The Rant Continues (Part III)

Thank goodness I have this BLOG and can take out my frustration by ranting. It is either that or throw my shoes at the TV set and risk breaking it.

Remember what I wrote the other day in Part I of my Rant:

• “I believe you will be as angry as I. To be very direct about it, I am not sure what we can do unless there is someone who finally will say that he/she has had enough and around whom we as citizens can rally. We can moan, we can write on the Star Forums or even do a BLOG but we truly need a Leader whom we can support and whom we can trust to have our interests at heart.”

And then remember what I wrote in Part II:

• “I am still optimistic. There is still hope if the right person steps up. It is not rocket science to solve our ills. We just need a leader we can support and trust. He/she better come out of hiding soon. Time is needed to build up a name if one wants to take on an incumbent.”

After breaking my rule and watching part of Council “live” last night, I am not sure that we have any hope. I am still waiting for a leader although one Councillor at least tried on the night's big issue and another tried on an item not even on the agenda!

I will just mention briefly the debate over the Airport but that is not what triggered my anger this morning.

Where is the Star’s investigative journalism and that of the other media in town? Joe McParland wondered on Cogeco last night if Councillor Dilkens did not attend the Council session because he was “jet-lagged.” The Councillor along with the Mayor and his Councillor colleague, “Talk Buy Canadian but Contract Sole Source Foreign” spent taxpayer money on a one-day trip to Frankfurt, Germany.

Of course, a young and energetic Councillor like Councillor Dilkens would not be effected by such a trip. There must be some other explanation why he was not at Council to tell citizens about what he saw the way that Junior did.

Now why isn’t the Star telling us why he was away. Doesn’t the Star think that its Readers might want to know this information? I do. If Voters knew why the Councillor was away would they be angry or would they be sympathetic or they just not care.

Of course, the BLOGMeister knows but unfortunately I was given this information in confidence by an extremely reliable source and I am not prepared to breach that confidence even for my readers. I will let the traditional media reporters find out the reason why but I doubt that they will.

While they are at it, perhaps the reporters could ask when the Frankfurt tickets were booked since it is such a low amount of money and in what class the Members of Council traveled. Did they get an airline discount as an example because they are members of an Airport Board? I have no idea.

I am not really picking on Councillor Dilkens except to demonstrate that it is unlikely that we will see a real Leader emerge from Council members unless someone gets some real backbone.

I thought that WeACT’s President Chris Schnurr took a very reasonable position last night and asked that the Airport debate be deferred for one week so that we might hear Councillor Dilkens’ impression of what he saw. What if he thought that what he was shown had no practical application whatsoever to this City? What if he thought it was disastrous? One could then legitimately ask why Council spent almost a quarter of $1 million to retain a foreign company to undertake a study that made no sense.

Mr. Schnurr also asked that the matter be deferred so that citizens could read the Report of the Airport General Manager. It was not attached to the Agenda Item posted on the website. It would be nice to see what she had to say as well and if it made any sense.

To his credit, Councillor Halberstadt introduced a Motion to defer the matter for a week. Let me tell you who voted for and against that Motion

Oh, I cannot. You see, dear reader, not one single Member of Council had the backbone to second the Motion. Accordingly, it was never voted on so that we will never hear what Councillor Dilkens has to say before the money was spent and will never see what the Airport Manager wrote.

Where was our Council Leadership? Where was the respect owed to citizens? Where was the element of fairness? Was the money spent wisely or not?

A little bit of background Procedural Bylaw information for you. I am well aware that the four members of WeACT who spoke at Council last night did NOT register before noon on Friday in order to speak as delegations. Accordingly, there should have been a Motion permitting them to speak in the first place. But there was not? Why not?

You know what a stickler our Mayor is for the Procedural Bylaw and yet he did not seek permission from Council to let them speak. That seems very unusual to me. But there was a reason.

The Agenda Item was not posted until after noon on Friday.

As far as I am concerned, this is disgraceful. Posting Agenda Items so late, means that members of the public are lulled into a false sense of security by believing that there are no other items on the Council Agenda after the Friday noon deadline. According to Councillor Halberstadt, it was put on the Supplementary Agenda which is usually for urgent matters even though the date of the Report was February 6.

It appears as if the emergency was not to let members of the public know about the matter since more people might have attended and spoken against what was done.

