows now. If he is satisfied, then does that mean that Gord and Eddie will have to back off and support the DRIC report because he is such a genius? After all, he is described as someone with integrity and who can tell it like it is.

Or will they demand that he return the Keys to the City?

There is no doubt whatsoever that some of his comments are very damaging. I am surprised that Henderson did not refer to the comments made by others as further support of the Gord-called shoddy quality of the DRIC work.

However, our Mayor’s comment made me sick

• “It comes down to quality of life. Kids are going to school in this city with air monitors in their backpacks. Do we not want to change that?"

Did it tug on your heartstrings? Are we now down to our final emotional argument because there are no others: the kids? This from the mouth of a Mayor who could say about a year ago:

• “City may cancel crossing guards; Program, library cuts on budget chopping block
  
  Council is considering cancelling the city's school crossing guard program and ordered the Windsor Public Library to chop $800,000 in expenses as it struggles to bring next year's tax increase down from where it currently sits -- at 3.1 per cent.
  
  During a budget meeting Wednesday when it told the library board to find ways -- aside from mothballing branches or closing on Sunday -- to come up with savings, council also discussed saving $474,000 by chopping the city-funded crossing guard program.
  
  The part-time crossing guards add up to the equivalent of 28.3 full-time jobs, plus one co-ordinator employed by the city's licensing department. Windsor is one of the few cities in Ontario to provide the service.
  
  "If it's taken away there will be issues," conceded Mayor Eddie Francis…
  
  "It's not the city's responsibility to take kids from the front porch to school," Francis added. "The practice is in place, but it's not a mandated service."

Our weakling Mayor’s hypocrisy in using kids after his crossing guard statement made me want to vomit.

Again, most people will have missed the purpose of Henderson's column. He has put Eddie in the position where he has no choice but to sue. He knows as well as you and I do, dear reader, that Eddie is a weakling and does not have the nerve to do so. In effect, he is mocking our Mayor and destroying his credibility more than anyone else in this City but you cannot prove it from his words. As Gord wrote before:

• “Sadly, given the damning environmental evidence we heard this week, it would be unconscionable for the city to do anything less than fight for the health and safety of its constituents, even if it means seeking a judicial review.”

He has put Eddie on the spot.

Of course you understand that IF Eddie is forced to sue and the Senior Levels pull out of town taking the thousands of jobs with them, he cannot be blamed. It will be the fault of WINDSORITES. We will have demanded the lawsuit to protect our kids, not the Mayor. He is only doing what WE are telling him to do.

WEAKLING!