Accentuate the Positive

Remember what Craig Pearson told us his new job was:

• "Craig Pearson in his new column yesterday tells us to
  
  "Accentuate the Positive..
  
  But one thing I know. In this column and in life, I don’t want the negative.
  
  I want the positive."

Let's be generous and give him the benefit of the doubt and say that his piece "Red Bull gives us all wings" was writtten in advance.

You see here is what one of the Star stories on Monday was:

• "Widespread flooding in Windsor
  
  WINDSOR, Ont. -- Hundreds of Windsor homeowners are cleaning up Sunday after widespread flooding in the city's east end.
  
  City engineer Mario Sonego said hundreds of homes in the eastern downtown, Riverside and Forest Glade neighbourhoods were flooded when the city's storm and sanitary sewage system was overpowered by severe thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday."

And here is what Craig had the nerve to write:

• "But it's also political: Mayor Eddie Francis heading to Europe to pitch Windsor as host after Detroit backed out. And MPPs Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello helping secure a $13.2-million investment from the McGuinty government over three years to entice Red Bull to commit to Windsor.
  
  Forget the naysayers who don't like taxpayer money spent on anything but roads and sewers.
  
  I'm reminded of the movie Invictus, which tells the tale of Nelson Mandela dismissing critics to personally encourage the mostly white South African rugby team to win the world cup. He knew how much a country trying to climb out of hard times needs an explosion of pride that all its citizens can share.
  
  Red Bull is Windsor's world cup.
  
  The city's biggest party weekend of the year."

I am a naysayer and I bet so are lots of those families whose homes were damaged Explosion of pride, a party weekend? Not if you spent Sunday clearing out the water and throwing out damaged goods from your basement. I bet those people exploded but in a different way.

Back in 2007, City officials blamed Mother Nature for flooding:

• "Early guesses by Mario Sonego, the city's chief building official, are pointing to the wrath of Mother Nature.
  
  "What we had was a massive amount of rain," he said. "There are no rain gauges there, but I would say we saw something like three or four inches of rain in an hour.
  
  "At this point, we are looking at the system and how it was affected on the west end. We are looking to see what we did or didn't do. But weather patterns are stronger and you get these massive events."

Edgar's (aka Eddie) speechwriter must have found that quote because here is the Mayor's excuse for flooding this time:

• "You can never avoid Mother Nature," Francis said. "When there's a storm that's of such intensity and of such ferocity, you just deal with it and hope that the damage is as minimal as possible."

Do you really mean this now Craig:

• "Let's hope the government makes the same investment in the future, so that in more ways than one, Red Bull continues to give us wings."

So Craig, in your world, let's spend more naysayer taxpayer money on Red Bull races, East End arenas, mind's eye canals and a swimming pool for international games visions.

I guess you are right after all. Dwight told us what Red Bull and the rest are all about in reality:

• "It’s a good distraction for people,” he said."