I have to ask as well why we need highly paid members of an Airport Board who supposedly have expertise in the aviation area and yet an amateur aviation Council directs what they should do even before they have their first Board meeting.

Windsor has two Senates it seems: the Undevelopment Commission and now the Airport Board.

Of course, the issue is jobs and economic diversification supposedly. But of course, that is a phony issue because nothing will happen probably for at least another year while the three phases of the Study are worked on at who knows what cost. And Councillor Buy Canadian told us that all this would take a very long period of time before anything happens.

But it is okay… we can pretend that this really means something. Rather than me talking about it more, just go back and read previous stories about how the Mayor criticized DRIC for promising so much but delivering so little now as far as jobs.

I think I have a new name for Councillor Loopy. Given his questions about the Airport, I think I should call him Councillor Loopy de Loop. I have never seen a straight man performance such as the one he put on last night since George Burns did it for Gracie Allen. Normally, the Mayor interrupts a speaker to give his “Point of Clarification.”

Not last night.

The Councillor asked the questions so beautifully that it almost looked like it was scripted and rehearsed. I saw the Mayor looking at something as he was speaking. I would suggest that Eddie in future follow the recent example of Richard Dreyfuss and his earpiece at the Old Vic instead. Fortunately, it allowed the Mayor to use the word “misinformation” several times.

I wish however the Mayor had given us the “information” why it was proper to charge the salary of the General Manager to the Airport Reserve account but not the foreign consulting fee. I do not understand the distinction. I understand that if one does not charge the salary against Operating expenses, it makes the “profit” of the Airports seem higher but why should the taxpayers pay out another quarter of $1 million if there is money sitting at the Airport already and we are providing a subsidy every month to the Airport.

But that was not why I was angry. This picture and story is the reason.

Finally, on Tuesday, the Star decided to tell us about the Alternative Manufacturing Opportunities Summit press conference that took place last Friday. Considering that the Star is one of the sponsors of the event and that one of their representatives was a speaker, I would have thought that the Star should have published this information on the Saturday.

That could not be done. An event hosted by four MPPs including our two Cabinet Ministers that could help salvage the businesses in this area and jobs for their workers is not as important as our Mayor traveling to Europe for the day with two Councillors. After all, entering into a consulting agreement with a Foreign Subsidiary of a Foreign Air Carrier, Lufthansa, is so much more exciting.

To be honest, now that you know about Burns and Allen. you also know that I am an older gentleman whose memory is not as good as it once was. I must admit that I do not remember the Undevelopment Commission VP having much of a speaking role at the session and if he did, it was completely forgettable, at least to me anyway. If you read the fine print, it says the picture was taken at the media scrum afterwards. After all, who can remember anything after our Celine Dion/Jay Leno of politicians, Sandra Pupatello, blew everyone away with her presentation. Bruce Crozier seems like a fine gentleman and he was the host of the press conference but the big star was Sandra.

Where was her photograph? Play ball with Eddie and the Star or you get crucified, Sandra! Or worse, ignored.

If one looked at that photograph quickly, one would almost think that the Undevelopment Commission had a major role in the event. If that is true, perhaps we should keep them around. Isn’t that the Message that the Star was delivering it to us? The WEDC does not. They are merely one of a handful of sponsors of an event run by the Province.

Imagine that the Star did not even ask the question whether the Mayor snubbed the event by going to Germany just as he did when Dwight Duncan came to town. I think that the Cabinet Ministers for taxpayers’ sake should not come here anymore for announcements because we cannot afford these European trips anymore.

What a small minded newspaper we have in this City. I cannot believe they gave front page coverage about something that is unrealistic merely because it is the Mayor that is doing it. Why do I say that? It is very simple. Another worldwide aviation company who knows everything there is to know about Windsor Airport, Serco, pulled out. If there was any hope of success here, do you think they would have left, and left early?

Now you know why the proposal was “sole source.” Do you really think anyone would be interested in making a proposal for a consulting agreement after a major aviation company had no interest in Windsor?

Councillor Halberstadt’s question was bang on and also was not answered by the Mayor in a very rude fashion:

• “The mayor didn't really answer my question when I asked if it was possible that Lufhansa would become a partner or a client of the Airport as a result of the study.”

Ah, now I feel better.